Please note: We do not offer an emergency service, if matters are urgent you should contact your local NHS Emergency Mental Health helpline. We cannot accept referral requests submitted by those under the age of 18. We cannot accept referral requests submitted on behalf of someone else.
Overview
With so many different kinds of therapy and counselling available in the UK, our Consultation & Referral Service (CRS) serves as a way of helping members of the community find out more about whether psychodynamic or psychoanalytic psychotherapy, in particular, is right for them.
SIP has fully qualified, rigorously trained, and professionally registered member therapists across much of the South West. Many members are based in Bristol and Bath but we also have members based in Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Wiltshire, and Wales. Our member therapists and trainees are sometimes able to offer reduced fee sessions – this is usually with with a trainee on one of SIP’s clinical trainings in psychoanalytic psychotherapy or psychodynamic psychotherapy. All psychotherapists in training are mature individuals often with several years of prior training and experience. They are rigorously selected, continuously assessed, and regularly supervised by approved training supervisors to ensure the highest standards. Those interested in working with a trainee at a reduced fee should visit the Training Patient Scheme page for more information.
The first step is to complete a referral form and you will then be contacted by a therapist to schedule an initial consultation. These details will then be passed on to a fully qualified therapist, located as local as possible to you, (also known as an Area Representative) who will contact you to schedule an initial consultation at a mutually convenient time. This consultation serves as a way of learning more about your enquiry and establishing whether psychotherapy is the best way forward at this point in time.
The initial consultation will cost £65 (or £40 if you are unwaged or in receipt of benefits), and will be payable direct to the therapist.
If psychotherapy is deemed the best way forward, the therapist with whom you have met for the initial consultation will refer you onwards to a psychotherapist who has the appropriate availability and experience.
If you’d prefer to contact a therapist directly, you may prefer to use the ‘Find a therapist’ pages of the British Psychoanalytic Council (https://www.bpc.org.uk/find-a-therapist) or the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists (https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/find-a-therapist/), both of which list suitably trained and registered therapists.