We Are a Registered Charity
Highgate Counselling Centre (HCC) is the longest standing registered charity offering counselling services in the UK.
HCC’s Charitable mission is to provide high-quality, affordable counselling to individuals, couples and families, no matter their income.
Our charitable mission is at the very heart of all the valuable work that takes place. This means all decisions are carefully thought about so as not to impact being able to offer affordable counselling and accessible training.
What We Offer
Provides professional individual psychodynamic counselling as well as couples and families counselling. We carefully consider the fit of each client to a suitable counsellor. All contributions towards the cost of the counselling sessions are agreed at the point of your initial consultation. Contributions are agreed based on income before tax. More information regarding contributions can be found here.
We also offer accredited training in counselling, from introductory certificates (online and in-person) to our respected and long-standing Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling. Our small training groups and supportive approach help develop skilled, thoughtful counsellors ready to serve their communities.
Whether seeking support or considering a career in counselling, HCC offers accessible, professional services grounded in our commitment to our mission.
HCC was founded with a clear mission: to ensure everyone could access professional counselling, regardless of their ability to pay.
In 1960, William Kyle, a Methodist Minister based at Jackson’s Lane, established Highgate Counselling Centre after training in pastoral counselling and later psychotherapy. He created a network of skilled analysts and therapists who were prepared to donate their time to those in need.
This vision continued when William and his wife Benita moved to Westminster Central Hall, taking the work forward and eventually establishing the Westminster Pastoral Foundation (Wpf).
Over six decades later, we continue to evolve while staying true to our founder’s vision.
After being located at Tetherdown Hall in Muswell Hill from 1979 until late 2018, we then returned to Highgate.
Our training programmes developed alongside our counselling services, beginning with a Certificate course and later adding our Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling, which has been accredited by the BACP since 1994. Our courses continuously evolve, incorporating contemporary thinking and reflecting current practice in the field.
As we look to the future, we remain committed to responding to our community’s needs, incorporating up-to-date developments in counselling and psychotherapy, while maintaining the ethos that inspired our founding: providing professional counselling within a close-knit, supportive network, ensuring that financial barriers never prevent someone from receiving the help they need.
Why HCC’s Work Matters?
A message from the Director
Mental illness, distress and discomfort don’t discriminate and only impact those with financial means. Yet all too often too many people in need feel like mental health services are not accessible. Whether this is because it seems they are not deemed ill enough or cannot afford the often extortionately high fees in private care.
The work HCC does is therefore essential to ensuring people who need support can access it, no matter their income or what brings them to want to do the work. Choosing to seek counselling can be daunting and it takes courage in facing the unknown. So this is difficult enough without then facing further obstacles.
It is important to HCC that what we offer is of high-quality. We are small enough to be able to take the time to understand what each individual is coming to our door for, whether they are a counselling client, a volunteer or a prospective trainee. This means really comprehending what brings a client to counselling to ensure we are offering a suitable service with an appropriate counsellor. It also means keeping our training classes small, so we know each of our trainees are known personally to us, ensuring we offer support and directly encourage individual development. Essentially what I am saying is, we are a community and in a community each person and their unique needs matter.