The London Borough of Islington Counselling Service is a specialist therapeutic support service for people of all genders, who are survivors of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence. This can include physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, financial abuse, coercive control, honour-based violence, FGM, stalking, prostitution, harassment, and other harmful practices.

1:1 Counselling 

We offer one-to-one counselling sessions to people of all genders, aged 18 and over, who reside in the borough of Islington. Our counsellors create a safe space for them to explore the impact of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence on their lives and help them to recover from the long-term impact.

The service covers 1 assessment and up to 15 counselling sessions. We also offer pre-trial therapy.

Referrals 

We work with people who:

• Have given their explicit consent to be referred to the service.
• Reside in the London Borough of Islington.
• Have been affected by domestic or sexual abuse at any point in their lives. physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, financial abuse, coercive control, honour-based violence, FGM, stalking, prostitution, harassment, and other harmful practices.
• Want and are able to commit to regular counselling sessions on a weekly basis at agreed times, are able to manage their time in order to attend and make appropriate childcare arrangements.
• Are not high-risk victims of domestic abuse.
• Are emotionally robust enough to manage their own safety in terms of coping with possible anxiety or emotional pain that might come up without this posing a risk to their well-being.
• Want to make changes happen for themselves and are willing to consider personal possibilities.
• Are psychologically well enough to maintain contact for the duration of the time agreed.
• Are not currently receiving counselling with another service or about to start soon.

The counselling service is unable to provide crisis intervention support or give emergency appointments if a service user is in immediate psychological crisis and potentially at risk. If this is the case, please refer client to GP or to the appropriate Community Mental Health Team (CMHT). In an emergency, please call an ambulance on 999. 

If there is an ongoing police investigation, or if a client is required to attend as a witness in criminal court proceedings for domestic and/or sexual violence, we may be able to provide pre-trial support sessions.

We are currently unable to accept new referrals for counselling.

Important information for professionals: Important information for professionals: If you wish to receive a notification when Solace opens for counselling referrals, please email [email protected], requesting that we add you to our mailing list. You will then receive email notifications each time we open and close.