Professional care
Counselling
Talking to someone trained in physical illness is different from talking to a friend — they are not frightened by what you say, and they have seen this before.
Not sure which one?
One-to-one counselling
6–12 sessions, reviewed as you goPatients, caregivers or family members, individually.
Confidential sessions with a counsellor or psychologist experienced in physical illness. Usually 50 minutes, weekly or fortnightly, in person or by video.
- Anxiety, low mood and adjustment after diagnosis
- Fear of recurrence or of dying
- Body image and identity change
- Making treatment decisions under pressure
Family counselling
3–6 sessions, often longer gaps between themTwo or more family members together, with or without the patient.
A facilitated conversation about roles, decisions, information sharing and conflict. The therapist works for the family as a unit rather than for one person.
- Disagreement about treatment or care decisions
- Uneven caring loads and resentment
- Talking to children about a parent's illness
- Preparing for the end of life together
Couple counselling
6–8 sessionsPartners, where one is ill or one is the main caregiver.
Support for a relationship carrying illness — communication, intimacy, mismatched coping styles and the shift from partner to carer.
- Becoming a carer to your partner
- Changes in intimacy and sexual function
- Grieving at different speeds
- Making decisions about the future together
Caregiver counselling
6 sessions, plus check-insAnyone in an unpaid caring role.
Sessions that are about you — not a review of the patient. Focused on burnout, guilt, anger, boundaries and life outside the caring role.
- Burnout and compassion fatigue
- Guilt about resentment or about respite
- Anticipatory grief
- Planning life after caring ends
Children's counselling
6–10 sessionsChildren and teenagers affected by a family member's illness or death.
Age-appropriate support using play, art and talking. Parents are usually involved in planning and review.
- A parent or grandparent with serious illness
- Anxiety, school refusal or regression
- Bereavement, including complicated or sudden loss
- Young carers taking on adult responsibility
Bereavement counselling
6–12 sessions; specialist therapy for prolonged grief runs longerAnyone after a death — including before it, in anticipatory grief.
Space to tell the story of the loss, work through guilt and anger, and rebuild a life that carries the person with you.
- Grief that has not shifted after many months
- Sudden, traumatic or stigmatised death
- Grieving as a couple or as a family
- Anniversaries and firsts
Group counselling
8 weekly sessionsSmall facilitated groups: patients, caregivers, or the bereaved.
6–10 people meeting weekly with a trained facilitator. The value is largely in discovering your reactions are shared.
- Isolation and feeling that nobody understands
- Condition-specific groups (cancer, dialysis, dementia carers)
- Bereavement groups
- People who find one-to-one attention uncomfortable
Crisis support
Immediate, single or repeated contactsAnyone at immediate risk, or in acute distress.
Urgent, short contact by phone, text or in person — focused on safety now, not on longer-term work.
- Thoughts of suicide or self-harm
- A caregiver at breaking point
- Acute panic or dissociation
- The hours after devastating news
Request an appointment
This form is sent to the service — everything else in the app stays on your device.
If you need help sooner
Afya Companion offers education and self-help support. It does not diagnose, treat or replace care from your doctor, nurse, psychologist or dietitian. If something in your health changes, speak to your care team.