Counselling

"My experience with SRASAC and my counsellor has been truly life changing. I can’t stress enough how helpful it has been – I never expected the service to be so good. My counsellor was the first person ever to make me feel like I could talk, like someone understood and like I was worth help. Now I feel empowered to keep fighting and get better."

Our specialist counselling service offers a safe, confidential space to anyone over the age of 13 who has experienced sexual abuse or violence at any time in their lives. 

Counselling provides an opportunity to be listened to and accepted, to be able to talk about your experiences and how they are affecting you. You will not be judged or told what to do. You will be supported in being yourself, in making your own choices and making changes in your life if that is what you want.

Counselling cannot take away what has happened to you, but it can help you to become more able to manage your feelings, and feel more confident to carry on with your life without being overwhelmed or controlled by the abuse you suffered.

Counsellors at SRASAC have knowledge and understanding of the many effects of sexual violence, you will not be forced to talk about anything you don’t wish to, and you can expect the person you talk with to be familiar with the difficulties you are having.

Current Waiting Times (January 2022)

We are working hard to support all the people who contact us for counselling support as soon as possible.  However we are currently experiencing longer waiting times and facing greater demand for support.  At the moment, it will take us upto 8 weeks for initial contact after submission of the Registration Form.  Face to Face counselling is currently taking upto 10 months after initial contact.  We recognise that this is not at the speed or pace we would hope to offer support, but please bear with us as we work hard to support all of our clients in a fair and equitable way.

Counselling under COVID Restrictions

Due to COVID-19 we are offering the majority of our counselling sessions via online counselling support only.  We only have the capacity to offer a very small number of face-to-face pre-counselling assessments and counselling sessions for people who are unable to access online support. 

If you are unable to access online counselling, or would prefer to wait for face-to-face sessions, please either delay referring into the service, or be aware that we will place you on a 'holding list' and will contact you as soon as we are able to invite you into the centre for a pre-counselling assessment meeting. This may take several months.

We are currently unable to support clients who require face to face support with an interpreter present until the risk from COVID-19 reduces significantly. 

We are still taking referrals and offering support to survivors across Sheffield of all genders and all ages.  However, please be aware that we are unlikely to be able to offer our usual face to face work for some time, as our space does not currently allow us to safely work with clients in the way we used to before COVID. 

"I would like to say thank you to this wonderful organisation and to my counsellor who I believe has really helped me when things in my life felt a little bit too overwhelming."