Terms of business

Payment

My fees are £45 -50 per hour for counselling session and £50-60 for supervision sessions. I ask that the payment is made at the end of our session. I accept cash, cheque, or bank transfer.

Sessions and cancellation policy

In order that we create healthy boundaries I will try and ensure that we have an agreement on when we meet. It can be beneficial to meet once a week and we may agree the terms of our sessions once we begin working together. This may not always be possible so I will I endeavour to make a time and day suitable for both myself and the client. The counselling sessions are one hour. Supervision is 1 or 1.5 hours or what is required dependent on how many clients the counsellor is working with.

If you are unable to meet and must cancel a session, I will require 24 hours’ notice. If you cancel a session without 24 hours’ notice , I will require full payment for the missed session. It is fine to leave a message on the answer phone if I am unavailable. Ending of counselling contract will usually be mutually agreed within the session; however, you have the right to end the counselling at any time. It would be appreciated if you were able to give me at least 2 weeks’ notice if you are deciding to end. I will give two weeks’ notice of any holiday and I would appreciate if you will do the same.

Confidentiality

As part of the therapeutic relationship, the work we do in the session will remain confidential. However, there are exceptions to this confidentiality that you need to be aware of:

• I am required to undertake supervision and will therefore discuss our work in order that I have support, guidance and I am working ethically and competently.
• I may be legally or ethically obligated to break confidentiality with other agencies if I feel there is substantial harm to self or others, or under the legal requirement, e.g. terrorism, drug money laundering or via court order for disclosure.

I will always try to consult with you first before taking any of the steps above regarding confidentiality.

Record keeping

I am registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). For Data protection I keep very little identifying records on my computer and mobile. If so, they are coded for confidentiality. I keep minimal paper records of our session of which you may look at any time. These are locked in a safe office filing cabinet. They will be securely and adequately protected from unauthorised intrusion or disclosure. Records are kept for 5- 7 years.