Stronger Together
Building community connections for better mental health
Bridging the gaps
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.
Help us create a community response to mental health, and support more people through life.
Making counselling & psychotherapy affordable
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.
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 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. Last year, 131 people benefited from our counselling services.
“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 that 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.
With your donation today, we can provide more subsidised counselling sessions to support the people in our community who most need it.
References:
*Mind, Big Mental Health Report, 2025
**Rethink Mental Illness, 2025
***Care Quality Commission, 2024
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