Access to counselling

Support can be accessed by all current UK-based students. However, to be eligible for ongoing support you must be registered with a UK based GP.  To find your nearest NHS surgery, please visit www.nhs.uk.

We are unable to offer ongoing counselling support to students who are abroad, those who are dormant, have suspended or interrupted however, these students can access self-help and peer support through Togetherall. Withdrawn students are unable to access our service and should contact their GP or local doctor for support.

All current students can attend an initial consultation to discuss their circumstances and explore the support that may be available. Services that you may be offered one of the following:

• Long and short term group therapies
• Brief individual counselling or cognitive behaviour therapy
• Support with referrals to internal and external services
• Access to Togetherall, a digital mental health self-help and peer support service
• Workshops and self-help resources, visit our Moodle page

We do not provide mental health diagnosis, psychiatric or long-term psychological treatment and there may be instances where it is not felt that our service can offer you the most appropriate support. In these cases, we will talk to you about alternative services that would better meet your needs.

There may also be times when you feel you need support but don’t require or feel that counselling is right for you and may be interested in the other opportunities offered by the university.

If you feel you would benefit from counselling support, please follow the steps below:

1. Complete the Student Counselling registration form which you can access from your evision homepage.
2. Follow the steps in the email received following submission of your form
3. Attend an initial consultation over Microsoft teams, this is a brief 30-minute session to talk to a member of our team about your circumstances and consider the support that may be available to you.

Please note: We do not provide letters of support for Extenuating Circumstances following an initial consultation.

Students from all backgrounds access counselling at City, University of London (last year over 60% of the students we saw were students who identified as having a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) background, and over 27% of students came from outside of the UK).

Our staff group is diverse, trained and experienced in working with issues of culture and difference including ethnicity. Although we are likely to be from a different background to our clients, we are happy to discuss any cultural issues that they experience, or the impact that this may be having on the therapeutic relationship.

We understand that some students would prefer to be seen by a BAME/Minority Ethnic counsellor and this can be requested when registering with the service.

James Saward - Head of Student Health & Wellbeing

Counselling team

Rafiya Hanid - Student Counselling Service Manager

Sabi Burdett Metwally - Student Counsellor

Sophie Greenfield - Student Counsellor

Colette Hagan - Student Counsellor

Jo Hockley - Student Counsellor

Lola Morrison - Student Counsellor

Liz Oliver - Student Counsellor

Catherine Upton - Student Counsellor

Isabella Lang - Honorary Counsellor

Victoria Tebby - Honorary Counsellor