This report was commissioned by the Women's Health Council in conjunction with the Women's Health Advisory Committees of the Northern Area Health Board, East Coast Area Health Board, South Western Area Health Board, the North Western Health Board and the Southern Health Board. The aim of this report was to collate the experience of counselling services from women, service providers and health professionals, how effective they perceive the service to be and how the counsellng service can be enhanced in the future. The term 'counselling' is used to include psychotherapy as well as counselling. Interviews, literature survey, questionnaires and documentation from health boards and service providers were used to complete this report.