Why men in London work with a counsellor outside it.
Sessions run by secure video or phone. A link arrives beforehand and the session lasts the same fifty minutes it would in a room.
The fee does not change because of your postcode. £35 for a check-in and £55 for a full conversation are the same numbers a man in Southport pays, which is not something most London practices are able to say.
The other reason men give is separation. In a city where work, friends and therapy can end up in overlapping circles, there is something useful about talking to someone who has no connection to any of it and never will.
That applies to students as much as anyone. The universities here offer their own counselling and it is worth using, but it is capped at a set number of sessions and it is busiest exactly when term is hardest. It also stops where the course stops.
Covered from here
What you need for an online session.
Somewhere private and a phone or laptop. The link arrives by email beforehand. A shared flat is the usual obstacle here rather than the signal, so it is worth working out the room before the first session.
Men counselling men.
London has more counsellors than anywhere in Britain and most of them, like most counsellors in this country, are women. Filter for a man and the list is still long - but it is a list of general practices with men on the books, not practices built around men. That difference is what this one is.
What men in London bring to counselling.
A job that has taken over.
Hours that were supposed to be temporary, a role that expanded, and no longer being sure what the rest of your life is meant to look like.
Being surrounded and still alone.
Nine million people and nobody you would actually ring at eleven at night.
Money pressure that never lets up.
Earning what would be a fortune elsewhere and still finishing the month with nothing, then feeling unable to complain about it.
Being far from where you are from.
Family several hours away, and the particular tiredness of handling everything without the people who knew you first.
Studying a long way from home.
A term in a city where you know almost nobody yet, family in another country, and a time difference sitting between you and the people you would normally ring.
Something you cannot say back home.
Whatever it is costs more to say to the people who knew you before. Saying it first to someone with no stake in it is often the easier order.
Why pick someone who is not in London.
Most men who get in touch from London are weighing up several counsellors at once, which is sensible. So here is what is actually different rather than what every profile says.
Nobody you will run into.
I have no connection to your industry, your friends, your gym or your borough, and I never will. In a city where those circles overlap more than people expect, that separation is the point rather than a side effect.
Warm, plain, and northern with it.
That is a claim about me rather than about the north, and it is exactly what every counselling website says about itself. So do not take it from a page. Fifteen minutes on the phone will tell you whether it is true, and it costs you nothing if it turns out not to be.
You get me, every time.
This is a one-man practice. No associate you get passed to, no intake team, no rota. The person on the free call is the person you work with, and I bring lived experience alongside the training.
If London is not where you are from.
A lot of men came for the work and left the rest of their life somewhere else. If that is you, it is often easier to say so to someone who is not part of the city you are weighing up.
There is no counselling room in London, and I will not pretend there is.
The one Mettle consulting room is in Southport, on the north west coast. Everything across London is done remotely, and this page is here because men in London already find their way to this site rather than because I am claiming any presence in the capital.
London has more in-person counsellors than anywhere else in Britain. If sitting in a room is what you want, you are spoilt for choice and should take it. This is for men who would rather the hour did not also cost them a commute.
Bespoke
Build your block.
Minimum 4 sessions. Pick your own mix of conversations and check-ins, tell me your availability, and lock in block pricing from £130. No fixed programme - designed around your life.
Free mental health support across London.
London has more free support than anywhere in the country, and it is worth using. None of the following costs anything or needs a referral.
ManKind Initiative
National charity supporting male victims of domestic abuse. Trained advisers. Confidential helpline.
Visit site →Counselling questions men in London ask.
There are thousands of counsellors in London. Why work with one in Southport?
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Often you should not, and I will say so if that is the honest answer. The reasons men give for doing it anyway are that the fee does not move with the postcode, that evenings do not cost a journey on top of the session, and that a counsellor with no overlap with their city feels safer to be honest with.
Does the fee change because I am in London?
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No. £35 for a check-in and £55 for a conversation, the same as everyone else pays, with block pricing from four sessions. There is no London rate here because there is no London overhead behind it.
I share a flat. Where else could I take a session?
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A parked car works and plenty of men use one. So does a booked meeting room, or a session timed for when the flat is empty. What does not work is a bedroom with thin walls and headphones, because you will spend the hour managing the volume rather than the conversation.
What if I move flat or change job part way through?
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Nothing changes. There is no catchment area to fall outside of and no transfer to arrange - the work carries on wherever you end up, including outside London entirely.
My university offers free counselling. Should I use that first?
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Usually yes, and I would rather say so than talk you out of it - it is free and it is on your doorstep. What it is not is unlimited. University services normally offer a set number of sessions and are busiest exactly when term is hardest. If yours has run out, if the wait does not fit your term, or if you would rather talk to someone with no connection to your university at all, that is where this comes in.
Do you know London well enough for this to be useful?
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Not the way someone living there does, and I would not pretend otherwise. What I would rather do is have you tell me about your version of it than assume I already understand it, which is usually more useful than shared local knowledge anyway.
Counselling in other areas.
Online sessions cover the whole of the UK regardless. These are the places with a page of their own.