My Contract

Please read carefully.

Sessions:

Counselling sessions normally take place once a week, and last for 50 minutes. If you wish to change the day/time of the session, I ask for at least 48 hours’ notice, and this will be subject to a suitable slot being available.
If I need to request that we change the day/time of the session for any reason, I will try to give you at least one week’s notice.

Cancellation/Lateness:

I ask for a minimum of 48 hours’ notice of cancellation of a session. The full fee is payable for sessions that are missed (i.e. without notice) or cancelled with less than 48 hours’ notice, unless the session can be re-booked in the same week.

If I need to cancel or postpone a session, I will try to give as much notice as possible. If you arrive late for a session, we will still finish at the time the session was originally due to end. If you miss a session without notice, it is my normal policy to contact you to explore the reason(s) for this.

Fees:

The fee for each 50-minute session is £60.00. Payment should be 24 hours before your session by bank transfer direct to my bank account:

Commitment:

Counselling is not a ‘quick fix’. At times, it can be demanding, frustrating and emotional – and it may feel difficult for you to attend. However, I would ask you to make a firm commitment to attend regularly and to keep absences to a minimum, as too many gaps may slow down the progress of our work,

Confidentiality: (see also my Privacy Policy)

I am a Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) and an Accredited Registrant of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS). As such I am bound by their Ethical Frameworks and Complaints Procedures.

I receive professional supervision for my work and your identity remains confidential. Confidentiality will be owned/controlled by you; this means that anything discussed in our sessions will not be shared without your explicit consent and that any notes are made with your prior consent. I do make brief notes of our sessions for supervision purposes – these are kept anonymously and securely. The only exceptions to the confidentiality rule are: if I am compelled to break confidentiality by a Court of Law, or if you tell me that you or someone else is in great danger, or if you tell me that you might seriously harm yourself or someone else. However, I would normally not break confidentiality without first talking the issue through with you and your consent would be sought to take the issue further. The only exceptions to this are in cases of terrorism or money laundering.

As part of this Contract, you agree that you will not come to our sessions under the influence of alcohol or recreational drugs; if you do so, I may have to discontinue the session. During our sessions, your mobile phone must be switched off/in ‘Silent’ mode.

Contact/Social Media: (see also my Privacy Agreement)

The mobile phone number and email address I have given you may be used to contact me to arrange or discuss cancellation/postponement/rearrangement of sessions. I do not offer telephone/email/text counselling. I only reply to calls/texts/emails during normal working hours (Monday – Friday 08.30 – 17.30) except in a genuine emergency. Please note that I do not reply to requests from clients to connect on my personal Social Media and do not contact clients via my personal Social Media.

Endings:

Should you wish to end counselling, I do ask that you try to give me at least two sessions’ notice, so that we can negotiate working towards an ending. If you wish to put your counselling ‘on hold’ for any reason, I am happy to do so, however, I cannot guarantee that the same day/time slot will be available when you wish to return.