Counselling Services for Children, Young People and Families

To conform with Government policy the Family Counselling Trust has had to suspend taking on new clients for counselling.  We shall keep the situation under review and start up again as soon as possible.  In the meantime we shall operate a waiting list in each of our counties, so if your child needs our help do get in touch in the normal way to discuss the options.  We will then contact you once the restrictions are lifted and we are again fully functioning. Parents of existing clients may contact the practitioners with whom their families have been working if they themselves need advice on-line or over the telephone on managing anxiety at home. 

Family Counselling Trust (FCT) is a registered mental health charity providing key early intervention counselling support to children, young people (up to age 18) and their families.

It was founded in Dorset in 2005 to respond to the growing challenges facing families and young people – emotional, behavioural or other mental health problems – where they were unable to access timely and adequate support.  FCT raises funds to enable parents on stretched incomes to access help for their children, with the charity subsidising the cost of the therapy.

FCT offers children and young people an early opportunity to be supported by a qualified psychological therapist, in what is an holistic service involving the families.

A choice of potential counsellors as locally as possible is offered to the families, each counsellor providing a professional profile of how they work to inform parents. All counsellors who see children referred to FCT are carefully vetted and have prior experience of working with children. They are all trained and registered with a professional body, insured, hold clear enhanced DBS certificates and work in accordance with local safeguarding procedures. To date we have helped to transform the lives of thousands of children and their families.

However, the need for this type of support remains high so FCT continues to work with all stakeholders to ensure timely counselling is available to those most in need.