Counselling Services in Galway

mcmacness

Not sure if this is the right forum to post in but does anyone know if there are any free counselling/ psychiatry services in Galway? It's for my brother, he's not in a position to go to the GP and be referred to someone he has to pay for and I'm not in the position to pay for it for him.

Eviledna

The tivoli institute provides low-cost counselling at ~€25 per hour, which is vastly less than the norm, and is a very professional and worthwhile place to go.

The only choice for "free" is if he can be referred to the clinic in uchg, but there's undoubtedly a long waiting list and the gp referral will cost him.

IMO you won't find better than tivoli, and if he is suffering please encourage him or help him find the €25 to go, counselling will give him a far better quality of life for the price of only a few pints tbh.

mathepac

mcmacness wrote: »

Not sure if this is the right forum to post in but does anyone know if there are any free counselling/ psychiatry services in Galway? ... .

Everyone is entitled to access free mental health services. Below are the Galway services.

Some services require a GP referral and some may be accessed without referral, but I'm afraid I can't say what the situation is in Galway. Ring some of the numbers below and they'll give you better information.

Best of luck, HTH

http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Find_a_Service/lho/Galway/Mental_Health_Services/

JuliusCaesar

How old is he? Jigsaw provides free mental health services to young people- up to age 25- in Galway.

Otherwise the HSE provides free mental health services, including addiction service.

Lon Dubh

It depends a bit on what he is looking for. If he has an actual psychiatric condition (e.g. Biopolar) then he can be referred to the psychiatric services in the hospital.

But if he wants counselling for "normal" life problems, then I think it is basically not available through there, or any government body that I know of for free (with some possible exceptions such as if they suffered abuse at industrial schools etc?).

I know a few people who tried to access counselling through the psychiatric services in Galway city but didn't get it (after a lot of trouble trying to access it). One of them ended up in some sort of group therapy/daycare thing, mixed in with people will all sorts of things, which sounded totally unsuitable and I think freaked her out a bit. Another who had workplace stress was under their care (basically being given medication but nothing else) and had to go elsewhere and pay for counselling (and he had a medical card).

UCHG psychiatric services are oriented towards CBT as well so don't seem to do what would normally be considered counselling. (CBT is for people with irrational/maladaptive thoughts and behaviours - to be honest I don't think much of it as a therapy, but that is probably because it is oversold for people it is not suitable for. It is not really for dealing with normal life problems).

He could still ask his GP in case there is something out there that might be of use. There could be smaller localised services or something that he could access. There is a list here of organisations which might have information (some of them offer counselling to specific groups of people, I don't know whether your brother would come under their banner)

http://www.supportme.ie/support-services.php?c=2&l=Galway%20City

This place offers reduced cost counselling

Pro-Counsult: 1 St Helens st, Cooke's Corner, Galway city centre
(091)589581 [Edit, he could ask them if there is some way for it to get paid for by the HSE?]

I think this place does family counselling as well, not sure if there is a charge or not

Galway Diocesan Centre,
Newtownsmith,
Galway City
091 565066
Website:www.pastoralcentre.ie

Ickle Magoo

Hey there OP,

You've got some good links already but as OP is an advice forum rather than a professional recommendation thread, I'm going to have to lock this thread.

PI Charter wrote:

We often get requests for recommendations for therapists and the like in particular geographical areas.

We cannot give recommendations - you should choose a therapist based on how well YOU get on with them not how well someone else does, any thread asking for recommendations will be locked.

There is an excellent thread in the Psychology Forum on how to go about finding a counsellor, therapist or psychologist for yourself HERE which we recommend you read instead.

All the very best.