Please be aware that, given a high level of demand, there is a waiting list after assessment before being allocated to a counsellor.
We offer counselling and emotional support, with sessions taking place by phone, Skype or Zoom (face to face appointments and home visits are not currently available).
This service is open to people with ME and carers age 18 and over.
Looking for our free young people's counselling, available for young people aged 11 - 18 with either suspected or diagnosed ME?
One of our recent clients told us:
“It was very uplifting and comforting speaking to the counsellor this morning. It made my wife and I feel that there is someone who fully understands and is prepared to help our beautiful long-suffering daughter.”
Counselling sessions are supportive and therapeutic in nature: they may include strategies and goals on how to deal with depression and anxiety or manage difficult emotions and behaviours.
Sessions can be weekly or fortnightly and are booked into the diary on a regular basis. Counselling may be time-limited or ongoing.
Counsellors can also offer emotional support sessions on request. These are by definition supportive in nature and the emphasis is on listening and offering emotional and practical support.
Emotional support is open-ended and you are not limited to any number of session. In any week, following your initial appointment, you can phone, email or text your counsellor and request an emotional support session for that particular week.
Each session will be only on request from you (ie. your counsellor will not schedule regular sessions).
Read about our counsellors on our clinical team page
We are not able to offer emergency appointments or crisis support.
Our counsellors are not able to support people with broader mental health issues, including historical trauma, or other defined conditions; these should be addressed by specialist services.
Please contact Mind's Infoline for mental health information and signposting.
You can make a self-referral by:
When we receive your completed self-referral form, our Healthcare Administrator will contact you to confirm receipt.
You will then be contacted by a counsellor who will offer a free initial telephone conversation lasting up to 30 minutes.
This one-off session is designed to explore your particular circumstances in order to get an understanding of how we can effectively work together.
Once you have sessions booked in, your counsellor will contact you at the agreed time for your sessions.
If the counsellor does not get a response, they will leave a message and phone again five minutes later.
If the counsellor does not get a response to the second call, they will leave a second message inviting you to contact him/her again at another time.
As a charity, we charge fees only to cover our costs.
Fees for counselling and emotional support are as follows:
Please let us know as soon as possible if you cannot attend an appointment.
Cancellations with less than 24 hours’ notice will be charged at 50% of the full appointment fee. Failure to attend an appointment without notice will be charged in full.
If you receive a bursary, the cancellation fee will include the proportionate part of your bursary award, and one bursary‑funded session will be counted as used.
Action for ME provides bursaries, when able, to help make services more accessible to those who might otherwise be unable to afford them. The organisation charges fees only to cover costs and all services are subsidised by the charity.
Maintaining reasonable costs whilst ensuring the long-term sustainability of healthcare services is a priority for Action for ME.
Action for ME can only offer bursaries if we have the financial resources to do so.
Please visit our Bursary support page to find out more information and check on the availability of financial support.
