Counselling
The Rainbow Project provides the only LGBTQIA+ Co-counselling service in Northern Ireland. This means that all our counsellors are members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and work with an LGBTQIA+ affirmative approach.
Counselling offers an opportunity to talk in confidence about challenges, losses, problems or issues that concern you.
**Due to unprecedented demand our waiting list is currently 6+ months.**
What our Co-cultural Counselling service offers
- Individual counselling: We offer one-on-one talking therapies with our qualified staff counsellors, or student counsellors in placement.
- Face-to-Face or Remote delivery: We can offer face-to-face sessions at our 2 Belfast based offices and our Foyle office, as well either telephone or video sessions for people unable to travel to our offices.
- Adults and Young People: We work with adults and young people over the age of 13.Â
- Co-cultural experience: All of our Counsellors are members of the LGBTQIA+ community themselves, and engage in CPD around issues facing our community, bringing both lived experience, and professional training into the counselling room.
- We work with a broad range of issues: Clients may choose to have counselling with us to work with issues such as sexual orientation, gender identity or internalised queerphobia, but we can work with a broad range of issues, such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, relationship worries, major life decisions, bereavement, and much more. Some clients may want to work on these issues, knowing their identity won’t be a barrier to being treated with dignity and respect in the counselling room.
Who are the counsellors?
All of our counsellors identify as LGBTQIA+ and hold professional qualifications in counselling, or in the case of our student counsellors, are working towards their qualification. All of our staff counsellors hold or are working toward accreditation with the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP), or another recognised professional body. Finally, our counsellors are fully insured to practice and receive on-going training and external, independent supervision.
The team is a mix of gay, bisexual and transgender counsellors, giving broad representation across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.
How much does counselling cost?
Counselling provided by The Rainbow Project is funded by the Public Health Agency and is free to clients. We offer 6 sessions but can extend this to 12 if your counsellor feels it would be beneficial.
What if The Rainbow Project is not for me?
Deciding to see a counsellor is a big step and finding the right counsellor for you is extremely important. We invite you to make an initial appointment with our Health and Wellbeing team to find out more about our services and whether it is suited to your needs. If your issues involve isolation, one of our social groups may better suit your needs. If you are unsure if counselling with The Rainbow Project is right for you, the Health and Wellbeing team can arrange for you to speak with a counsellor and assess if we are the best place to provide counselling for you.
Finding a counsellor who will be LGBTQIA+ affirmative can be made easier by checking out PinkTherapy who have a directory of affirmative therapists.
Other directories such as https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/,
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb, and https://www.bacp.co.uk/search/Therapists can let you search through private counsellors local to you, and filter to show counsellors who have identified themselves as LGBTQIA+ affirmative.
You may find it helpful asking some of the questions listed here of your prospective therapist. The therapist may not always answer the question, but you will get a sense of how they respond to you, even if you don’t get a direct answer.
If your workplace has an Employee Assistance Program, or offers counselling as part of a Health insurance benefit, you can often access counselling very quickly through these EAP programs at no cost to yourself. While not guaranteed, EAP providers may be able to identify counsellors in their roster who are LGBTQIA+ affirmative.
How to make an appointment for counselling:
You can make an appointment by calling our Belfast Office (02890319030) and asking for a referral to the counselling service. Alternatively Click here to contact us by e-mail.
If you haven’t used our services before, or in the last 12 months our Health and Wellbeing team will arrange a session to gather relevant details, and will make the referral to our counselling services or any other relevant services.
For young people under 18 years of age and vulnerable adults we actively encourage appropriate third parties (e.g. parents/carers, teachers, social workers, GPs, youth workers, etc) to facilitate referrals for young people under the age of 18 years.
To download a copy of our external counselling referral form click here.Â
**Please note that The Rainbow Project is not a crisis service. If you are in crisis, please contact Lifeline on 0808 808 8000 or Samaritans on 116 123. Alternatively, please seek support from your GP, or present at your local A&E.**