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Referrals

Referrals

To access our free counselling, you’ll first need to make a self-referral or be referred and attend an assessment appointment. This helps us understand your needs and make sure our service is the right fit for you. 

If you’re feeling unsure about how the referral works, our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page is here to help guide you with clear, simple answers.

Therapeutic Support Options

One-to-one therapy, group therapy and Art Therapy are different therapeutic interventions.

Clients can take part in only one of these options within a 12-month period.

This means that you can receive:

  • One-to-one therapy; or
  • Group therapy; or
  • Art Therapy

Your preferences and therapeutic needs will be discussed with a therapist during your assessment. The therapist will help you consider which option is most suitable for you.

Psychoeducation Workshops

In addition to one of the therapy options, you may also be able to attend a Psychoeducation Workshop (PEW).

PEWs are optional and require a short screening call before you attend. Please discuss your interest in a PEW with the therapist during your assessment.

One-to-One Therapy

Make a referral
Group Therapy and Psychoeducation Groups
Make a referral

Irish Women’s Service

Make a referral

Black Women's Project

Make a referral

FAQs

That is okay. You may feel unsure at first and this is a normal feeling. If you think that after making the referral and when we contact you to offer an assessment appointment, you are not ready for therapy please let us know by responding quickly so that the space can be offered to someone else. 

If you do start sessions, you do not have to know what to say or where to start once you are in the room. Therapy can move at your pace, and you are always in control of what you share. 

Please watch our video on the home page ‘ What to Expect From Therapy at The Maya Centre’ as this will help you decide on whether to access therapy now or wait until you feel certain.

Self-refer here. We will guide you through the next steps and you can also watch our ‘accessing therapy at the Maya Centre’ here for more information before applying.

  • Referrals are closed or referred on where a referral does not meet the criteria of our current funding pathways or where we are not a good fit for the client’s needs.  
  • Clients who frequently DNA (do not attend) and/or cancel sessions or request multiple rescheduling of assessment appointments or counselling sessions will likely lead to as referral being closed.  
  • Generally, two or more consecutive missed sessions or several within the first six sessions of therapy will often lead to referral closure. This is because the benefit of therapy is greatly reduced when too many sessions are missed and is an indication that perhaps the person is not ready for therapy.
  • Only two initial offers of an assessment appointment are given, which must be confirmed and depending on funding, another appointment might be offered, which must be confirmed, as our funding is restricted. In the event that there are two cancelled and/or DNA’s, your referral will not be processed and automatically closed. Non-attendance and cancellation of assessment appointments and counselling sessions come at a cost to the service, reducing capacity for those wanting to access our services here. Counselling is an emotional and time commitment. See ‘What if I am not sure that I am “ready” for therapy?’ above. 

Referrals are not processed if they do not match our current criteria and/or funding pathways. For example, some of our funding is only for Islington residents. We prioritise women who have been victims of and are survivors of violence against women and girls. 

We will usually contact you by telephone or email, sometimes by post. We always try to provide alternative agencies for you to contact that might be able to help you if we cannot. If you were referred to us by your GP, social worker or other mental health support worker, we let them know too so that they can follow up with you.
 
We do not make follow on referrals for individuals.

We may contact you upon initial receipt of a referral should we have a query about the referral and/or where we feel we would not be a good fit for the client’s needs and refer them back to you. If the client has had an assessment appointment but cannot be offered sessions, we refer them onto their GP and/or back to you depending on the outcome. 

Waiting times fluctuate, ranging between 4 – 24 weeks, depending on demand, funding, and availability of any specific needs, such as a language match. We aim to keep wait times to six months however there may be times when this is exceeded due to demand and therapist availability. 

  • Reading the information on the website and limiting queries to our admin team for updates as this is a first come, first serve service 
  • Completing the referral form in FULL, with no omissions; completing the medication and reason for accessing therapy sections are especially important as it supports the process of matching a client with a counsellor 
  • Incomplete referrals e.g. no full address / no medications or mental health diagnosis declared or left blank etc., will delay your referral being processed.