Change is a counselling charity that provides free counselling to individuals aged 14+ who are registered with a Birmingham GP. We ask for voluntary donations for anyone not matching this criteria.
We also train counsellors, professional health workers, social workers and teachers in Solution Focused Practice.
Change is a registered charity (number 1037463) that was established in Birmingham, England in 1991.
You May Also Consider (sponsored)
Quick Start Online Therapy: Tell Us a Little About Yourself and Get Matched With a Therapist Right for You
Take a simple guided quiz and let us know your preferences. Get matched to an online therapist right for you. Convenient and affordable online therapy from your phone, tablet or computer.
Have you been in therapy before?
Services Offered
Young Counselling
Through years of working with young people, our counsellors understand the problems that young people are going through, allowing them to help them apply solutions. Very often simple problems grow much bigger when people don't talk to each other and other people fear the worst, so that talking is even harder. Adults can seem hard to reach and scary to talk to. Many young people begin to think of themselves as being different and it is very difficult for them to deal with these thoughts without help.
Solution-focused Brief Therapy, which is the method used by our counsellors deals with ways of solving the problem. We do not talk about the problem, as this makes it harder to solve. We seek ways that people already use as solutions and build upon them.
Solution Focused Brief Therapy has amazingly quick results and works by switching someone from focusing on what is wrong in their lives to what is going well. It is very different from more traditional counselling approaches that require the client to talk about their past problems in depth and which can take between 6 months to several years to see positive results. Solution Focused Brief Therapy addresses the issues or problems the client is facing now and what they want to change in their lives. Working closely with the client, the counsellor helps them to find their own solutions to make these changes.
Schools Counselling
Another specialised service that Change provides, is counselling for school children aged 14 to 18, teachers and educational workers.
Fees and Payment
This is a registered charity
Counselling services provided are free for eligible individuals.
Services Offered To: Adults Couples Teens
Special Groups: LGBTQ
Payment: Sliding Scale Pro-bono
If You Call, Please Let Us Know How it Went:
Were You Able to Make an Appointment?
One quick last question. Who was seeking counseling today?
Do you know the reason they are not accepting clients?
A community counseling agency is a group therapy practice that offers affordable mental health services. Most are independent non-profit agencies, state agencies, or publicly-funded agencies. A few may restrict who is eligible for services, so it is a good idea to check when you call.
Community counseling agencies are generally more affordable than other therapy providers, but how much more affordable they are will depend on whether you qualify for a discount or sliding scale fee (or if they accept your insurance). Many, but not all, have a policy that they won't turn away anyone due to inability to pay. You should ask about their fees when you first call.
Expect to talk to kind people who want to help you find the care you need. Most community agencies strive to connect you with a live person within 24 hours, if not immediately. If you're asked to hold or leave a message, don't give up; just leave a message and wait. You should hear back pretty quickly.
Most agencies try to set up an initial assessment appointment within a week (some do within 24 hours), though the waitlist to start therapy is usually longer—about a few weeks on average. If you're not eligible or if the agency is not right for you, it's usually still worth it to call or drop in, because staff are knowledgeable about local options and can often refer you to one.