I was about to say this and assumed counselling sessions fell under the same bracket? Maybe not then...and as lolly says probably area dependant (I know they're not the same thing, I just meant the service itself...usually you get referred to someone who is a counsellor trained in CBT etc). But 6 free sessions sounds about right. It isn't usually enough from my experience but it's certainly a starting point and depending on the person and who they are paired with can be surprisingly beneficial in that short time. It's usually an hour once a week. Don't know if you can extend that...most likely you'd have to have a long gap.
I was fortunate in that because at the time when I last needed help or a "top up", Mr. RoM was a nurse and it meant as his husband I could be fast tracked. Which sounds dreadful doesn't it but I was obviously very glad of that benefit. Anyway it wasn't massively successful this time BUT he (the counsellor) was very good and it helped a great deal to talk freely and sometimes emotionally about things. Which is half the battle/healing in lots of cases. But no, it wasn't enough time and no nurse-husband could help me extend that.
Previously, years before, and in those times I did have to wait, I had someone who did not fit at all (not her fault, she was just specialised in other areas, but that's what the dice roll gave me...and it is a dice roll) and before that I had someone who used CBT which I did need at the time and was extremely helpful, but that wasn't depression. None of mine have been for depression but on all three occasions the person has been a counsellor trained in CBT and being NHS, budgets/lack of resources etc, I assumed a referral for depression would lead to the same group of people as that (mine was more for anxiety among a few other things).
Either way, that's appalling if these services are now disappearing behind a private pay wall
We will make it through though!
