Reflective Practice Group – Weds 6th May 2026
26/04/2026
Our Reflective Practice Group usually takes place online and in-person at the MCS building
About Us
Our Accreditation
Marches Counselling Service is fully accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and our counsellors have BACP-accredited qualifications or are working towards them— or they are registered with an equivalently established relevant body.
As a BACP accredited counselling service, we take our duty of care to clients and to our counsellors or psychotherapists seriously. We support the work of our team through small, regular supervision groups.
To maintain standards within the organisation, senior clinicians with qualifications in supervision monitor and input into the work of all our counsellors. Approximately 75% of our counsellors are fully trained and registered with a recognised regulatory body, while others are actively working towards their accreditation, mainly with BACP.
If you are interested in learning more about the BACP accreditation process, standards, and ethos, you can visit the BACP website by clicking the link below.
Our Story: Celebrating 15 Years of Dedicated Service
For 15 years, Marches Counselling Service has been providing professional, compassionate counselling to people across Herefordshire and the surrounding area.
As a BACP accredited service, we are committed to our service values and strive to make counselling accessible to everyone. We work to keep waiting times as short as possible, offer subsidised counselling for people on lower incomes, and provide a welcoming, supportive environment where clients can access high-quality care.
We also believe that well-supported counsellors provide the best care. Through regular supervision and ongoing professional development, we invest in our counselling team to ensure every client receives ethical, thoughtful and effective support.
Today, our mission remains the same: to provide accessible, empathetic counselling that helps people make positive and lasting changes in their lives.
Our Team
We have 4 assessors and up to 21 counsellors in Hereford, all of whom receive regular opportunities for continued professional development, reflective practice, and supervision as appropriate.
Along with our clinical team, our helpful administrative staff is always available to answer your questions.
If you’re a qualified counsellor or are looking to develop your counselling career, we’d love to hear from you. While we may not always have current vacancies, we’re always happy to have a conversation, learn more about you, and explore future opportunities to work together.
Our Trustees
As a charity we are governed by our Trustees who contribute to the overall management and development of the service.
Our trustees are:
Tina Abbott – Chair of the Board of Trustees
Tina is a BACP Registered and Senior Accredited Psychotherapist and Senior Accredited Supervisor with over 35 years’ experience in various settings including private practice, the NHS, Further and Higher Education, and in the charitable sector. She has significant experience in service management. She currently works in private practice as a psychotherapist, supervisor, institutional consultant, and group facilitator.
Siobhan Donnelly – Deputy Chair
Graham Thomas – Treasurer
Sarah Petter
Trish Tatchell
Our Structure
Our counsellors
Approaches our therapists may use
This list is not exhaustive. Our counsellors may use other approaches when/if appropriate for you.
For further information on therapeutic approaches, see BACP’s Types of counselling and psychotherapy
A form of psychotherapy that facilitates personal discovery, healing and emotional health by combining art making and therapeutic dialogue. The “art” in art therapy is seen as a vehicle of expression. It doesn’t require for you to be an artist or consider yourself good at art. What it offers is an way of exploring your inner experience & expressing yourself. In addition to a depth understanding of the art process art psychotherapists have skills and experience similar to other therapeutic modalities such as counselling and verbal psychotherapy. Read more about art therapy from Art therapy – The British Association Of Art Therapists
A form of psychotherapy that facilitates personal discovery, healing and emotional health by combining art making and therapeutic dialogue. The “art” in art therapy is seen as a vehicle of expression. It doesn’t require for you to be an artist or consider yourself good at art. What it offers is an way of exploring your inner experience & expressing yourself. In addition to a depth understanding of the art process art psychotherapists have skills and experience similar to other therapeutic modalities such as counselling and verbal psychotherapy. Read more about art therapy from
Usually short term collaborative work which helps a person to develop new skills and coping mechanisms. The person learns how to recognise and understand how difficult thoughts and behaviours arise. They can then practise the techniques to manage their feelings and responses more successfully.
Non-directive, focusing on the client’s own values, where the client is regarded as the expert on himself. The client’s self-awareness and sense of self-worth is developed through the relationship with the counsellor. The best way out of difficulties will be one unique to the individual. The work is generally ‘Person Centred’ and will often focus on the whole of the individual’s experiences, thoughts, feelings and actions in the present. It is a route to self-development and growth.
Exploring patterns in a person’s life and how they are repeating themselves in the present. It examines the emotions which may be keeping us stuck and explores how we might change their influence. It focuses upon the relationships we have developed with ourselves and others, facilitating new understandings which give us more choice in how we move forward.
A humanistic and holistic therapy. One of its chief distinctions from more traditional Freudian analytical therapy is that it holds we have a “higher” as well as a “lower” unconscious, and that body, mind and feelings are closely connected. Through exploration of all these elements, sometimes through the use of imagery and visualisation, it is possible to understand the patterns that we find ourselves repeating and to move towards uncovering our true potential.
Helps people who are unhappy in their relationship with one another find a way through to better communication. It is not limited to people who are married, but can help in any close relationship. It is about finding common ground and respecting individual difference, enabling better choices to be made and helping people feel more comfortable about their way forward, whatever that might be.
MBCT has been used successfully with people experiencing depression and a range of emotionally stressful situations. It helps us to relate differently to our negative thoughts and feelings. Mindfulness encourages us to develop our willingness to experience life, and our capacity to engage with things that are difficult. It can give us the courage to allow distressing moods, emotions, thoughts and sensations to come and go, without using up our energy to battle against them.
Exploring difficult situations in our lives, with others who share some similar experiences. It can initially be very challenging to be in the group situation as we may already be struggling with feelings of alienation from others or the opposite, feeling too dependent. However, as it is often our experience of the family or social group which has created these difficulties, it is in a group that we may best find a new way of being with others.
Is a highly positive and practical integrative therapeutic approach. Broadly, Gesalt practioners help people to focus on their immediate thoughts, feelings and behaviour and to better understand the way they relate to others. This increased awareness can help people to find a new perspective, see the bigger picture and start to effect changes.
Supervision of our counsellors
As a BACP accredited counselling service we take our duty of care to clients and to our counsellors or psychotherapists, seriously.
We support the work of our qualified and experienced therapists through small regular supervision groups.
To maintain standards within the organisation, senior clinicians with qualifications in supervision monitor and input into the work of all our counsellors.
75% of our counsellors are fully trained and registered with a recognised regulatory body with many accredited or actively working towards their accreditation, mainly with BACP, some with BATT.
Clinical placements
If we feel experience and previous work provides appropriate skills, we offer clinical placements to people in their final year of a new training. We are especially keen to provide a safe and professional route for mature trainees.
Most therapists will, at some point, return to training to build their skills. MCS encourages this through effective supervision and can sometimes offer financial support to extend the services offered.
Clinical placements are voluntary and help us offer our service at a cost matched to peoples circumstances.
Counsellor Professional Development
Our therapists, whatever their level of experience, are committed to their own development which we facilitate, providing opportunities for training and continuing professional development (CPD) within the organisation.
Therapists working for MCS also undertake external training to develop further areas of expertise in their work with MCS and where appropriate, even offer training on their area of expertise, to others in the organisation.
Occasionally a client is asked if they are willing for us to talk about their situation and therapy with us anonymously with others in a training organisation to help the therapist progress in their studies. There is never any obligation to agree to this and the counsellor will always explain what this would involve beforehand.
Counsellor feedback on MCS
A counsellor who left for personal reasons gave us this feedback...
"I have felt very supported working as a counsellor at Marches. There is a warm and friendly administration team who were so helpful when I started working there - always available to answer questions.
The group supervision provided is invaluable and I have had the
opportunity to meet other therapists which has really enriched my experience and helped me increase my professional network. There is a real feeling of community and support."
Client feedback on MCS
The statements below are from some of the people who’ve finished their therapy with us.
I feel that counselling has helped me to stop and take stock of myself and my feelings. It has allowed me to feel ‘normal’ and get on with living.
I found acceptance here that had healing properties.
It helped me look at life more positively and not to be down on others. Excellent service and a great counsellor.
It was a very valuable experience for me and it has made great changes to my life in general, particularly my self-confidence. Thank you
My counsellor was lovely, good at listening and he certainly made me look at my life in a more positive way and encouraged ideas to improve things.
An incredible therapist who in my humble opinion was born to do what she does she has a natural gift and deep care for others well-being and never makes you feel judged enabling me to discuss things that have caused me shame and to move into compassion for myself and find forgiveness in my heart towards others
I want to thank you for helping me climb out of a very deep hole that has lasted many years
My counsellor was empathic, knowledgeable and insightful. I was able to trust her completely and felt safe, secure and heard.
Please get in touch to find out more
Appointments
Available M-F during daytime, in person or online.
There is also some evening & weekend availability.
Recent MCS news
Read more →
We welcome new Trustees
23/04/2026
At our recent Board meeting we were delighted to welcome two new trustees, Sarah
Celebrating 15 Years!
23/04/2026
On Monday we celebrated 15 years of Marches Counselling Service, a milestone built on
