Counselling service defends decision to cap clients’ sessions before report

THE head of Faoiseamh, the counselling service funded by the Catholic religious orders, has defended the decision to cap the number of therapy sessions for clients just months before the Ryan Report came out.

A decision was taken in February this year to limit the number of free sessions to abuse survivors to 80 over a two-year period – roughly equating to one session a week for 18 months.

Faoiseamh general manager Michael Lyons said the decision was taken on foot of recommendations after an external review of the service. “It is in line with best practice models internationally and meets the needs of the vast majority of our clients,” he said.