Caya Community Counselling

For many people in Peckham, finding good therapy is harder than it should be. It is expensive, over-subscribed, or simply does not understand your experience. Unless you are well off, therapy is often out of reach, and too many people go without the care they need.

We want to change that. We are launching a community counselling service designed for the people of Peckham; long-term, in-person therapy that understands the realities of our lives, our families and our community.

Private counselling in London costs upwards of £60 a week, psychotherapy around £70, and psychology £120. That is simply unaffordable for most people. The alternatives are also limited. NHS Talking Therapies have waiting lists stretching to six months for assessment and up to a year before treatment begins, often offering only a few sessions of short-term CBT focused on symptoms rather than context. In some areas, waits for therapy can reach two years.

The charity sector has also been hit hard since Covid. Southwark Mind, the only remaining local provider, is so over-subscribed it regularly closes its waiting list. There are a handful of other organisations in Southwark offering low-cost therapy, but their clinics are outside Peckham or at capacity.

In our community, effective and ongoing support is severely under-resourced. Southwark’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment shows that rates of mental ill health are higher than the London average, particularly among Peckham’s West African, Caribbean, Latin American and Asian communities. People are struggling, and the help that exists does not always understand them. Peckham, in common with much of London, is in desperate need of more accessible and inclusive therapy.

Caya’s Community Counselling service aims to set the standard for this.

We will provide up to 12 months of high-quality, in-person, culturally aware therapy for people who need it but cannot access it. Sessions will start at £20. We will support around 30 individuals at a time, as well as couples and families, through a diverse team of therapists offering a range of approaches.

A key part of this is making the path into counselling more inclusive, which is why we will pay our trainee and newly qualified therapists £2,000–£3,000. Most low-cost therapy services rely on unpaid trainees, yet training costs up to £8,000 a year, a barrier that keeps the profession unrepresentative. When therapists are supported, they can better support their clients.

We have been part of Peckham since 2020, already the area’s largest therapy group. We have built a strong, sustainable model and deep community ties, running grief groups and collaborating with local organisations such as London Community Boxing. This new not-for-profit Community Interest Company will be built to last, sustained by our existing practice’s profits.

With your support, we can begin work immediately and open in early 2026.

We’re asking for £50,000 to fund our first year of core staffing (Service Manager, Clinic Lead and Supervisor) so that you, your neighbours and your family can have access to good, affordable therapy in the heart of the community.