Counselling service at MESMAC North East | MESMAC North East I HIV and Sexual Health Advice in the North East

COUNSELLING

Counselling can help!

Some of the gay/lesbian organisations listed on this site can offer free counselling services, please call MESMAC North East for further details.

Newcastle office on: 0191 233 1333

At MESMAC we offer men the chance to talk about issues which concern them, free of charge.
This happens in a safe, supportive, and confidential setting.
Counselling generally takes place at our Newcastle office.
Please telephone us for an appointment.

What is counselling?

Counselling gives you the chance to talk with someone in a safe and supportive environment about issues that are concerning you. It enables you to explore and understand the emotions and situations you’re having difficulty with.

The counselling team work in a way that accepts, understands and respects you as you share your thoughts and feelings.

Counselling can offer:

Skilled help and support in times of crisis.
Help with issues, which can affect your overall well-being, both physically and emotionally, such as depression, anxiety and stress.

Sometimes, difficulties you have in adult life can be the result of past, painful experiences, which have been left unresolved.

These can include:

Things that happened to you when you were a child.
Physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Bereavement or other traumas.

How counselling works

Humanistic counselling believes that you have within yourself the resources for your own growth and healing. Therefore, our counselling team aims to help and support you so that you can seek your own solutions to difficulties you’re experiencing.

You’re most likely to benefit from counselling if you’re willing to honestly look at and explore your feelings. And the counselling relationship can only become established if both you and the counselor make a commitment to it. This means it’s important to come regularly for sessions.

How to make an appointment

You just need to contact us direct, initially you will have a 30 minute appointment, or assessment, for both yourself and us to find out if Counselling is the right way forward for you.

We try our utmost to see you for this assessment within 10 days of you first contacting us.
Then, if counselling is for you, we will do our best to start your sessions soon after assessment but, at times of high demand, we might need to operate a waiting list, though we try to keep this as short as possible.
You can ask what is the current waiting time if you are concerned that we might not be able to see you as quickly as you need.

Sessions last for one hour, and are usually held weekly.

The number of sessions you have will be discussed between yourself and the counsellor.

However, usually a second assessment will be made after six sessions in order to clarify the issues, evaluate the work to date and decide if counselling ends there or continues.

Counselling is free to North East gay and bisexual men.

The counselling teams are trained in the Humanistic Approach, and they follow the Code of Conduct of the British Association of Counsellors and Psycho- therapists and also our own MESMAC North East Code of Conduct. Copies of these are available on request.

Is what I tell you confidential?

All information shared within MESMAC North East is covered by our confidentiality policy. This means that nothing discussed in an assessment or counselling session will be told to anyone else outside this project without your express permission, and only discussed inside the project on a strictly ‘need to know’ basis.

This applies unless you mention things that would require the counselor to discuss it further with their Manager and/or other professionals. Such issues would be:

Abuse or risk of abuse if you are under 18.
Current or past abuse of other people, whatever their age.
Possible self-harm in the future, including attempted suicide.
Serious past, current or future crime. This doesn’t include consensual sex offences (such as cottaging).

Download our Counselling Booklet here.

Other Counselling Organisations & Useful Helplines (Local & National)

Talking Therapies
Talking Therapies is a free and confidential service commissioned by the NHS and is available for everyone over the age of 16. The service offers a range of talking therapies, advice, information and support. Please call your local Talking Therapies office: