GCS specialises in providing counselling and training counsellors to professional standards. GCS was established in1980 to offer affordable, open-ended, in-depth counselling to those on a limited income. All clients are assessed at the Centre and allocation considered carefully. There are now 60 part-time counsellors and over 220 people use the counselling service each week. All counselling is regularly supervised on a weekly basis. Experienced senior staff, seminar leaders, tutors and supervisors ensure the high standards of training and practice with which GCS has become associated.

Who is counselling for?
The GCS provides a counselling service to people living in Gloucestershire. People from all backgrounds and areas of the community may find counselling helpful at particular times in their life.

Why people seek counselling?
People seek help with a very wide range of difficulties. They may be feeling unhappy, anxious, depressed or dissatisfied with the quality of their relationships or they may be confused as to why they react as they do to people or to events. Others may feel unable to cope with the pressures and challenges of life. For some it may be memories from the past, painful events in the present or worries about the future that prevent them enjoying life as they would like.

How counselling can help?
Counselling provides an opportunity to explore problems with someone not involved in your personal life who is trained to listen in a non-directive way and to facilitate the person’s own resources for change and resolution of difficulties. It aims to assist people to understand how past experience and current behaviour may be linked and leads to a more creative self-understanding. It allows space to explore in an individual or couple setting, thoughts and feelings about oneself and relationships with others.