The Harbour

The Harbour was founded in 1992 by Jill Brown to work with people diagnosed with HIV and Aids, at a time when this was likely to be life limiting. We have provided over 40,000 counselling sessions since and each year we help people with a variety of experiences relating to a life-threatening illness.

Our professional team of counsellors at The Harbour believe that each of our clients’ experiences are unique, and for that reason we provide relationship-based, specialist support. We do not believe in strategies, or good and bad ways of responding to these experiences. Instead, we believe the opportunity to talk with an experienced counsellor can empower clients to find ways of talking about and working through their situation.

In counselling, clients can confront their most challenging responses to death, dying and bereavement. Many of our clients have told us that building a trusting, therapeutic relationship with a counsellor has enabled them to share their most uncomfortable emotions. Last year, 93% of our clients rated their relationship with their counsellor as good or excellent. We aim to recognise that an individual’s response to being affected by a life-threatening illness might bring up feelings that might be difficult to share with family and friends. The Harbour provides a space where these feelings are validated and legitimised.