Your details

You will need to provide:

• Your full name and date of birth
• An emergency contact / next of kin
• Your GP details

Appointments

Appointments last 50 minutes.

Your first appointment

Your first appointment is an opportunity to discuss your hopes for counselling. Finding the right therapist is important, and we both need to get a sense of what it would be like to work together. This first meeting will allow time to address any concerns you may have about counselling.

Your ongoing appointments

Appointments are scheduled at an agreed time on the same day of each week. As required, and possible, we may agree to meet more than once a week, or less often.  

Please arrive on time, rather than early. Do let me know if you will be more than 10 minutes late.

You may find it useful to allocate personal time immediately following each appointment, to reflect on the session before returning to work or family.

Ending therapy

You may end therapy at any time simply by letting me know. Endings are important, and final sessions are best agreed well in advance. I will help you in planning the end of your therapy and time will be set aside to reflect on your experience.

Confidentiality and ethical practice

I am bound by the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions, which includes strict guidelines regarding confidentiality.

Everything you discuss with me is confidential. Nevertheless, there are specific conditions which you should be aware of:

1. I may discuss aspects of our conversations with a clinical supervisor in order to support my work with you. However, your identity will always be anonymised, ie. no personally identifying information will be shared with them. They will also operate under an equivalent confidentiality policy.
   
2. Confidentiality may be broken if I believe there is serious or life-threatening risk of harm to yourself or others. I will always attempt to speak to you about this first so that your opinion and preferences are heard, unless there are overwhelming safeguarding concerns that prevent me from doing so.
   
3. I am obliged to break confidentiality without prior notice in three specific cases involving the law being broken: terrorism, drug trafficking, and money laundering.

Payment

Payment is generally:

• in-session, by card
• in advance, for the next session (meaning your last session is always already paid)
• at the beginning of the session (this gets it out of the way, and ensures we can discuss the ending should you have decided to not continue)

Cancelled or missed appointments

Payment is generally due for all sessions, including any you cannot attend.

This policy makes it possible to reserve your agreed time slot on an ongoing basis, and maintains the consistency of your appointments, which is therapeutically important. 

Sessions cancelled by me will not be charged.

Safety

I cannot allow abusive or threatening behaviour and reserve the right to end or refuse counselling services at my discretion.

Privacy notice

Please read my Privacy Notice regarding use of your data.