Individual, Couple and Family Counselling - Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Q：

What is counselling?

A：

Counselling is a joint endeavour. Our counsellors, with professional knowledge and experience, listen attentively to the clients' concerns and ask appropriate questions to guide them to explore their feelings, thoughts and needs. Our counsellors will facilitate the clients to find ways solving the problems and overcome the obstacles. The clients needs to participate actively in the counselling session, work for desirable changes and practise new ways of thinking and coping.

Q：	What can I (and my family members) benefit from counselling?
A：	Counselling facilitates you (and your family members) to regulate emotions, get in touch with internal experience, understand family members’ needs, broaden one’s perspective, increase ways of coping with problems and have more hope. Personal and family resilience may thus be enhanced. You can read “Words from Our Clients” about their changes and feedback.

Q：	What counselling methods and skills would the counsellors use？
A：	Our counsellors would adopt suitable counselling methods and skills with regard to the needs and conditions of the clients (and their family members). They may also introduce relevant groups or other services to help the clients deal with the problems.

Q：	Does your service offer phone counselling?
A：	No. We offer only face-to-face counselling. Telephone contact is only for enquiry and making appointment.

Q：	Do my family members need to attend the counselling interview?
A：	Apart from meeting the client, our counsellors may suggest the client invite his/her partner, children or other family members to attend the counselling interview if necessary.

Q：

How long does each counselling session last? How many sessions are needed?

A：

Each session lasts approximately 1 hour for individual counselling and 1.5 hours for couple or family counselling. The total number and frequency of the sessions depend on the nature of the client’s problem and its urgency.  At the beginning of counselling, our counsellor and the client would work out a counselling plan which states the issues be handled as well as the estimated number of sessions and duration.  Under normal circumstances, interviews are more frequent at the beginning (one session around every two weeks) and be less frequent when the problem is improved (one session around every one to two months).

Q：	What are the qualifications of the counsellors?
A：	Our counsellors are registered social workers or trained counsellors who have received professional training in the fields of couple counselling, family therapy, parenting counselling, and/or play therapy.

Q：	Any counselling fees?
A：	Our service unit is funded by the Community Chest of Hong Kong. Clients pay only a one-off fee for the whole course of counselling service before the first interview. Donation is welcome for continuation of the service. (Clients with financial difficulties can apply for fee concession)

Q：	How to apply for counselling service and make an appointment?
A：	Applicants can make a call to our service to briefly describe their needs to our counsellor. After the counsellor’s assessment and if service can be provided, registration will be done for the applicant. The responsible counsellor for the case will contact the applicant within 5 working days after registration to schedule the first appointment.

Words from Our Clients