Fosterline England offers a free, professional counselling service for all fostering related issues. These sessions are time-limited and offered by a BACP accredited Psychotherapist & Counsellor, who is also a qualified senior Social Worker and Family Mediator. The service is for approved foster carers, including kinship/connected person foster carers, in England (and prospective foster carers if applicable), who need additional or ongoing support around matters directly related to fostering.
Please enter a search term
Counselling
The service is available on a referral-only basis to people who have accessed support through Fosterline, and who a Fosterline Adviser believes might benefit from additional professional support. To ensure a quality and ethical service delivery, foster carers will access up to six counselling sessions, which may last up to 50 minutes each, during which signposting to additional professional services may be provided. Sessions are for individuals only, and any referral must come from the foster carer/prospective foster carer themselves via Fosterline.
In order to access this service you can call Fosterline on 0800 040 7675 and discuss your situation. If the advisor feels you are a suitable candidate for counselling they can refer you to the service.
Please note that being referred to the counselling service does not guarantee that someone will be offered counselling through Fosterline. There is a screening process undertaken by the counsellor, and eligibility criteria that must be taken into consideration. If the screening call is successful, therapy hours will be allocated and information and forms will be sent out to complete via email prior to therapy commencing to ensure awareness of the process and confidentiality clauses.
All session times will be discussed and agreed between you and the Counsellor. Any cancellations or reschedule requests will need to be made within a weeks notice. Any missed sessions without prior notice will be time deducted from the total hours offered. Counselling sessions will take place via audio call on the Teams platform online at a time and day agreed by both parties.
Please note Fosterline is not an emergency service. If you need urgent mental health support, we strongly advise contacting one of the following professional services:
- Mind – 0300 123 3393 (9am – 6pm weekdays)
- The Samaritans – 116 123 (always open)
- Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) - 0800 58 58 58 (5pm – midnight)
- You can also contact your GP, or call 999 in an emergency.
