Cogwheel Employee Counselling Service

Confidential 1-to-1 support for your team. Prompt counselling access. Straightforward registration. Delivered by a trusted Cambridge charity.

UK employers lose millions of working days to stress and poor mental health each year. Investing in support pays back.

Workplace Mental Health Statistics

HSE’s latest statistics show that in 2023/24:

  • 776,000 workers experienced stress, depression or anxiety caused by work

  • This led to 16.4 million working days lost

  • Each person affected took an average of 21.1 days off

Deloitte’s latest research (2024) finds that poor mental health now costs UK employers £51 billion a year.

Presenteeism (working while unwell) is now the biggest hidden cost to employers, reducing productivity and overall performance.

Effects of Workplace Support

Employers who invest in mental-health support see an average return of nearly £5 for every £1 spent. 

Mental health affects attendance, performance, and retention.

Happy, well-supported employees are around 13% more productive on average.

When people get timely support, they cope better, come back sooner, and stay longer

Investing in employees wellbeing can:

  • Reduce absence and presenteeism

  • Improve team morale and resilience

  • Save money

  • Demonstrate your commitment to staff wellbeing (and strengthen your organisational ethos)

  • Reduce staff turn over

Organisational Health Check Quiz

Take our 2-minute Organisational Health Check.
Answer a few quick questions to see how your organisation is doing on staff wellbeing. You’ll get instant feedback and practical tips.

 

Results

Strong Foundations

Your organisation already has strong support in place for staff wellbeing. Keep building on this by making sure support remains visible, accessible, and part of everyday culture.

Room to Grow

You’re taking steps towards supporting staff, but there are gaps. Strengthening access to confidential, professional support could help employees feel more secure and valued and improve your workplace culture.

👉 Our Employee Counselling Service (ECS) is designed for organisations who want to offer support but don’t already have in-house or external wellbeing provision. It’s affordable, confidential, and makes a real difference to staff and community. Learn more below.

At Risk

Your organisation may be leaving staff without the support they need. Stress, depression and anxiety remain leading causes of lost working days in the UK. Now is a good time to explore structured options for workplace wellbeing.

👉 Our Employee Counselling Service (ECS) is designed for organisations who want to offer support but don’t already have in-house or external wellbeing provision. It’s affordable, confidential, and makes a real difference to staff and community. Learn more below.

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#1. Does your organisation have a clear wellbeing policy or strategy in place?

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#2. How important is employee wellbeing in your business priorities?

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#3. Do employees have access to confidential mental health support (e.g. counselling)?

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#4. In the past 12 months, have staff taken time off due to stress, anxiety or depression?

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#5. Do you feel confident your organisation can support staff if a mental health crisis arises?

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How can Cogwheel help your organisation?

Employee Counselling Service (ECS) is designed especially for small and medium organisations or charities who want to support their staff (or service users) but don’t have in-house wellbeing provision. By signing up to the ECS you can look after your employees’ wellbeing, the individuals you support, and improve your work culture without costly overheads. 

By partnering with Cogwheel, organisations not only give their employees access to fully funded, confidential support, they also help us continue providing reduced-cost counselling for people on low incomes across Cambridgeshire.

Who is Employee Counselling Service For?

Charities & Social Enterprises
Flexible support when budgets are tight. Direct staff, volunteers or service users with personal support funds to our counselling service.
Schools & Community Teams
Reliable, local counselling without long waits.
SMEs & Micro-Businesses
A simple alternative to complex Employee Assistance Programmes.
Construction Firms
Our online counselling option works well for busy schedules with unpredictable travel commitments.
Retail & Customer Services
Support for your smaller team amongst a larger team.

Benefits of Employee Counselling Service

How does employee counselling service add value to your organisation?

  • Accessible mental health support 
  • Prompt counselling access
  • Confidential & independent from HR teams
  • Qualified counsellors with local knowledge
  • Choice of in-person or online counselling
  • Clear goals: focused support over 6 or 10 counselling sessions
  • Fixed cost: simple per-session pricing (£69 per session), no hidden fees
  • Quick access: prompt counselling access
  • Low admin: we handle referrals, scheduling and confidentiality
  • 20-minute check-in once a year: this is a light, culture-focused review to figure out how we can best support your organisation
  • Optional ‘benefits of counselling’ workshop: 30 minute workshop with Q&A delivered by our Head of Services 
  • Responsive partner: real people you can speak to about mental health and wellbeing concerns
  • Community impact: income from the ECS also supports affordable counselling in the Cambridgeshire Community.
  • Cogwheel Counselling is a trusted Cambridge Charity serving the local community for over 35 years
  • When your organisation uses Cogwheel employee counselling service, you’re not only supporting your team. You’re helping Cogwheel keep counselling affordable for people in the local community on low incomes who might otherwise go without support
  • Every session with ECS contributes to our mission as a charity

How does Employee Counselling Service (ECS) Work?

Registration: The organisation registers for the ECS for free by completing the form below and providing a dedicated point of contact.

Tell your team: Once registered, we will send an information pack including all the resources you need to inform employees/service users of the service.

Employee Self-referral: Employees accessing the service will be directly emailed by Cogwheel’s Head of Services and provided a link to register for their counselling. 

Registration Call: A brief call to discuss details ahead of counselling to inform Cogwheel’s pairing of each client with a suitable counsellor.

Start Counselling: Counselling can be delivered either in-person in Cambridge or online. 

Invoicing: Counselling fees are paid after the agreed number of sessions have been delivered to an individual. 

Cogwheel Employee Counselling Service (ECS)
Additional Information:

Client confidentiality: Cogwheel is a confidential service.

Number of sessions: Options for either six or ten sessions are available funded by the organisation, which would include an assessment in the first session.

Session length: Sessions are 50 minutes. 

Extending beyond six or ten sessions: This can be arranged, and would be at the personal cost of the employee / the individuals you support or the business or organisation, should it decide to fund additional sessions.

The ECS is accredited by BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy): All ECS counsellors are fully qualified and working to BACP standards.

What's Included in Employee Counselling Service (ECS) Registration?

  • Fast tracked counselling
  • Initial assessment and risk screen
  • Matching with a suitably available counsellor
  • 6 or 10 weekly sessions using a variety of counselling approaches. 
  • Clinical governance and supervision
  • Signposting if more specialised support is needed
  • Sign posting to ECS provided (posters, emails, info packs)
  • Annual 20-minute wellbeing check-in with your ECS lead (high-level culture review to learn more about how Cogwheel can support your organisational wellbeing and mental health challenges, no clinical details shared)
  • Occasional updates on specific work based wellbeing issues
  • Responsive mental health partner
  • Real people to speak to and build relationships with
  • Supporting Cogwheel also supports affordable mental health provision within our local Cambridge community

Corporate Social Responsibility & Impact

Download our Cogwheel Counselling Employee Counselling Service Information Pack to learn how partnering with Cogwheel can help you meet Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals and the social impact of every employee / client session you invest in. 

Ready to support your team?

Register for free by completing the form below or book a call to learn more. A member of our team will be in touch! 

Registration Form

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