Home / About Fleet
A small charity that has stayed put
Set up in 1987 by a group of trained volunteer counsellors. Still in the same corner of Belsize Park, still run by volunteers.
Fleet Counselling began as a support service for students attending classes at the Fleet Community Education Centre in NW3. Over the years the remit widened and the links with local mental health services grew, but the founding principle never changed: good counselling should not be something only well-off people can have.
We are run by a team of qualified volunteer counsellors, therapists, supervisors and trustees. Nobody here is paid. Every counsellor is fully trained, and all of them attend supervision with an outside consultant every fortnight — the professional safeguard that keeps the work rigorous and keeps clients safe.
Most of the people who come to us find us themselves. Others are pointed our way by their GP surgery, by another counselling service, or by a community organisation nearby. Services like ours exist partly because the NHS does not have the capacity to see everyone who would benefit from talking to someone.
The facts
| Founded | 1987 |
|---|---|
| Charity number | 1013342 |
| Membership | Organisational member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy |
| Basis | Not-for-profit, entirely volunteer-run |
| Where | The Rear Entrance, 3 Daleham Gardens, London NW3 5BY |
If one person in our community suffers, we all suffer. That is not sentiment — it is the reason a service like this is worth keeping going.
Fleet CounsellingWhere the money goes
Small costs, met by donations
Because the whole team works free of charge, our costs are modest — but they are real. Counsellors’ travel expenses, telephone, insurance, room use and administration all have to be paid for, and they are paid for almost entirely out of what clients are able to give and what supporters donate.
Every donation goes directly into keeping appointments available. More funding means shorter waiting lists and more people seen each week, which is the only measure of success we are interested in.