Terms and Conditions

The following document outlines important features of our work together that help to facilitate a safe space for therapy.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION:

1. Everything you tell me will be kept confidential subject to the following exceptions:

The ethical codes for counsellors and psychotherapists require that all counsellors and psychotherapists have clinical supervision for their work. In accordance with this, the only person I would talk to about your sessions is my clinical supervisor who abides by the same rules of confidentiality as I do. Supervision takes place in a confidential setting and the focus is on supporting good practice.

If I have serious concerns about your safety, or the safety of another person, or if there are child protection concerns, confidentiality may be lifted. Wherever possible, I will inform you before any disclosures are made to third parties.

In the case of any unforeseen incident occurring to me, I have instructed a colleague to access my client contact file so that you would be informed of the situation. They would only have access to your name and telephone number/ email address.

2. I will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it is collected, which is to provide psychotherapy. This includes brief client notes, attendance/payment records and client communication over email, telephone or text. I am obliged by my insurers to keep client data for seven years after completion of any work. After this time it will be destroyed. Click here for more details of my Privacy Policy.

LENGTH OF SESSION: 50 minute sessions.

CANCELLATIONS: It is important to attend sessions regularly to avoid interruptions to the therapeutic process. If however you cannot make our usual session time and would like a session at a different time within the same week, I will try to accommodate your request subject to availability. Please let me know as early as possible with suggestions of alternative times that would work for you. If I can offer another time in that week then there will be no cancellation fee. If however I cannot offer another time then full cancellation fee applies for cancellations with less than three working days advance notice.

I will give you notice if I plan to be away, and will inform you as soon as I can if I have to cancel your session in an emergency. There is no charge for any session cancelled by me.

LATE ARRIVAL: If you are late for an appointment, the session will still end at the arranged time so that I can keep to timings for subsequent appointments.

COMMUNICATION BY TEXT AND EMAIL: Emails and texts are sometimes used to make arrangements about appointments or cancellations. I will respond to emails or texts during working hours (9am-5pm) from Monday to Friday, please do not expect a response outside these times.

TERMINATING THERAPY: Ending therapy is a valuable process in itself. If you decide to end, I strongly recommend that we have at least two further sessions (and more if we have been working together for a long time) to work towards a proper ending. If it is necessary for me to terminate, unless it is unavoidable because of circumstances beyond my control, I will provide at least 6 weeks notice of ending.

ONLINE SESSIONS: Please make sure that you create a quiet and confidential space before our sessions to allow you to feel safe and speak freely. If possible, please use headphones for better sound quality and a deeper sense of connection. It might also be good to have a drink and a box of tissues by your side, as well as a mobile phone if we need to speak in case of technical issues.

Online sessions take place on Zoom and I will send you a secure link shortly before the session. You can use the same link each week.