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Information for Clients.

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When we decide to work together, we make a commitment to a number of sessions, which we review before deciding whether to continue longer term.

We will normally agree to regular sessions on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Please endeavour to be on time for your appointment as I am not usually able to go beyond our agreed session time.

Full fees are charged for all arranged sessions, including cancellations, unless we are able to reschedule. You are welcome to pay by cheque, cash or Paypal, either in advance or at the time of the session.

I would like to be kept informed if you are using alcohol or non prescribed drugs excessively or are taking any prescribed medication. Please also let me know information about other therapeutic work you are doing or have previously done.

I am a Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and abide by their Ethical Framework, and their Complaints Procedure, which I can share with you if you require. I am also in regular supervision and undertake a commitment to regular professional training and personal development.

Our work is confidential. The only circumstance for my breaking confidentiality is if I have a serious concern that you may harm yourself or someone else. I would always endeavour to let you know if this were to be the case. I may discuss our work in supervision, which is an ethical requirement for my Registration with BACP and designed to ensure you get the best possible service. When I do talk about our work, I do so in ways which preserve your anonymity. I am happy to discuss my supervision arrangements with you. If you have been referred via an employee counselling service, then I will be asked to provide information for statistical and clinical management purposes. I am also happy discuss this with you.

Please ask about anything you’d like clarified about my practice or our work together. It is particularly important to let me know if there is anything about our work that you are unhappy about. We will periodically review our work together as it is helpful for us to know what helps and what might hinder your therapeutic progress. If you want us to stop working together, I would normally like to have at least four week’s notice of this, so that we may have time to explore our ending and its implications.

My aim to is offer a high standard of practice through a professional therapeutic relationship. It may happen that we accidentally encounter each other in a social, work-related, or sexualised setting. To try to protect your confidentiality, I will only acknowledge you if you make initial contact. It is my experience that all out of session contact needs to be discussed in our next session as it often has therapeutic implications for our work.

My contact details are here…. If you need to contact me in an emergency, please use my mobile phone number and either text or, if you get my voice mail, I will call you back as soon as I can. I may not respond to calls/texts after 7pm at night and at weekends unless we have a specific arrangement to do this.

Missed sessions and cancellation – renegotiation

In order to help me make best use of my limited availability to see people, I normally require two week’s notice for any cancellation, renegotiation or termination of our contract. If you are ill, please endeavour to give as much notice as you can. If you need to rearrange a session at short notice and I can swap you to an empty slot, then I won’t need to charge you for a cancellation if you contact me 48hrs or more in advance. If you cancel within 48hrs of your appointment I will still have to charge for the missed session (NB: here’s a useful article on why this is actually important and helpful to the work).

Many people come to see me long term and I recognise the need to take holidays etc. So long as I have at least two weeks’ notice I will not charge for reasonable cancelled appointments; (I consider reasonable to be four weeks in any six month period).

Additional fee breaks would be at my discretion. I will endeavour to notify you at least a month in advance of any holidays I will be taking but I also reserve the right to cancel or rearrange sessions at short notice, under the same timescales that I request from you.

If we are working together for more than six months, I request that you give me at least four week’s notice if you want to end therapy, so that we can review our work together and end appropriately, endings are often significant in therapeutic work and it’s often a valuable period for increased understanding.

Data Protection

I comply with the Data Protection Act and am Registered with the ICO, https://www.bacp.co.uk/notices/data-protection/

Click here for more info:

I have password protection and encryption on all devices that use electronic data, such as computer/phone/tablet. No one has access to passwords on devices but me, so if we communicate via any of those methods in the way of email or text, you can be assured of confidentiality. I will only keep said correspondence for as long as necessary either to to process your request, or during and after either our correspondence or our working together, after such times, the data will be deleted.

You can see my GDPR Statement here

 

 

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Policy

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Bill came into force on the 25th May 2018. These jointly replace the Data Protection Act 1998.

As a therapist and therefore someone who will likely hold or be partly responsible for holding and processing personal data about individuals, I am required to adhere to data protection regulations. This page details information about my policy around any Personal Information collected, stored and processed and your rights regarding this.

Personal Information I Collect:

  • Gender (or preferred identity).

  • Date of Birth.

  • Relationships & Progeny.

  • Telephone/SMS number (plus permission to send SMS & leave voice message).

  • Email address.

  • Counselling History.

  • Medical conditions/drug & alcohol use relevant to counselling.

  • Prescribed medication.

  • Session summary.

How I Store Your Personal Information:

  •  Contact sheets, agreements and written notes (described below). This allows me to access contact information in case of emergencies, but keeps from revealing any detailed personal information to any electronic applications.

  •  I will store session notes/recordings in Apps behind password access, that back up to my private iCloud Drive, which is also protected by password.

  •  your email address and correspondence will be stored in my email account, currently Outlook (Hotmail)/Apple Mail, by nature of you contacting me. Your telephone number may be stored in my SMS or WhatsApp app should we exchange messages this way. Electronic correspondence will also be held by the corresponding app (Outlook (Hotmail)/Apple Mail, Phone’s SMS, WhatsApp).

  •  none of your personal information is stored on my website,

Documents Held:

Paper…

  • Contact Sheet

  • Case Study/Research Consent

  • Assessment Record

  • Brief Session/Supervision Notes

  • GDPR Agreement

  • Client Code (linking documents)

Electronic…

  • Contact name & telephone

  • Session recordings/notes

How Your Personal Information May Be Processed/Shared

Supervision/Consultation:

I have a professional arrangement with a supervisor qualified in this process with whom I discuss issues around my Practice and occasional client material. In order to protect your privacy, my consultant will not know you personally nor professionally. I may refer to you by your initials and to your information verbally when it’s helpful to my professional processes, however my supervisor/consultant is also professionally bound by an agreement of confidentiality.

Therapeutic Will:

Your name and contact details will be shared with my Therapeutic Executor. This is so that you will be contacted on the event of my death, should you still be in therapy with me.

Emergencies:

If your health is in jeopardy (provided I have your consent) I may share your contact information with an emergency healthcare service (e.g. Mental Health Crisis Team).

If I have become aware of your intent to cause harm to another person/organisation (e.g. terrorism), the law may require that I inform an authority without seeking your permission. In such a situation, the law may require that I share your personal information without your knowledge (known as: whistle-blowing).

Erasing Your Information:

When we have finished working together, I will hold onto your written/electronic information for up to seven years past the end of our working together. This is so that I have a reference of our work in situations such as you returning to counselling in the future or for research/case study purposes, if you have consented to that. After this time has passed, I will shred the written information and erase electronic copies of your information and correspondence.

Your Rights:

You have the following rights…

  • To be informed what information I hold (i.e. this document).

  • To see the information, I hold about you (free of charge for the initial request).

  • To rectify any inaccurate or incomplete personal information.

  • To withdraw consent to me using your personal information.

  • To request your personal information be erased .

NB: A printed copy of this statement will be given to you when we first meet for counselling. If we agree to continue working together, we will both sign the printed copy of this statement to indicate our agreement.

Data Proctection
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