To See a Counsellor or Make a Referral
Please phone WWILD on (07) 32629877
- If you would like some free counselling
- To help someone else
- Or if you want more information about our service or other services.
Referrals:
- Are taken over the phone by any WWILD staff member
- May be made by anyone – a person with intellectual disability, a family member, support worker or supporter
- Are discussed at the weekly intake meeting
- Are followed up by the intake worker and will contact the referred person to talk about what happens next
- Are not accepted by email. We require more detailed information for a proper referral. Please phone or if you send an email after-hours, please follow-up with a phone call if you haven’t heard back from us. If you are not able to use a phone, please let us know in the email.
- There is a referral form for organisations only (not individual self-referrals) available on our Contact Us page if you are unable to phone during work hours, but this will need to be followed up and responded to as written above.
Please remember WWILD is not a crisis service, if this is an emergency please:
- Phone 000 or the Queensland Police on 131444
- Or click on this link for other crisis and after-hours services https://wwild.org.au/links
Client Eligibility:
Services are available for people with intellectual disabilities, age 12 and over who:
- Are at-risk or have experienced sexual violence
- Have been a victim of crime or exploitation such as physical or financial abuse
- Have been victims of youth-related property crime
- Have been affected by the DNA Forensic Inquiry.
Counselling Locations
WWILD’s counsellors work at:
- WWILD’s Wooloowin office Monday – Friday
- WWILD’s Holland Park West Office weekly on Thursday
- the Beenleigh Neighbourhood Centre weekly on Monday and Thursday
- Richlands Community Centre weekly on Wednesday and fortnightly on Friday
- the Homelife Service in Caboolture weekly on Wednesday and Thursday
- the Village Centre, Sandgate weekly on Friday.
Preparing Someone for Counselling
Read ‘What is Counselling?’ page with the person for more information.
Remember that:
- It’s the person’s choice to come to see us or not
- They don’t have to tell the story of what happened
- Counselling helps us to understand and manage our feelings
- Counselling helps to learn ways to feel better and more in control
- Counselling helps us to work out what we want to do
- The person can bring someone into the counselling room with them if they want to, it is up to them
- If they are not sure, they can visit WWILD first, to meet us before they make up their mind.
WWILD’s Counselling Approach:
- We see the person – not their disability
- We do not define the person by their abuse and trauma
- We believe the person is the expert in their own life (not the counsellor)
- We like to work in lots of different ways according to the person’s needs and wishes, by using a range of theoretical approaches and creative strategies
- We take time to build rapport, create a safe space, assess, identify and work together on goals
- We change how we speak with and listen to the person according to their needs
- We are careful about suggestibility and masking, and try to avoid using jargon and asking closed questions
- We utilise trauma informed practice and aim to empower the person by identifying choices and options
- We work with the effects of trauma by giving the person a safe space to process what happened, build their understanding, normalise the trauma effects, acknowledge coping strategies and practice new strategies
- We aim to build person’s capacity to improve their own safety and self-protection strategies across future relationships, by improving the person’s understanding of healthy and safe relationships
- We aim to build a person’s self -esteem and capacity for relationships and community engagement.