Counselling Agreement

 

Our sessions will be 50 minutes long. 

 

We will speak at the same time and on the same day each week unless we agree otherwise.

 

I charge £50 per session or for any part of a session.

 

If you are late to the session the session will still end at our usual time.

 

Payment will be by bank transfer.

 

Please give me notice if you know you will not be available. I may charge for sessions where sufficient notice is not given.

 

I will give as much notice as I am able if I need to rearrange our session and not less than 1 weeks notice unless it is an emergency.

 

Usually I would have little to no contact with clients outside of our session time. If I need to make contact with you this will be between 9am and 5pm Tuesday to Thursday. I generally choose to email or text which gives us both a written account of our communication.

 

Zoom: 

I will send an email invitation including a recurring link to our meeting, this can be used for all subsequent meetings.

If you have problems with the link please text or phone 07547 837363 or email me contactrdcounselling@pm.me so I can resend the link.

 

If technical problems occur meaning we cannot connect or the connection is poor which is significantly interrupting our session. We have an option to change to a phone session or to reschedule our session if we can find a mutually agreeable time. 

 

Zoom offers end to end encryption meaning our sessions should not be available to view if they are intercepted.

 

I employ a Zoom waiting room so admittance to our sessions is controlled by me and nobody should be able to access our session without the invitation link and then being admitted.

 

I access Zoom through my laptop which is for my personal use only, is password protected and carries the latest updates including security updates.

 

I do not record audio or visual content from our sessions.

 

I suggest you consider how best to maintain your own privacy and comfort during our sessions. Ideally a comfortable space where you feel safe and where you think you can talk freely without being overheard or interrupted.

 

Confidentiality:

 

I work from my home office where I am confident I will not be interrupted and our sessions will not be overheard.

 

Our sessions are confidential except in respect of the 3 situations below. Should I need to break confidentiality I will only share the information that is relevant to the situation.

 

1. I have regular supervision, this is to ensure my own best and safe practice. I may talk about our work together with my supervisor in a reflective manor.

 

1. If you share information which relates to terrorism or money laundering I am legally obliged to report this to the police.

 

1. If I believe there is a risk of serious harm to yourself or to another. In this instance I would usually speak to you first, although I reserve the right to break confidentiality without consulting you.

 

 

I have an executor to my counselling practice. Should I fall seriously ill or die I have made arrangements for a colleague to contact you. They will inform you of my circumstances, support you as necessary and assist you in finding another counsellor should you wish. I would like your permission to share your name and phone number with this person if necessary.

 

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I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and a member of the National Counselling Society and I adhere to their ethical framework. If you would like to make an official complaint about our work you can do this through their websites.

 

https://www.bacp.co.uk  

 

https://nationalcounsellingsociety.org/

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26/01/23