How to make a referral

How to refer

How to make a referral

Sessions have made a massive difference to my mental health and have helped me gain a more positive outlook and greater understanding about myself.

How to refer

It’s easy to make a referral to our service.

Referrals for children and young people under 18

For all clients under 18 we require a consent form to be signed by their parent/guardian.  If you are a parent/guardian referring your child, please complete the Under 18 Consent Form.

If you are another organisation referring in a child or young person, we will send their parent/guardian this form via text once their referral has been processed.

Current eligibility criteria

Under 18

And / Or

Adults

And / Or

Who can make a referral?

We accept referrals from GPs, health care professionals, schools and other local organisations working in the community. Adults/parents/carers can also refer themselves or another family member directly into our service.

We aim to contact a client within 2 weeks of receiving a referral. We will usually make first contact via a text message. If we need more information, we may call the person being referred (or parents/guardians/ carer if they are under 18).

In this case, we would contact the referrer to let them know. We always aim to signpost to more appropriate services where we can.

After a referral is made to us, all adult clients will have an assessment via a phone call. We will discuss their reason for referral in more detail, and the different services that Platform for Life provides. If the client is not ready to access counselling, they may be offered support from our Family Support Worker (FSW). The FSW can help them with more practical needs to get them ready to access counselling support.

We offer a flexible service and work on a person-centered approach. We understand that every client is different, and some may not be ready to access counselling. If a client doesn’t attend regularly, we will try to contact them to discuss what may be preventing them from accessing counselling.  If we can’t contact them, we will send a notification so they know we are closing their file. They can contact us whenever they feel ready to re-access our service.

If a client has been referred to us by social services, a GP, a health visitor or another NHS or statutory service, we will let the referrer know that the client has been unable to attend sessions.

We don’t have a limit on how many times a client can be referred into our service. Whether they don’t engage, or complete therapy and need to return, they can either self-refer again or be referred by other organisations.

If a client on our waiting list decides they no longer want to access our service, we will close their file as they’ve requested.  If they were referred by social services, a GP, a health visitor, or another NHS or statutory service, we will let the referrer know the client has decided not to access our service.

As we are a flexible service, with no limit on sessions clients can have, it can be difficult to determine exact wait times. However, we try to see people within 12 weeks of referral.

Please contact us if you have any further questions.

We come into contact with children/young people and/or vulnerable adults through the delivery of our counselling services and general contact.

We take their welfare extremely seriously. Our safeguarding policy ensures that Platform for Life fulfils our responsibilities with regard to their protection and responds to any concerns appropriately.

You can read our full safeguarding policy here

IN NEED OF URGENT HELP?

If you need urgent help or support outside of our working hours (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm), don’t struggle alone, please see the list of numbers below:

NHS – 111 or 999 – 24/7

Samaritans – 116 123 or 01244 377 999 –  24/7

CALM – 0800 58 58 58 – 5pm – midnight

National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK – 0800 689 5652 – 24/7

Cafe71 – 01244 393 139 – 10am – 10pm

CWP Healthwatch / MyMind (CYP) – 0800 145 6485 – 24/7

SHOUT (text service) – 85258 – 24/7

SANEline – 0300 304 7000 – 4pm – 10pm

The Martin Gallier Project Chester – 0151 644 0294 – Weekdays 9:30 – 4pm

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