SENCS : Survivors' Experiences of the National Counselling Service. For adults who experienced childhood abuse.

This study aimed to assess the quality of services provided by the NCS. The overall experience of service use was to be evaluated with particular emphasis on the extent to which the three most important guiding principles of the service have been met. Client experiences of services is an essential component of a quality service. In this study, service quality was evaluated from the perspective of survivors of child abuse who have used the service. An independent research agency, The Health Service Research Centre at the Department of Psychology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland were commissioned to conduct the study and were supported by an NCS-appointed Steering Group. While there is an extensive international and Irish ‘patient satisfaction’ literature, there is a dearth of evidence on service experience from users of abuse counselling services. Thus, this project has the potential to address important issues about this particular service but also to more generally promote a structured approach to ensure that the perspective of clients in abuse and other types of counselling services are given a say in shaping the services they expect and deserve.