I’m Nicola, the business owner of Counselling with Nicola. I set up my counselling service in 2008. My business has not only survived but has grown through two recessions and a pandemic. It continues to be extremely busy. I work with a mixture of clients, and supervisees. I am an affiliate for EAP Providers.

Other than paying for my website hosting I have never paid a penny in marketing!

From 2003-2005 I trained and qualified as a counsellor. During this time, with a lot of support, I developed and set up a counselling service at a community health project in my local area. This project helps people to manage their mental health.

The service I set up was very small with only me seeing clients. However, as with every good counselling service, the waiting list grew rapidly. I quickly discovered that I needed to step back from seeing clients, expand the number of counsellors and expand the service.

I was fully involved in the recruitment of counsellors, setting up the policies and procedures, managing the waiting lists and evaluating the service. The evaluation of the service was key to the project being supported by funders. The counselling service grew from seeing clients to supporting up to five students at a time. The service became one of the main placement providers for trainee counsellors and is still recognised by the universities as a good placement opportunity for their students.

I also decided to set up a private practice from my home during this time. Counselling with Nicola was born! At the same time, I was also approached by another community health project in my area which supports new dads to set up a counselling service for them too.

In a very short space of time, I had set up three counselling services. Many years later, all three of these counselling services are still going strong and provide a great resource for the community.

Throughout my time as a supervisor, I have supported and cheered on many a supervisee as they qualify and set up their counselling service too. It has been an honour and privilege to watch their counselling services grow.

I genuinely feel I have the skills and knowledge to support and help you set up your counselling service.