Relationships Wessex
(Formerly Relate Dorset and South Wiltshire)
Relationship support services across Dorset, South Wiltshire and South Somerset
It is with great sadness that the Board of Trustees of Relationships Wessex has decided to close the Charity on 31st March 2026. Along with many other small charities Relationships Wessex has experienced significant difficulties raining the level of funds required to meet service demand.
As a result of this decision, we will only be able to accept new counselling clients until 19th January 2026 and all counselling must be completed by 31st March 2026. Alternatively, our colleagues at Relationship and Family Therapy (RAFT), part of the Relationships England and Wales network and with their main centre in Bournemouth, offer Relationship, Individual, Family and Children and Young People’s counselling so may be able to help. Find more information on their website RAFT.org.uk
Existing clients will be able to book ongoing appointments until the end of March and your counsellor will work with you to ensure a managed ending to your counselling sessions.
For room bookings, we will continue to take new bookings for dates up to 31st March as our Conference Centre service remains unaffected until then.
Please note that all client records will be confidentialy destroyed as part of the closure procedure.
Our Practitioners
Here at Relationships Wessex (previously Relate Dorset and South Wiltshire) we pride ourselves on the quality of the work of our facilitators, contact workers and counsellors. They have all received in depth training to be able to deliver the work that they do.
All our counsellors (sometimes referred to as therapists) go through a rigorous assessment process before being able to work for us. They must have an approved qualification at Level 4 or above or be able to demonstrate a wealth of experience of delivering their counselling specialism. Our Relationship counsellors all undertake a Relate Level 5 Diploma in Relationship Counselling or a Level 5 Post-Qualifying Certificate in Relational Counselling. Both these qualifications are eternally verified by the Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre Awarding Body (CPCAB).
We also often have trainee counsellors working for us as part of their qualification. As well as support from their course tutors they have a Relationships Wessex supervisor who works very closely with them.
In addition to this, we have a robust quality assurance framework in place to support all our facilitators, contact workers and counsellors, helping make sure best practice is observed at all times. Our counsellors receive monthly Clinical Supervision as well as quarterly group supervision and have access to a senior Relationships England and Wales Clinicians.
Relationships Wessex runs on Zanda https://zandahealth.com/