This article gives you information about the registration process and eligibility for the Counselling & Mental Health Support Service at King's.
Before registering, we recommend reading through all the information below carefully, and also reading How can the Counselling & Mental Health Support Service help me? for detail about what you can expect from the service.
We hope you agree that we all the right to be treated with both dignity and respect. The Counselling & Mental Health Support Service does not accept abusive, racist, derogatory, threatening, inappropriate behaviour or language.
We also recommend referring to Managing your mental health & wellbeing for an overview of support options available.
Who is eligible to register with the Counselling & Mental Health Support Service?
To access our service, you need to:
- Be registered with a UK based doctor/GP. To learn how to do this, read our article How do I register with a doctor and/or dentist? If you are not in the UK, we will ask you to provide an overseas GP or family doctor.
- Have enrolled at the university for a degree programme.
- Not have registered with us within the last week (we are unable to process multiple applications).
- Be currently residing in the UK to qualify for full counselling appointments.
- If you are not in the UK and your difficulties are not severe or urgent, depending on the country you are residing at the point of the appointment, you may be eligible for King’s Counselling Online.
This service may not be suitable for you, if:
- You require urgent or crisis intervention/support, or have tried to take your own life in the last 30 days (please contact your GP, call 111 or go straight to your local Accident and Emergency department).
- The Counselling & Mental Health Support Service are not an emergency service, and might not be able to see you as quickly as you would need. Instead please visit our Crisis support for specialists and emergency services which are available 24/7.
- You are under the care of or have been referred to a mental health service such as: NHS Community Mental Health, Crisis Intervention team, Home Treatment team or you are in hospital for mental health difficulties.
- You are a dormant student, and if you are receiving counselling at the time your status changes to dormant, dormant with resits, or interrupted, your counsellor will work with you to identify suitable external support to ensure continuity of care until you resume active study.
- You are currently being seen by another counsellor/psychotherapist in either in an NHS, charity or private setting.
- You require a medication review or a prescription for medicine (we advise you to contact your GP to discuss medication).
- You would like supporting evidence for a recently submitted Mitigating Circumstances Form but are not interested in counselling or mental health support.
- For support around submitting this kind of evidence, please refer to Evidence to support your mitigating circumstances application.
- You have already finished your studies at King's or are about to complete them in the next two weeks.
- Important to know: This is not based on when you graduate, or the date of your graduation ceremony. If you are finishing your time at King's but need specialist mental health support, we recommend approaching your GP or NHS Every Mind Matters.
- The primary difficulty is drug or alcohol use. Instead, we would advise you to seek a referral from your GP to a specialist drug and alcohol service.
- You can find more details about support for substance misuse at NHS: Drug addiction: getting help.
- You can get information and details of support in our article Support for difficulties with drugs or alcohol.
- If you are experiencing symptoms related to a diagnosed or undiagnosed serious mental health condition requiring specialist or long-term treatment (ie. eating disorders, PTSD, psychosis, borderline personality disorder).
- This includes a mental health condition which has lasted for longer than 12 months. For support with a longer term condition, we recommend contacting the Disability Support Team; take a look at our article Support for students with long-term mental health conditions.
- You have been seen in our service less than 3 months previously.
Can I register with two Counselling Services?
If you're on the waiting list to join an NHS counselling service, or if you have been told by your doctor to see a therapist, we recommend that you do not register with another service while you are waiting to be seen by a professional. This includes services such as the King’s Counselling & Mental Health Support Service.
Registering with two different counsellors/therapists at the same time can be stressful and can be hard to manage, especially alongside your studies.
If you find that you have been on the waiting list to see a counsellor or a therapist for a long period of time, we recommend that you contact your doctor or the receptionist at your practice and ask if it can be possible to be seen by a therapist sooner.
I'm eligible for this service. How can I register?
The Counselling and Mental Health Support Service (C&MHS) offers free and confidential online and in-person support.
Important to know:
- If you are a UK-based student, you must have a GP based in the UK to access the Counselling and Mental Health Service.
- Please make sure you have read through our eligibility information to make sure this is the most appropriate source of support for you.
- For key service updates please visit Counselling & Mental Health Support.
- Unfortunately, the online self-referral form will not work if you are trying to register from outside the UK. If you're unable to use the registration form, find that please email the service directly, and we'll see what support or advice we can offer.
If you have queries about the registration process or about other mental health support, you can email the service directly.
To register with Counselling & Mental Health Service please complete the online self-referral form.
What happens to my form when I register?
Once you complete the online referral form, this will be sent automatically to the C&MHS service administrator only.
The next working day after your initial application for an appointment has been received, you will be sent a full online registration form and questionnaire. These forms are confidential and help us offer you a suitable appointment at a convenient time, if possible.
When will I be able to make an appointment?
Before you can make an appointment, you’ll need to register with our service. Once you’ve registered, you’ll be offered an initial appointment to assess your level of need.
Following this initial assessment, you may be referred for further sessions, which can be either individual or group. Guided Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or psychoeducational groups might also be suggested, and we might recommend a suitable external service.
While you are waiting for the service to contact you, you can register for Spectrum.Life, which is our chosen online support platform for mental health.
Important to know: if you are in crisis or feel unsafe, please visit Crisis support: need help now.
What is the waiting time for counselling?
Wait times depend on your level of risk.
We assess this when you register. If you're assessed to be at a very high risk level, we should be able to offer you an appointment within a few days of your registration.
If you are assessed to be at a low to moderate risk level, the waiting time will generally be 2-3 weeks.
Important to know: Waiting times can vary at different times of the year. During November, February and May the waiting time may be up to 4 weeks.
There may also be a longer wait for in-person sessions.
What can I do while I’m waiting?
While you are waiting for the service to contact you, we recommend registering with Spectrum.Life, which is a free online support platform for mental health. To learn more about this service, have a look at our article Health and wellbeing support from Spectrum.Life.
There is further information and support available in the following articles:
If you'd like to talk about an issue or problem in the evening or weekend, and feel that you cannot wait to see a counsellor, find out more about the support on offer in our article Mental health support during evenings, weekends & vacation periods.
If you need to get in touch with the Counselling & Mental Health Support Service while you wait for an appointment, please email us.
How long are the appointments?
For UK-based students: Our appointments are 50 minutes.
For overseas-based students: Due to various licensing and registration issues, if you are based overseas, we are only permitted to offer 30-minute welfare appointments. The law in some countries restricts the right to practise as a counsellor or psychologist, and practitioners have to meet the local professional requirements to be legally compliant. This is why 50-minute appointments are available only to students who are based in the UK.
Will my appointment be face-to-face or online?
The Counselling & Mental Health Service currently offers a mix of online and in-person appointments.
If you're interested in doing counselling completely online, please check out our article What is King's Counselling Online (KCO)?
What can I expect from my initial appointment?
The purpose of the first session is to consider the problem you have come with and think, with the counsellor, about a way forward. The counsellor may suggest a second appointment if more time is needed for assessment.
You may like to consider joining a longer-term therapy group, and this would be discussed during the assessment meeting if appropriate. Students joining therapy groups are usually offered longer-term support, e.g. for a term or an academic year.
What kind of follow-up appointments can I expect?
The service typically offers 4 - 6 sessions of individual counselling. Longer term support may be possible through a small team of associates and counsellors in training. This option will be discussed at the assessment appointment, if appropriate.
For UK-based students: Our appointments are 50 minutes.
For overseas-based students: Due to various licensing and registration issues, if you are based overseas, we are only permitted to offer 30-minute welfare appointments. The law in some countries restricts the right to practise as a counsellor or psychologist, and practitioners have to meet the local professional requirements to be legally compliant. This is why 50-minute appointments are available only to students who are based in the UK.
Late arrival, cancellation and attendance policy
Please take a minute to read What is the Counselling & Mental Health Support Service's cancellation and attendance policy?