About Us

How Memiah started ...

A good few years back, a close friend of ours found herself in a very daunting situation. After struggling with a number of personal issues, she decided that counselling would be the best option to help get her life back on track. Her initial decision to go for counselling was undoubtedly one of the hardest parts of her entire therapy process, and a very brave one.

However, once she’d decided this, a whole new set of questions arose, and it became apparent that choosing the right counsellor, whilst perhaps not the hardest part of counselling, is undoubtedly one of the most important parts.

There are numerous issues to consider - practical and otherwise. What about, for example, location? Despite counsellors’ assured complete confidentiality people may prefer to see a counsellor that is perhaps outside their local area, but still in surroundings they are comfortable in. Our friend certainly didn’t want to run into anyone she knew, but at the same time needed to know where she was going.

As she was a student at the time, money was a paramount issue. There are counsellors that offer reduced rates for students, and the unemployed or those seeking benefits, but how do you find them? No one wants to end up bartering with a counsellor over the price of their mental well being.

And what guarantees that the counsellor is the real deal? There are currently no laws in the UK that govern counselling, so what’s to stop anyone setting up shop to listen to people’s problems? There are qualifications and professional bodies, but these can often be confusing and over-whelming.

Counselling can take many different approaches - from person-based to psychoanalytic, and it’s important to choose a counsellor with an approach the person will be comfortable with and respond to well.

A daunting situation indeed, and it made us think. What if there was a website that collected all this information, so you could search where you live and the surrounding area and find a list of counsellors, with all their information, qualifications, and what areas they cover? Of course, a website like this didn’t exist. So we made one.

Counselling Directory was set up to provide a simple, easy, and most importantly un-daunting way of connecting people that need help with the people that provide it. A comprehensive searching tool, the site allows postcode, town and county searches, and produces a list of counsellors and psychotherapists registered in this area. Each counsellor has a profile, listing a bit about themselves, their approaches, what areas they deal with, and all their training, qualification and experience and fees.

The site shows which counsellors are registered/accredited with a professional body, and full profiles are only displayed after insurance and qualification documents are checked, or membership with a professional body has been verified.

The site has also become a huge information bank - there are articles written by the counsellors, as well as comprehensive information on all kinds of distress - from depression to eating disorders to abuse, to help people identify their problems and become informed, not scared. Visitors can also find information on the different approaches to counselling, what registration/accreditation with a professional body means, statistics on how common counselling is, and much more.

We’ve heard from many people who have found the site invaluable, reducing the amount of stress and worrying that can contribute to an already difficult enough process. Most importantly, the website has been built around working closely with the counsellors and psychotherapists listed on it, which ensures visitors to the site are provided with all the latest, accurate information.

After the success of Counselling Directory we were asked by both visitors and members to set up similar websites for other types of help, including hypnotherapy and life coaching. So we did.

Take a look at our Portfolio to see all of our other websites.