Support and services

Contact us about receiving support from us by filling in the enquiry form, or you can call 0131 225 8508. You can enquire for yourself, or someone else can do it for/with you.

A member of our team will call you to introduce themselves and to have a quick chat about the support available to you and to let you know more about what you can expect from us.

We’ll explore your options, and ask you a few short questions to direct you to make sure the support we offer helps you. It’s also an opportunity for you to ask us any questions.

If you wish to continue with support, we’ll arrange an initial conversation with the relevant team – we’ll try to book a time that suits you. Waiting times for this vary from service to service, but we’ll let you know more about that when we first chat with you.

Ahead of the initial conversation, we might ask you to complete some forms, depending on which service you’re accessing.

The initial conversation is about getting to know you before support begins. This is an opportunity to share information that feels important and comfortable for you. It can be helpful to find a comfortable and confidential space you can be in for around an hour.

During this conversation we’ll complete some forms so we can support you safely and ask you some questions about what you hope to get out of support. We’ll also explain what to expect next.

While we try to keep this to a minimum, there can be waiting list for our services, particularly individual support.

While you wait, you can:

• attend our groups to give you some support in the meantime
• access our mental health resources.

Please be assured that we have your information and will get in touch when support is available, but please let us know if your details change.

We approach all support in a trauma-informed and person-centred way with our values at heart of what we do – see our Purpose, Approach and Values page to learn more.

Person-centred support means that you are the centre of the support we offer. Our aim is to help you to live your life in the way you want through having choice and control, setting goals, building good relationships, and most importantly to listen to you.

You can expect to feel validated, and we’ll always show you compassion and understanding. Our staff and volunteers always aim to be open and honest, even when this can feel difficult and take bravery. We want you to achieve your goals and realise your potential. We will have faith and believe in you.

You can expect support to typically last for 3-6 months. Support is usually weekly and can be facilitated in a way that works for you.

We offer many different styles of groups support and understand that going to a group for the first time can feel daunting. We work hard to make sure our groups are a safe space for you to explore your mental health and wellbeing. This means being respectful and non-judgemental, and using words that are easily understood. To make sure all our groups feel safe and comfortable, we expect all participants to uphold confidentiality, respect, dignity and reasonable boundaries.

Our groups are person-centred, meaning we understand that each person is different and should be supported to make their own choices, be listened to and be treated with dignity and respect. We understand that you’re the expert of your own life and our support focuses on helping you to achieve your hopes, goals and aspirations.

We offer a variety of content in our groups. These include:

• activity-based groups that can help you explore various coping strategies to support good mental health
• peer-to-peer groups that present opportunities for shared learning through lived experience of mental health recovery
• psycho education-based workshops to encourage learning and understanding around mental health and recovery.

All our work is centred around the five ways to wellbeing: to encourage connection, to take notice, to be active, to give and to keep learning.

Counselling is a type of professional support where you have a safe and confidential space to talk to a trained counsellor about your feelings, thoughts, and experiences. The goal is to help you understand yourself better, work through any issues you’re facing, and find ways to cope or make positive changes in your life. It can lead to greater self-awareness and improved wellbeing.

It is your choice what you choose to talk about in counselling – what you’ll talk about may vary, depending on what brought you to counselling and what difficulties you may be facing. Your counsellor will listen without judgment and help you to explore your concerns. They won’t tell you what to do but will help you to find your own solutions and insights. Counselling can be helpful for a wide range of issues, such as dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, relationship problems, or any other personal challenges.

Counselling sessions are weekly, and are 50 minutes long. They take place the same place and time each week. During your first session, you will do a short assessment together. This will help the counsellor to understand your history and needs. You will also cover the terms of the service, including the cancellation policy and confidentiality.

It’s important that you feel comfortable with your counsellor, so that you can be open and honest about yourself and your issues. We encourage you to provide feedback about your counsellor and your experience using our services.

Trauma support is usually offered in person. On occasion, support can also be offered online or by phone.

We offer trauma support for women living in Edinburgh who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Trauma support is available for men living in Edinburgh who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse or men who have experienced rape/sexual abuse or domestic violence as adults. We can provide this support remotely if you’re living in Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian and aren’t able to travel to Edinburgh for in-person support.

We also offer an Historic Adoption Peer Support Service for people who’ve experienced historic adoption practices in Scotland.

Our long-term trauma support services offer practical and emotional support to develop coping strategies, build self-confidence and reduce stress and anxiety. Support is provided for up to 12 months.

Our short-term service of up to 10 support sessions to support people with the impact of trauma, and specifically focuses on stabilisation, increasing self-management tools and improving mental health and wellbeing.