Our area includes Brighton, Hove, Bexhill-on-sea, Burgess Hill, Eastbourne, Hailsham, Haywards Heath, Hastings, Lewes, Littlehampton, Rye, Seaford, St Leonards-on-sea and Worthing.

We will offer you your first appointment as quickly as we can. If, at this appointment it’s agreed that Relate counselling or therapy may be helpful, we will discuss at what times you can come on a regular basis and when this might begin. You can come to see us during the day or in the evening.

Counselling sessions are usually once a week for 50 minutes. You will see the same counsellor each week and your counselling will continue for as long as both you and the counsellor feel it is helpful, usually between 4 and 12 sessions (more for sex therapy).

Whilst most sessions are arranged for the same time each week, we can offer flexible appointments if you’re unable to attend in this way. So if you work shifts or work away from home on a regular basis, we will do all we reasonably can to make an arrangement that suits you.

Our counsellors are carefully selected and trained by Relate to a nationally recognised standard. They work to the highest standards of professionalism, confidentiality and ethics and abide by the BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Ethical Framework). They also receive continuing support and supervision and have access to a range of professional consultants. In this way we maintain consistently high standards. Our counselling services have been awarded accreditation with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) so you can be assured of the quality and professionalism of the services we offer.

Counselling is a private and confidential form of help. This means that we will not give your name or any information about you to anyone outside Relate unless someone’s personal safety is at risk. If you would like more information about this, please ask at the centre.

We rely on payments from clients to keep our services open to everyone. Though we ask a set fee we understand that at times we may need to take into consideration your income and what you are reasonably able to pay. The service you receive is not affected by the amount that you pay. When making your appointment we will discuss with you the payment arrangements. For more details please see our Payment page.

Once counselling begins, we expect you to keep all your appointments. If you have to cancel an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer it to someone else. If you miss your first appointment or cancel with less than 24 hours' notice, the full fee for the session will be due. For all subsequent appointments if you miss or cancel with less than 48 hours the full fee for the session will be due.

We try to provide a caring and effective service. To help us do this, we invite clients to comment on their experience of Relate. Your counsellor will give you a service evaluation sheet to complete. But in addition to that if you want to comment about any part of the service you receive, please contact us at: