Frequently asked questions

Croydon Drop In (CDI) is a Youth Information Advice & Counselling Service founded in 1978 deeply embedded in and trusted by the local community. Every year we work with over 5000 children, young people and families from pregnant Mums up to young people aged 25 and their friends, parents/carers, guardians and grandparents.

From under one roof we offer counselling, psychotherapy, advice & advocacy support, Young People’s Participation Group, Outreach, C4CC workforce webinars, Parent & Infant Relationship Service, Health Education workshops and Mental Health Support Teams in educational settings.

No, you do not need anyone to refer you to any of our community-based services – you can contact us directly through the website or call us on 020 8680 0404.

You will be offered an appointment with a duty counsellor to complete your initial assessment.  Once completed you will then be on our counselling waiting list.  During this appointment you will have an opportunity to speak about how you are feeling and some of the difficulties you might be facing.  This will take place at our premises on 132 Church Street.  We will share information about CDI and discuss our confidentiality policy.

Humanistic, Person Centred, Cognitive Behavioural, Psychodynamic, Art and Play Therapy and Family Therapy.

We will help increase your self-confidence and encourage you to think about different options whilst taking more responsibility for some decision-making.

Face-to-face counselling takes place in our buildings in Central Croydon and Upper Norwood however we can offer you online or phone counselling. The counsellor will speak with you again about confidentiality and talk to you about the practical details. They will ask what you would like to talk about and will offer you six sessions to start with – the sessions will be at the same time on the same day every week and we will send you texts to remind you about your sessions.

There is no charge for any of our services to children, young people and families. However offers of volunteering or financial donations are very welcome.

The confidentiality offered at CDI means that any information you give us will be treated as strictly confidential unless you have given permission to act otherwise.
However, if we believe there is a serious risk of physical or emotional harm to yourself or towards others we may consider taking action without prior consent. This would be very rare and, when possible, we would seek to inform you about any action we were planning to take. We would only decide this after careful consideration.

We will not confirm to any outside person that you are coming to see us unless you ask us to. We have a Confidentiality Statement you can view on our website.

We are a charity registered with the Charity Commission (No.1049307) and as we are independently audited every year you can see our details on their website as well as at Companies House (No. 3092355).

Everyone accessing our services is asked, as a minimum, for basic details that will include data such as age, gender identity, sexuality, disability, ethnic heritage and presenting issues. Because we are funded by the National Lottery, Children In Need and the NHS we are obliged to report back on our activities however all our reports never include any identifying details about you or your contact details.

We have a Privacy Statement you can view on our website.

We believe it’s important for you have your own time and space to talk about anything you need to and we will offer that to you.

We don’t tell your parents/carers what’s going on in counselling unless you want us to or unless we think there’s a risk to your well-being and even then we would aim to seek your permission first. We are used to talking with parents, carers, grandparents, foster carers and adoptive parents because sometimes it’s really helpful for the adults around you to know what’s going on for you as you spend more time with them than you do with us! We will follow your lead.

Yes. The room at Church Street is used for counselling as well as by young people chilling out after school so check in with us to see if you can use it. We work with a lot of young people around the subject of neurodiversity and we recently wrote a booklet called ‘A For Autism’ which is available to download for free on the website.

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