Counselling for men & dads
Our counselling service is here for men and dads – whether you’re a dad with young children, a dad-to-be, you’ve lost a baby, are struggling to become a dad or if you are unsure if you want to become a dad.
We provide a well-established, quality counselling service, offering confidential, non-judgemental support.
We invite clients to make an affordable contribution towards each counselling session, if they are able. For more information on contributing please see here.
Our Long Term Service (consisting of ten sessions) offers counselling to clients of all genders who are affected by fertility, baby loss, pregnancy, birth or parenting.
Our Fast Track Service is available to men and dads as well. This enables quicker access to three sessions of counselling and aims to support clients manage the impact of time-critical situations such as:
- Making a decision about continuing with a pregnancy. Our only agenda is to support clients to explore what is right for them.
- Clients who know they are about to lose a pregnancy
- Immediately after loss (miscarriage or baby loss)
- Experiencing significant emotional difficulties in 3rd trimester (28 weeks + development) or 4th trimester (first 3 months after birth)
Our counselling service is here for men and dads – whether you’re a dad with young children, a dad-to-be, you’ve lost a baby, are struggling to become a dad or if you are unsure if you want to become a dad.
We provide a well-established, quality counselling service, offering confidential, non-judgemental support.
Our Long Term Service (consisting of ten sessions) offers counselling to clients of all genders who are affected by fertility, baby loss, pregnancy, birth or parenting.
Our Fast Track Service offers three sessions of urgent, time-limited counselling for:
- Clients who are making a decision about continuing with a pregnancy, which can be a space for potential fathers to consider their feelings. Our only agenda is to support clients to explore what is right for them.
- Dads whose unborn baby is in the third trimester (28 weeks+ development), or immediately after miscarriage or baby loss.
How to refer
To refer to our counselling service, please fill out this short form
Once you have completed the short form above, our Counselling Lead will contact you with some paperwork.
- You will then be invited for an initial appointment.
- This online appointment is a chance for us to find out more about what you are looking for, and to decide together if we’re the right service for you, right now.
If you think you will struggle to complete our online form for any reason, please call our counselling service on 0131 553 5565 and we will get back to you. Alternatively, you can email our Counselling Lead on counselling@
counsellingandcare.co.uk.
Dads' mental
health
Our counselling team has undertaken additional training in paternal mental health.
We know that many dads don’t feel they have a right to feel as affected by pregnancy, birth, or losing a baby as the person who has physically experienced this. However, it is completely normal to be affected by these experiences.
We also know that many dads feel they must stay strong for their partners or families, but underneath are struggling.
35-40% of dads experience anxiety and stress – over the time of pregnancy and up to 1 year after birth (NCT 2018)
10-15% of dads experience perinatal depression (NCT 2018)
If you are finding things hard, know that you’re not alone in feeling this way. If you think you would benefit from support, please talk to family, friends or a professional counsellor.
How
counselling
can help
Counselling is what’s called talking therapy. It is a space to talk confidentially with a trained professional who will not judge you. Your counsellor will listen, and support you to unravel how you are feeling and why you might feel this way. They can support you to make choices about what to do next.
Our counsellors come from different therapeutic backgrounds. Some counsellors offer a more open space to talk and allow your feelings to be heard. Others will offer more structure and techniques for coping. None of our counsellors will tell you how you should feel or offer medical advice.
At our initial appointment, we will ask you if you prefer a particular type of counselling.
If you do not feel like your counsellor is a good match for you, it is okay to say you would like to work with someone else.
For more information on our service, our counselling team, and where counselling takes place see our Counselling FAQs.
What people say about the counselling service
