Stronger Together
Building community connections for better mental health
This Mental Health Awareness Week the focus is on the theme of ‘Community’. Join us at Highbury Counselling Centre (HCC) to come together as community-focused organisations to support more people through life. Find out more about our work and spaces, get to know other vital local services, and share resources to build stronger community connections for better mental health.
At our Stronger Together event, you will be able to learn from a wide range of professionals from local groups and organisations, contribute your voice to our community mental health forum, and network with other Islington-based organisations, with refreshments provided throughout the day for all to enjoy.
Saturday 17th May, 2pm – 5pm
Highbury Counselling Centre (HCC)
12 Woodfall Road, Finsbury Park, N4 3JD
Join us as we build connections to better support each other and the work we do.
Bridging the gaps
Throughout Mental Health Awareness Week, you can help us create a community response to mental health, and support more people through life.
At Highbury Counselling Centre we provide long-term support to people who can’t afford to wait on NHS lists or the cost of private services, to help more people build a stronger response to their wellbeing. The blend of low-cost and long-term talking therapy is much needed in a time of increasing demand for mental health support and increasing complexity of presenting issues.
In February this year, mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness analysed NHS data showing that eight times as many people are still waiting for treatment for their mental health after 18 months compared to physical health care. That’s 16,522 people still waiting for mental health treatment after 18 months, compared to 2,059 people facing the same delay for elective physical health treatments. They also found 4 in 5 people waiting for support felt that their health deteriorated whilst they waited for treatment.
Making counselling & psychotherapy affordable
Based in Finsbury Park our doors are open to everyone across London. We believe that counselling and psychotherapy should not be a luxury or exclusive, but available to all. We provide access to psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy and counselling, with no set demographic for the people we work with; our clinic is open to all adults, and currently our clients range from 18 to 86 years old, from diverse ethnic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, and with very diverse presenting concerns. Last year, 131 people benefited from our counselling services.
We established our counselling and psychotherapy programme in response to the worsening mental health crisis and following feedback from our clients who identified that mental health care through the NHS is inaccessible or inappropriate for their needs – 2/3 of our clients have previously accessed NHS short-term therapy – and that private care is prohibitively expensive. In addition, the cost-of-living crisis continues to place people living on low incomes under increasing pressure, and demand for our counselling service continues to rise.
Our aim is to make therapy affordable for everyone irrespective of ability to pay, and we therefore operate a sliding scale, with fees starting from £20 for people who are unable to work, those on low-incomes, receiving benefits and for students. One of the ways we are able to do this is through hiring our beautiful spaces in HCC to other vital local services who are working with individuals and groups to build a healthier, stronger community.
“I’ve learned to work through my feelings, not hide away and try and dismiss them by rationalising them.”
How you can help
Strides’ counselling programme was established because we believe everyone should have access to counselling and support for their mental health. In the last 3 months we’ve seen an increase of 15% in referrals who can only afford our lower fee. This Mental Health Awareness week, with your help we can provide more subsidised counselling sessions to support the people in our community who most need it.
Hire therapeutic spaces: Can’t attend our event? Find out more about our spaces.
*Mind, Big Mental Health Report, 2025
**Rethink Mental Illness, 2025
***Care Quality Commission, 2024
Mental Health Awareness Day FAQs
What is Mental Health Awareness Week?
Mental Health Awareness Week is a UK campaign that runs in May every year, started by mental health charity Mental Health Foundation in 2001, to help raise awareness in the UK of the importance of mental health and to promote wellbeing for everyone.
When is Mental Health Awareness Week?
Mental Health Awareness Week 2025 takes place from Monday 12th to Sunday 18th May 2025. This year’s theme is ‘Community’, and at Strides we’re focusing on building community connections for better mental health.
What can I do for Mental Health Awareness Week?
There are many ways you can support Mental Health Awareness Week and our Stronger Together campaign. By making a donation to our work, you’re helping us continue to keep counselling affordable and accessible for people who need it most. If you’re a business, community group or organisation, come along to our community event on 17th May, and you may want to consider hiring our therapeutic rooms in Highbury Counselling Centre in Finsbury Park, helping us to subsidise counselling sessions for people on low-incomes, unable to work, students or retired people. You can also share our Stronger Together campaign on social media.
Is Mental Health Awareness Week in May or October?
Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK is held in May. World Mental Health Awareness Day is on the 10th October every year.
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