Individual counselling

Individual counselling provides a supportive space to explore personal, relational, or academic concerns. Through this process, you can gain deeper self-understanding, build coping strategies and develop tools to respond more effectively to the challenges you face.

The service is provided by the University Counselling Service (UCS). It's is free to access and available most of the year, with short breaks over Christmas, Easter and public bank holidays. 

If this is your first time visiting the page, we encourage you to watch the video and read through the sections below to learn more.

If you’re ready to book an appointment, complete our student support request form.

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Individual counselling is available to students who are in the UK and enrolled on a course requiring College membership. 

Access to the service continues if you're:

  • waiting for your final results to be officially confirmed by Student Registry, the Postgraduate Committee or Degree Committee
  • temporarily suspended and waiting for the outcome of a disciplinary case

 We cannot work with students who are: 

  • abroad
  • enrolled on a course that does not require College membership
  • no longer registered as a student / whose registration has lapsed and not been extended
  • between two separate courses that require separate applications
  • formally suspended following a disciplinary outcome
  • on intermission 

These measures are in place to make sure we can safely assess and manage risk, deliver the appropriate support and work within professional and legal boundaries. 

If these exclusions apply to you, we can help signpost you to other sources of support.  

If you’re unsure whether you meet these criteria, please get in touch via reception@studentsupport.cam.ac.uk 

To request an initial appointment, complete our student support request form. You only need to complete this form once per academic year. 

When you fill in the form, you can let us know if you’d prefer a counsellor with a particular background or identity, and we’ll do our best to match you. 

After you submit your form, we’ll be in touch to offer you the next available appointment slot. 

We aim to offer you an appointment within 10 working days. In the last academic year, the average waiting time for an appointment was 3 working days. 

If another service may be more appropriate, the intake team will be in touch to learn a bit more about your situation and discuss alternatives. 

Our individual counselling is based on the ‘One at a Time Therapy’ (OAATT) model. OAATT aims to provide support when you need it, without having long waiting lists.

It begins with an initial 75-minute appointment focused on your most pressing issue.

If you would like to access further sessions, follow-up appointments usually last 50 minutes.

We always have a gap of at least two weeks between appointments, to give you time to implement the strategies you've covered in the session.

After four sessions, you and your counsellor will review how things are going and decide together on the next steps. 

The support we provide is confidential.

This means your information will not be shared outside the service without your consent. 

Exceptions only apply if: 

  • there are legal or statutory obligations to disclose, or
  • there is a risk of serious harm to you or others 

For more details, please see our confidential and privacy page.