CRAIG COVENTRY

Frequently Asked Questions

Craig Coventry is an experienced and qualified professional counsellor and psychotherapist based in Guildford and Woking, Surrey.

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How much does therapy cost?

This is dependent on location, my standard fees are £60 per 50-minute session in Woking, and £65 per 50-minute session in Guildford. Online therapy ranges between £50- £65. £50 for timeslots where I am usually working from home, or £60- £65 if it is a time slot where I am usually at an office- the corresponding office rates above apply.

Some people opt for 90 minute sessions, for example when doing in-depth trauma processing or EMDR therapy, fees are doubled for 90 minute sessions. There is no requirement for 90 minute sessions for EMDR or other trauma processing and is purely client preference.
I do offer concessional rates for those with significant financial difficulties. However, I only offer a limited number of concessional slots at any one time so please let me know prior to booking an initial assessment.

How long do I need to be in therapy for?

This is something I cannot answer. It ultimately your choice and I work on the basis that you decide what is right for you, and through therapy you can best work out what your needs are.
I do recommend a minimum of 3 months which I consider to be short term. However, there are some occasions where people have needed only 4-5 sessions, and some occasions where people need a couple of years due to severity. It is due to you to decide and obviously you know what you can afford- I will be honest if I believe short- term or long-term would be beneficial to you but the decision is always yours.

What times do you work?

My appointments are primarily in the afternoon and evenings: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in Guildford; Monday and Friday in Woking.
I do offer day time appointments in Woking on Fridays and sometimes on Tuesdays in Guildford.

Are you easy to get to, what about parking?

Yes, both of my therapy rooms are in the town centre.
My Woking practice is a 30 second walk from the station and about a 3-minute walk from Victoria Way, multi-storey car park.
My Guildford practice is a 5- minute walk from London Road station, and about a 10-minute walk from Guildford train station. There is a pay and display car park right outside the building.

On your website you say you are a trauma therapist, do you do anything else?

Yes, absolutely. Even though trauma is my main area of expertise, it only covers around 1/3 of my clinical work. So, around 2/3 of my work is very generic working with lots of different issues- too many to list here.

How Do I Pay?

If you are self-funding, you can pay by cash or card at the end of the session, or you can pay by bank transfer the day prior to the session. Cash or bank transfer is preferred, however, any of these three methods is fine. Please note I do not accept cheques. See below if you are covered by health insurance.

I’m covered by health insurance, how does it work?

Your health insurers may cover the fees for the session. However, they may only fund a set number of sessions, or a provisional number of sessions and then a review.
If you are covered by health insurance company I am registered with, I will invoice your insurers directly providing I have your membership number and claim reference number- I need these to confirm with your insurers before I can book the initial session.
If you are covered by a health insurance company I am not registered with, your insurers may still fund sessions. However, it may be that you will have to pay for the sessions and claim the money back- I will provide invoices for you to be able to do this. Always check with your insurer before booking.

What is the difference between counselling and psychotherapy?

These days, people often use the terms counselling and psychotherapy interchangeably. Counselling and psychotherapy use the same theories, procedures, techniques etc. The main difference really is that counselling is usually short-term and problem specific. Psychotherapy, on the other hand, is longer term and focus on long term personality change and is better suited for ongoing, deeper issues.
In practicetel: 01483963700 this means that in short-term work, the therapist may be a little more problem focused due to time. In longer the term work there is more scope to go into all areas.

So what actually is trauma?

Well, trauma is not just working with ‘shell shocked’ individuals after an accident- that’s actually a very small percentage.
Trauma is very much psychological and can occur after accidents, being in the services, or after adverse experiences such as: domestic/sexual abuse, violence, bullying, torture, neglect, addictive lifestyle, threat to life, witnessing death. Betrayal trauma seems to have the biggest impact on people’s lives: that is when the abuser is supposed to be an individual the person can trust- teacher, parent, sibling, care giver, family friend.
Often there is underlying trauma with many conditions such as: Borderline Personality Disorder, Dissociative Identity Disorder, PTSD, C-PTSD, addictive disorders and many others including health problems through psycho-somatisation.