Counselling (also sometimes known as therapy) provides an opportunity to talk with a trained professional about anything in your life which is impacting your psychological wellbeing and daily life.

Counsellors don’t provide advice or solutions, but work with you to reflect on whatever you are finding difficult and to identify healthier strategies to manage. 

Counselling creates a safe and confidential space where you can talk openly without being judged. 

Note for students living outside the UK

Any counselling work is dependent on and done in accordance with the laws of the practitioner's own country. We are currently seeing students for online counselling whilst they are based in many different countries across the world.

The exception is for students who are currently living in the US (including US territories) and Canada, where it is not permitted for counsellors based in other countries to deliver them counselling sessions. We will instead offer shorter wellbeing checks to students if they are located in the US or Canada, and may suggest they seek counselling from a locally registered practitioner. Please note that if students from the US or Canada are in the UK or another country, they will be seen as normal. 

Counselling can help deal with a range of problems or concerns. If you’re anxious or upset, please do contact us and check out whether counselling can be part of helping you. This gives you a chance to find out more about the process, and see how it feels to speak to a counsellor. 

LSE also has mental health advisers who offer specialist advice and support for any student with mental health difficulties. Find out more about mental health support on the Disability and Wellbeing Service webpages.

We offer a range of options. You could have one session (which many students find is enough), or more regular sessions which can be organised to suit your schedule. In total we can offer up to 6 sessions.

How do I reschedule or cancel my appointment? 

We are a busy service so please let us know if you can’t attend your session as soon as you know you can’t make it. This means we can offer the space to another student. To cancel or reschedule a session, please email student.counselling@lse.ac.uk.

We offer face-to-face and Zoom apppointments - you will be given the option to state your preference when setting up your appointment (including no preference).

We are a multi-disciplinary team using a variety of approaches. Our counsellors are highly trained, are required to hold accreditation with an appropriate professional body, and have extensive experience of providing mental health support.

Some of our team identify as LGBTQ+ and if you would like to work with an LGBTQ+ counsellor, we will do our best to make that happen.  We offer our services to the range of different communities that make up LSE by treating them with dignity, respect and the understanding they deserve. 

The service can be contacted via student.counselling@lse.ac.uk. Individual counsellors' contacts are below:

Student Counsellors

Oluwakayode (Kay) Akinsulire
o.akinsulire@lse.ac.uk

Ayan Ali (MBACP - Accred)
a.ali34@lse.ac.uk

Sarah Jones (FPC, BPC, MBACP)
s.c.jones3@lse.ac.uk

Anne Li
a.li19@lse.ac.uk

Sally Madley (MBACP - Accred)
s.m.madley@lse.ac.uk

Julie McNair (BPC Reg)
j.mcnair@lse.ac.uk

Erika Pratte
e.pratte@lse.ac.uk

Samia Reza-Premjee (MBACP - Accred)
s.reza-premjee@lse.ac.uk

Monika Smolar (UKCP Reg, MBACP - Accred)
m.smolar@lse.ac.uk

Susie Ward  (PG Dip Supervision, MBACP - Accred)
s.ward@lse.ac.uk

Counselling Service Managers

Emma Nabavian (UKCP Reg)
e.h.nabavian@lse.ac.uk

Susan Whitby (UKCP Reg)
s.v.whitby@lse.ac.uk

Confidentiality is a most important part of this service, and we subscribe to the ethical framework of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy).

Staff in the Student Counselling Service will not discuss anything about you outside of the Student Wellbeing Service without your explicit agreement, except in exceptional circumstances (for example, we would have a duty to inform your GP if we were concerned that there was a serious risk of harm to yourself or others).  

Confidentiality policy

For detailed information on confidentiality and data protection procedures, please refer to the Student Wellbeing Service Service confidentiality policy. This document is in two parts: 

• Disability and Wellbeing Service (pg 2)
• Student Counselling Service (pg 5)