Prison Counselling
Unplanned pregnancy. Miscarriage. Abortion. Stillbirth. Child separation. Adoption.
Any of these events are difficult to cope with.
It’s even harder if you are in, or leaving, prison.
Choices provides a counselling project for women in prison. Choices Prison Counselling (previously known as C4C) is a counselling service that aims to help women understand their story, express and process their feelings, grieve their losses and find hope for the future.
CHOICES PRISON COUNSELLING
Who we are
With more than 15 years’ experience of working with female offenders, Choices Prison Counselling is a trusted service provider, now commissioned by the NHS and working closely with the Mental Health team in three prisons. We also provide counseling to women leaving prison - a Post Release Counselling service. Choices is an organisational member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), our staff counsellors are BACP registered or registered with an equivalent professional body. Our team adheres to the BACP ethical framework.
What we do
We meet all women who have experienced miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth or child bereavement or who are separated from their children, with compassion, care and respect. Our aim is to help them process their losses, build a stronger sense of self, to feel empowered to make healthy choices and to find hope for the future.
Our Services
We offer supportive, confidential one-to-one counselling for up to 24 weekly sessions.
All our services are offered without judgement, and we aim to build a trusting therapeutic relationship, working in a trauma-informed, user-centred way. Our team is made up of qualified staff counsellors and volunteers counsellors who are either trained or training in various modalities but mainly from person-centred, psychodynamic and integrative models, to meet clients where they are and to support them to move forward positively.
We work closely with the Mental Health team and Perinatal Service team at HMP’s Downview, Bronzefield and Send, and with probation services and others to support women with counselling on release.
Get in touch
To find out more or refer someone to Choices Prison Counselling, or for Post Release counselling, please fill in the form or contact us:
Choices Prison Counselling is currently available in HMPs Bronzefield, Downview and Send female prisons.
By completing this form, you are consenting to Choices storing your data. This means that we will store it securely and control who has access to it. At Choices, we recognise that the information you provide may be sensitive and we will respect your confidentiality. We will not share any information where we are not legally required to do so. Your data will be stored securely only for as long as the data is needed for in accordance with the Article 89(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.
“‘Really helpful just talking about my lost baby, never done that before. And having someone to trust and not judge me where I felt ashamed .... counselling's changed me loads.’”
— Choices Prison Counselling client