Frequently Asked Questions
Every price is listed on the Fees page, and the cost is shown in the booking form before you confirm. The names below are the ones the booking form and your confirmation email use.
- Free 10-Minute Introductory Call: 10 minutes, free
- Initial Consultation, the first appointment for new counselling and hypnotherapy clients: 45 minutes, £75.00
- Live Video | Counselling and Phone | Counselling: 45 minutes, £80.00
- In-Person | Counselling, face to face in South Shields: 45 minutes, £85.00
- In-Home Therapy | In-Home Counselling, at your own location within 10 miles of South Shields: 45 minutes, £100.00
- Walk and Talk | Counselling, outdoors within 10 miles of South Shields: 45 minutes, £100.00
- Live Video | Couples Counselling and In-Person | Couples Counselling: a full hour, £100.00
- Live Video | Hypnotherapy: £100.00, and In-Person | Hypnotherapy: £120.00
- Live Video | Clinical Supervision: £55.00 for 45 minutes, £75.00 for 60 minutes or £110.00 for 90 minutes
Yes. What you share in sessions stays between you and your therapist. Brief, factual session records are stored securely, and Marking Therapy is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Like every accredited practitioner, the therapist brings their work to clinical supervision; if your work is discussed there, you are not identified.
There are a small number of rare exceptions, which every UK therapist works to. Information may need to be shared, wherever possible after talking with you first, if:
- the therapist believes you or someone else is at serious risk of harm
- a child or vulnerable adult needs protecting
- a court orders it, or the law requires it
Outside those situations, nothing is shared without your consent.
- Sessions are 45 minutes, apart from couples counselling, which runs for a full hour.
- Appointments start on the hour, so a session booked for 10:00 finishes at 10:45 and the next one begins at 11:00.
- Appointments run seven days a week, from 10:00 to 15:00 and from 18:00 to 22:00, and the last one of the day starts at 21:00.
Sessions must be booked and paid for at least 5 days in advance. The online booking system will only offer you dates that meet this, so you do not need to work it out yourself. The one exception is the free 10-minute introductory call, which needs at least 24 hours’ notice and can be booked from the next day.
- Please give at least 48 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or reschedule.
- Cancellations with less than 48 hours’ notice, and missed appointments, are charged at the full session fee.
- In exceptional circumstances, such as a medical emergency, discretion may be exercised.
- If Marking Therapy ever needs to cancel, you are given as much notice as possible and offered another appointment where one is available.
Yes. Sessions are available:
- by live video or telephone, wherever you are in the UK, and abroad where the practice has first confirmed that it can work with you there
- face to face in person in South Shields
- at your own location, within 10 miles of South Shields
- outdoors, walking together, within 10 miles of South Shields, on the Walk and Talk Therapy page
The Remote Therapy and Counselling page explains privacy at both ends and what happens if the connection fails.
- In-person appointments are held in private consulting rooms in South Shields. The venue and its full address are emailed to you 48 hours before your session starts.
- Most of the work is done by secure video or telephone, so you can be anywhere in the UK, or abroad where the practice has first confirmed that it can work with you there.
- The postal address for the practice is Stanhope Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 4RB, and you can call on +44 191 249 6127.
Nothing. If you have been referred through your employer’s EAP, your sessions are arranged and funded by your employer or their EAP provider. Please mention the referral when you get in touch and it will be set up for you.
Yes, Marking Therapy is recognised by Allianz, Aviva, Vitality and WPA. Full details, including what to confirm with your insurer, are on the Fees page.
Yes. Clinical supervision for counsellors, therapists and trainees is held by live video, with a choice of 45 minutes at £55.00, 60 minutes at £75.00 or 90 minutes at £110.00. Civil, commercial and community mediation is also offered, and for disputes under £50,000 it is available under the Fixed Fee Mediation Scheme so the cost is known in advance.
New clients book a free 10-minute introductory call or an Initial Consultation from the Appointment page. The free call is a telephone call: Kingsley rings you at the booked time on the number you give when you book. The Initial Consultation is held by video, and you receive a Microsoft Teams link; if you would rather speak by telephone, let Kingsley know beforehand and he will call you. After that, sessions are booked from Book Your Sessions once you are signed in, and walk and talk sessions from the Walk and Talk Therapy page. Once you have an account you can see your upcoming appointments at any time under My Appointments, along with your video joining link and your worksheets. If you are not sure which type of session is right for you, get in touch first and we can talk it through.
No. The practice works with adults aged 18 and over. If you are under 18, or you are asking on behalf of someone who is, please still get in touch and you will be pointed towards a service that can help.
Yes, and very much so. Everyone is welcome here, and this is an affirming space for:
- lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex, asexual and queer clients
- people who are questioning
- people in open, polyamorous or otherwise non-traditional relationships
The name you go by and your pronouns are used from first contact. You will not be asked to explain or justify who you are in order to be taken seriously. Race, faith, culture, disability and neurodivergence are met with the same respect, with room for what they mean to you and for any access needs.
Counselling and therapy
Forty-five minutes, a full hour for couples, usually weekly to start and then at a pace that suits you.
It varies from person to person. We talk about what would suit you at the Initial Consultation, and there is no fixed commitment.
Yes. The check-in page offers two short, widely used questionnaires on mood and anxiety, the PHQ-9 and the GAD-7. They are scored in your browser with nothing sent or stored, and the page explains in plain terms what the scores mean.
It is not a diagnosis and it is not required for booking. Some people find it a useful starting point for the first conversation, and repeating it later is one way of seeing what is changing.
Remote therapy and counselling
For many people, yes. Most of the research relates to sessions by video, where outcomes can be comparable with meeting in person for many common concerns. The evidence for telephone counselling is smaller but supportive for some difficulties, so we talk through which suits you before you start.
A phone, tablet or computer, a private space, and a reasonably steady internet connection. We send the link in advance.
Yes. Many people mix the two to suit their week, and you can change how you meet at any point.
Hypnotherapy
Yes. Hypnotherapy is not sleep and it is not loss of control. You stay aware throughout and can stop at any time.
It depends on what you are working on. We talk this through at the start, and there is no fixed commitment.
Yes. Many people use hypnotherapy alongside talking therapy, and we can shape the two around what suits you.
No. Following NHS guidance it is not offered where there is schizophrenia, a history of psychosis or epilepsy, and physical symptoms go to your GP first. The hypnotherapy page explains this, and the Initial Consultation is the place to talk it through.
Clinical supervision
Qualified and trainee counsellors who want a supportive space to reflect on their work and meet the requirements of their professional body.
Remotely, by secure video. Distance is not a barrier, and it makes supervision easier to fit around your caseload.
That depends on your caseload and what your professional body requires. We agree a rhythm that fits your practice.
Civil, commercial and community mediation
Civil, commercial and community disputes of many kinds, from contract and business disagreements to workplace and neighbour matters. If you are unsure whether yours is suitable, ask and we will talk it through.
Yes. Community mediation is described on the mediation page; it is quoted individually and follows the same enquiry route.
Many disputes are resolved in a single day, sometimes in a few hours. More complex matters may need longer, which we agree in advance.
You keep all your options. Mediation does not remove your right to pursue the matter another way, though most cases that reach mediation do settle.
Face to face in South Shields
There is public parking around the town centre, and the directions in the email with your venue address, sent 48 hours before your session, cover the venue you are coming to.
Yes. Clients come from across the North East, and every service runs remotely across the United Kingdom.
No. Stanhope Road is the company's correspondence address only; sessions are held at consulting venues confirmed when you book.
Walk and talk therapy
Light rain and cold do not stop a walk. In extreme weather, such as a Met Office warning, the session moves to secure video or telephone at the same time, you are told before the session, and the fee stays the same.
We agree a plan before your first walk: a polite, casual greeting, nothing said about how we know each other, and the choice to stop and chat or carry on is yours.
Yes. You set the pace, we can stop and sit whenever you like, and the route is chosen around your access needs.
Walk and talk sessions can be booked once you have had your Initial Consultation or a free 10-minute introductory call, from the Walk and Talk Therapy page, using the email address or telephone number you gave for that first booking.
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