The AoC (The Arts of Change)

Festive Season 2023 Update:

The Arts of Change Trust (The AoC Trust) will be closed for the festive season period and new year from Friday 15th December 2023 and will reopen on Tuesday 2nd January 2024. 

Please feel free to visit our website at:

https://www.theaoc.org.uk

or leave us an email at:

support@theaoc.org.uk

or voice message

01384 211168

during our closure period and we will get back to you upon our return.

Please remember to state clearly your name; contact number; and brief reason for reaching out to us.

Wishing all our current and future clients a wonderful festive season and exciting 2024!

The AoC Team

Who are The AoC?

We are a friendly, very experienced and professional creative therapy and counselling service based in Central Dudley, West Midlands. We offer creative modalities such as art therapy, dramatherapy, play therapy as well as traditional talking therapies either face-to-face at our lovely counselling/therapy rooms in Dudley town centre or online or by phone. Whichever feels right for you.

Who Do We Support?

We support individual clients, couples, families and run groups for either children, teenagers or adults who have problems they wish to overcome and heal. We see children from 3 years upwards to adults with no upper age limit.

What We Can Offer:

We provide three unique, creative services for either private clients or for organisations large or small:
a) therapy services,
b) education and training services
c) arts-based events services.

With over fifty years combined experience, our very warm and friendly staff team are highly skilled in a wide range of therapies from traditional talking therapies to creative arts therapies including: person-centred counselling; gestalt; CBT; integrative counselling;  art therapy; play therapy; dramatherapy; mindfulness; and we offer bespoke training workshops on a variety of self- development subjects including motivation, confidence building; team dynamics; public speaking; conflict management; introduction to creative arts and Skills-Based Training.

We provide online clinical supervision for professional counsellors and therapists and those in training all over the UK, and an accredited child contact centre in Central Dudley for low-risk families.

We can offer counselling and therapy sessions for individuals, couples, families or  groups both large and small. Sessions can be held face-to-face, via video call or even over the telephone or if local - and where appropriate in your home. We always put the client and their preferences first. Video calls can be held via Skype, Zoom, Teams and in some cases WhatsApp.

We also have both male and female therapists and counsellors too.

Telephone & Online Counselling

Telephone and online counselling is becoming more popular as people struggle to travel to venues when they have had a busy day at work or need to arrange for child care. Some of us have more hectic schedules which is why telephone and online counselling is perfect. We offer telephone sessions which are still 100% confidential. The therapist will take notes during and after the session and can also take payment over the phone prior to the session. Online counselling works the same way but you can see the therapist and chat via a video call. An account will be needed for the platform/application used and can be created for free. Your allocated therapeutic clinician (TC) will send you the meeting link via email.

Issues We Deal With:

Common problems we are skilled at assisting include: anger management, stress, anxiety, generalised anxiety disorder, depression, insomnia, abuse, weight problems and eating disorders including anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, low self-confidence, personality issues, relationship issues, emotional abuse, social obstacles, panic disorder, family issues, addiction(s), phobias, affairs and betrayals, separation and divorce, couples issues, offending behaviour, people living with dementia bullying and much more.

The AoC also support clients effectively with child-related issues, attachment disorder, children with emotional, social or psychological difficulties, poor concentration at home or at school, hyperactivity, abortion, low self-esteem, sexual abuse, drug abuse, alcoholism, sex addiction, Internet addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), physical abuse and hearing voices.

Please get in touch and we will be more than happy to discuss your needs and the referral process with you.

We can deal with a wide range of issues and refer you to the best-suited therapeutic clinician based on your needs explained in the referral form.

If you cannot see your issue/difficulty listed, please contact us by email or telephone and we will be more than happy to discuss our support with you and how we can help.

Support@theaoc.org.uk / 01384 211 168.

For Corporate/Business rates - please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Private rates:
All our rates have a sliding scale depending on personal income.

Consultation: £25.00 per hour.
Individual Therapy: £30.00-40.00 per hour.
Couple Therapy: £65.00 per hour.
Family Therapy (3-4 clients): £65.00 per hour. (£10:00 per extra family member added) i.e. 5 family members £75.00 etc.

Referring to The AoC

The AoC require all clients to complete our quick and simple referral form which can be found on our website or can be sent to you via email or in the post. The referral form gives us a little more information about you and why you are seeking our support. We use this to match you to the best-suited therapeutic clinician (TC).

All completed referral forms can be returned to us via email or post or if you have difficulty with the form we are happy to complete it with you over the telephone with your consent. Once we receive your completed form we allocate you to a TC right away. We have a minimal waiting list meaning you can begin your therapeutic journey with us sooner rather than later compared to other services. We aim to see each client within 1-3 weeks of receiving their completed form.

Your First Session - What to Expect:

In your first session, you will have an introduction between you and your allocated TC to share a little information about each other to make feel at ease. We will then go through the contract which will be signed to agree to confidentiality and session lengths. We will speak about some therapeutic goals and what you want to achieve in the sessions. The rest of the session will be to talk through you issue(s) and why you are seeking therapy including ways we can help.

Questions or Queries?

Please contact our friendly team to discuss your needs and how we can support you: 
01384 211 168 (cheap local rate number for landlines). Be sure to leave your full name, contact details, and a brief message outlining your request and we will get back to you if we don't pick up right away or if you call outside of admin hours. We also have a live chat function on our website if this is preferred.

Alternatively, you may also send us an email if you prefer to:
support@theaoc.org.uk

Please check out our website for more information and details of upcoming therapy offers, our current projects, and events,

You can sign up for free to our monthly newsletter at:
www.theaoc.org.uk or email us with this request.

We look forward to working with you.