Accessible and affordable counselling in the heart of London

Our vision is for life-changing talking therapy for all.

We want London to be a city where emotional distress and psychological suffering aren’t ignored; where every individual can access high-quality talking therapy equitably, when they need it, experiencing real relief and support.

Donate to Waterloo Community CounsellingRead our 2023-2024 Strategy

About Us

Established in the 1980s as a local community health project, today Waterloo Community Counselling (WCC) is well placed to deliver life-changing counselling and mental health support to individuals across London. Last year we provided over 7,000 hours of high quality, individual counselling to 546 people.

We are one of only a handful of Low-Cost Counselling services offering long-term talking therapy at reduced fees. We reach adults from diverse backgrounds who have experienced loss, trauma and abuse, and are struggling with anxiety, depression and other difficulties.

Our unique Multi-Ethnic Counselling Service (MECS) provides free mother-tongue counselling to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers who have survived exile, torture, human trafficking and modern slavery in 34 languages.

Our Vision, Mission and Values 

Our vision is for life-changing talking therapy for all. We want London to be a city where emotional distress and psychological suffering aren’t ignored; where every individual can access high-quality talking therapy equitably, when they need it, experiencing real relief and support.

Our mission is to deliver life-changing counselling and mental health support for Londoners that is affordable and accessible. We aim to remove the barriers to accessing high-quality counselling by delivering services that are open to all regardless of income or immigration status, and are uniquely responsive to individual differences (language, culture, race, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability).

Our values

Compassion – we bring empathy and understanding to our work with clients from all backgrounds

Respect – we foster a positive and empowering culture across WCC, treating people with respect and understanding

Diversity­ – we pride ourselves on recruiting counsellors who are representative of the diversity of the population

Inclusion – we strive to be wide reaching and welcoming, tailoring our services to individual differences and removing the barriers and stigma that prevent people from accessing psychotherapy, counselling, and statutory mental health services

Community – we work in partnership with local and city-wide organisations to reach disadvantaged and marginalised groups that wouldn’t normally be able to access the therapeutic services we provide and maintain a network of services to further support our service users

Quality – we deliver safe, clinically-effective therapeutic services with a good client experience

“My therapist guided me through a very difficult time and has given me the tools to challenge my negative thoughts”

Staff Team

Miriam Philip – CEO
Priya Commander – Clinical Services Manager
Abigail Rutherford – Finance Manager
Marisa Matos – Centre Manager
Margaret Mykura – Assistant Clinical Services Manager
Kathryn O’Byrne – Trust Fundraising Manager
Lucian Dee – Development & Communications Officer
Eric Tang – Administrative Caseworker
Matthew Bennett – Referrals Coordinator

Board of Trustees

Hazel Flynn – Chair of Trustees

Hazel has worked for over 25 years across a range of sectors and in many senior leadership roles. Hazel spent many years leading and managing Local Authority and Housing Association social housing, reaching senior management level, until a career change saw her move into the charity sector to specialise in mental health services, working for Mind as a national tender and bidding manager and a large learning disability charity, before retiring in 2020.

This varied career has given Hazel a rich skills base that includes research and evaluation, financial modelling and management, tender, bid management and income generation, performance improvement and risk management. Hazel has a deep understanding and knowledge of governance, Board and Trustee management and regulatory requirements and compliance. Hazel is determined to use these skills to support people that face life and mental health challenges and joined WCC as a trustee early in 2021.  

Lynne Brown

Lynne has been an associate lecturer at Goldsmiths for more than 9 years on the MA Counselling course and, more recently, the BA Therapeutic Cultures. She is now the course convener and a personal tutor on the MA, and additionally runs the ‘Introduction to Counselling’ vocational course for the college.

Her additional work as a Practice Counsellor in the NHS and in private practice also leaves her particularly well placed to offer information about developments in those fields and the current job market.
Chris Wong

Chris has held VP / Finance Director and other senior finance positions in US multi nationals, UK FTSE 250, AIM listed and SME organisations during a career which began training and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte . His career has taken him abroad working in Bermuda and New York . During that time he gained experience in building strong business focused finance functions and share service centres and has been involved in management & business turnarounds, commercial due diligence, financial systems search and implementation, internal audit, external business presentations and US & UK statutory accounting. 

Now a life time Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants he now lives in London . He joined as a Trustee in spring 2021 together with being attached to another large charity (World Physiotherapy) as a member of their Finance subcommittee.

John Davis

John spent most of his working life in education after completing a BA in Modern Languages, teaching German & French. He finished his career as Assistant Principal of a Sixth Form College. He had been responsible for student welfare & safeguarding for many years and in the years before he left the college John decided to retrain as a psychotherapist, completing an MA at Roehampton University. Part of his training was at Waterloo Community Counselling and he has remained there in various guises ever since.

He now works as a psychotherapist in private practice with a particular interest in LGBT+ issues and working with adolescents. The values and services provided by WCC fit in very closely with his own values and when the chance came up to work as a trustee, John was keen to apply so he could further support the work of the organisation.   

Nadine Smith

Nadine is a social impact consultant with over 20 years of experience supporting government in the UK and internationally achieve real impact for communities. A former civil servant, she was a communicator at the centre of government with a special interest and passion for solving the hardest to solve social problems, including social exclusion. She is a former founding director of the Institute for Government, Centre for Public Impact (A BCG Foundation) and is now a director of government and enterprise at Social Finance. Nadine is passionate about hearing the voices of those we hear the least, designing listening spaces for collaboration and bringing more empathy to all public and third sector services. She is a mother of two and joined as a trustee at WCC in Spring 2021.

Emma Nicholls

A qualified organisational development and senior HR practitioner, Emma has held DE&I, culture and employee experience leadership roles in manufacturing, technology, and education sectors with global remits. Emma enjoys working with local voices, advocating for pan-culturalism to best align organisational design and development interventions for maximum effect.

Passionate about inclusion at every level and advocating for those that face more barriers than most, In her latest role as Director of Strategy, Audit and Consulting for the Clear Company, Emma is driving the link between employee experience and business strategy to be people centric, focusing on impact for the benefit of all.

Tarrance Ryder-Downes

Tarrance Ryder-Downes joined as a Trustee in Winter 2022.  Tarrance has extensive people and culture leadership experience across the not-for-profit sector, most recently for an international development and higher education charity, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, and previously for a homeless charity, Thames Reach. Tarrance is passionate about people centred organisations and making a difference for people, societies and communities. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 

Graham Stilwell

Graham started his career in Finance within a large US based multinational technology firm where he worked as a Management Accountant and Financial Controller while qualifying as a Chartered Management Accountant (CGMA). As his career progressed, Graham moved into roles in management consultancy, first with KPMG and subsequently as a result of a merger with a Paris based technology company. During this time, he also completed his Master of Business Administration (MBA) postgraduate degree. As a consultant and later in permanent industry positions Graham has helped to advise FTSE100 and Fortune 500 companies on their strategy and provided support with the implementation of Finance and Enterprise-wide IT systems. In 2017 Graham established his own niche business consultancy and he now works as a freelance consultant helping clients to manage technology projects and design, build and implement organisation wide Finance change programmes. In addition to bringing a wealth of finance, business, and commercial expertise Graham was previously a school parent governor and has a keen interest in psychotherapy and in supporting WCC to achieve its goals. Graham joined WCC as a trustee in the Spring of 2023.

Steve Rattray

Steve decided to change the focus of his working life shortly after the millennium due to his fading sight and he began to provide counselling within an NHS palliative care service. His practice has evolved to include providing clinical supervision in a diversity of settings and be part of a number of different BACP committees with a focus on both ethics and EDI. Away from his clinical practice, he has been part of a range of charities and support organizations focused on the rehabilitation and empowerment of people with disabilities as a means of creating independence in their lives.

Laura Phillips

Laura is an accredited BACP Person-centred therapist working with adults in private practice and at Imperial College. She runs domestic abuse awareness workshops for therapists and she is currently training to be a supervisor. Laura has worked in a variety of settings including domestic violence charities and low-cost community counselling services. Laura is also a qualified Probation Officer