How To Guides · 07
How to know when it is time to see a counsellor
Three checks decide it. Has this lasted more than a few weeks without shifting? Is it affecting sleep, work or relationships? Have your usual strategies stopped working? Two yeses mean counselling is likely to help, and you do not need a diagnosis, a crisis or a referral to book.
Step by step
- 01Check durationA hard fortnight is life. Six weeks of the same weight, with no movement, is a pattern rather than a phase.
- 02Check functionSleep, work, appetite, temper, contact with people you like. When two or more are affected, the problem has stopped being contained.
- 03Check your own strategiesExercise, friends, time off, distraction. If what usually works has stopped working, more of it will not fix it.
Counselling is not a last resort for severe illness. Most clients are functioning adults who are tired of managing something alone, and earlier work is shorter work.
If you are thinking about not being here, that is not a waiting-room matter. Call 000 or Lifeline on 13 11 14 now, and book counselling as the next step rather than the first one.
Questions
Do I need a diagnosis or referral?+
No. You can book directly with a counsellor, with no GP referral and no mental health plan.
Is my problem too small?+
If it is taking up your week, it is big enough. Waiting until it is severe makes the work longer, not more deserved.
Related service
Individual Counselling
One-to-one time to work out what is actually going on — and what you want to do about it.
More guides
How to prepare for your first counselling session
What to bring, what to expect, and the one question worth deciding beforehand.
How to ask a partner to come to counselling
How to raise it without it landing as an accusation.
How to ground yourself during a panic wave
A physical sequence you can run anywhere in under two minutes.
How to set a boundary without starting an argument
Naming the limit, stating what you will do, and holding it through pushback.
How to support someone who is grieving
What genuinely helps, what to stop saying, and how to keep showing up.
How to keep a worry journal that actually helps
A structure that reduces rumination rather than rehearsing it.
How to know when it is time to see a counsellor
Three honest checks that separate a rough patch from something that will not resolve on its own.
How to get your sleep back when your mind will not stop
What to do at 3am, what to stop doing at 9pm, and why fighting for sleep keeps you awake.
How to have the money conversation with your partner
Setting the talk up so it is about the plan, not a referendum on who spends what.
How to say no at work without damaging the relationship
Language that protects your workload and your standing at once.
How to talk to your teenager without it becoming a fight
Timing, tone and the two questions that keep a conversation open.
How to get through an anniversary or a first Christmas after a loss
Planning the day deliberately, deciding what you will and will not do, and having an exit ready.