Therapy agreement

My therapy agreement explains the framework for boundaries, confidentiality and safety during our time together.

Therapy arrangements and boundaries 

  • Therapy works best when attendance is weekly, this is because weekly sessions leave just enough time in-between to remember where we paused the previous week. Weekly attendance also helps build our therapeutic framework which includes elements such as trust and safety
  • I suggest a review every six sessions. This is an opportunity for us to intentionally speak about things such as your aims for therapy, elements you would like to be included in our work and a space for celebrating your achievements 
  • My role is to create a confidential, safe and comforting space that is free from judgement. It is also my duty to offer you my expertise, care and attention and work as transparently with you as is ethically possible
  • I will notify you in advance for any holidays I have planned. I request that any breaks you plan to take, that fall on a day you have therapy, are communicated to me at least a week in advance
  • Sessions are charged at £60. All sessions are 50 minutes in duration. I review my fees annually and I will give at least two-week’s notice if any changes have been made
  • Session fees are payable by either cash or card on the day, or bank transfer the day before
  • Should you need to cancel, I require at least 72-hour’s notice. Any time after the 72-hour period will be charged at my normal rate
  • If you arrive late to your session, I will unfortunately not be able to extend your time. The session will still be charged at my full rate
  • Contact between sessions should be administrative only (unless life threatening), and I encourage you to use our sessions to explore what may emerge for you during your week 
  • In the event of an emergency, I will get back to you as soon as possible. If you find yourself in a crisis situation that threatens your life, or you need immediate care I advise you to;

-Contact emergency services (999)

-Go to your nearest hospital, if you feel able to do so 

-Call a crisis line such as Samaritans (116 123)

  • To maintain and protect the confidentiality and boundaries of our therapeutic work, it is considered inappropriate to have any formal or informal contact outside of our therapeutic space. This includes contact through forums and social media platforms. This boundary helps maintain the integrity of our professional relationship and creates an ethically safe container for our work
  • Although we will discuss the length you wish your therapy to be at the beginning, you may come to a point where you have enough of what you need for now. If you decide you would like to end your sessions, I will of course support and respect your decision. Due to the nature of our relationship, I would advise having at least four ending sessions to bring our therapeutic journey to a close 

Confidentiality 

  • I am registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and I abide by their code of ethics. Whatever you discuss in your sessions will remain confidential. To ensure the standard and quality of my work continuously meets all of my ethical obligations, I regularly attend supervision to discuss aspects of my clinical work. Your identity is kept anonymous, and I refer to you by your initials. I also keep brief therapy notes, for more information regarding how they are stored/discarded, please refer to my GDPR agreement
  • Your well-being is my priority and it is my duty of care to support you if you find yourself in a life-threatening situation. I may have to breach confidentiality if I believe you may cause serious harm to yourself or if you explicitly tell me you have plans to end your life. The same applies if you become a danger to anyone else. I will always endeavour to speak with you about this first, without judgement and with care
  • It is my legal obligation to report any activity relating to terrorism or money laundering to the relevant authorities 

Online sessions

  • In order to get the most out of your confidential sessions, I request that you have a safe and confidential space which is free from interruptions 
  • Sessions should ideally take place in the same space each week. Working online means we do not currently have access to a therapeutic space. Creating one for yourself or carrying out your sessions from the same room each week can offer a safe base for your sessions
  • Please ensure the computer used for your sessions is safe and secure 
  • If we are disconnected during a session, I will wait for five minutes to see if our connection stabilises. If the connections does not resolve itself I will suggest a phone call or we can re-arrange free of charge, whichever options suits you best

Complaints