Is Counselling Free?

The Manna House Counselling Service (MHCS) is a charity and part of the Manna House Trust registered with the Charity Commission - (Reg Charity No. 286358).

The objects of the charity are to serve the community by providing a counselling, training and wellbeing service to everyone living in Northamptonshire irrespective of background or ability to pay.

At MHCS it is our goal to provide counselling to all those who need it and not to turn anyone away because they cannot afford it.  However, we are not an NHS funded facility and the counselling service is not free to supply.

We do receive some funding to offer some free counselling sessions but we rely on donations from our clients, from individual supporters, grant making bodies and other organisations to cover the £20,200 per month we need to run our service.
 

We do charge a £15 registration fee.  This goes towards the cost of processing your application, (and it also helps ensure that only those who really want counselling apply.) And we do have a recommended fee policy to run the service which is outlined below.

If you are able to give more than suggested, this would be appreciated, as it would help us to maintain and expand our service.
 

Household income                                                   Minimum donation per session
Up to £15,000                                                              £15.00
£15,001 - £20,000                                                       £20.00
£20,001 - £25,000                                                       £25.00
£25,001 - £30,000                                                       £30.00
£30,001 - £35,000                                                       £35.00
£35,001 - £40,000                                                       £40.00
£40,001 - £45,000                                                       £45.00
£45,001 - £50,000                                                       £50.00
£50,000 +                                                                     £75.00 
 

The actual cost of a counselling session is approximately £55 – this includes the cost of the counsellor, the counsellors supervisor, running the building, professional association fees, administration, insurance, etc.. 

Currently we do receive some grant aid to cover £45 per session for some of our low wage/no wage clients. However, we are reliant on the generosity of others to cover the true costs.
 

If you are able to contribute to the work here at MHCS do please use the envelope provided by your counsellor or the card machine in reception.   We are very grateful for each and every donation received.  Please know that your generosity is helping to keep us going as a charity able to serve people most in need in our community.
 

Broadly speaking counselling can be free, but we need someone to pay for it, somewhere, and we do need financial support to run this service.
 

You may be interested to know that there is research that shows a direct link between positive counselling outcomes and contributing towards the cost of counselling!
 

​