Sessions and Confidentiality 

By booking therapy with me you agree that you accept the below terms of Service.

Therapy sessions are 50 minutes face-to-face or online, conducted weekly, unless otherwise agreed. Please, ensure you have a quiet and confidential place for online therapy.

1.2 I abide to COSRT’s Code of Ethics and Practice for General and Accredited Members and the Conduct Procedure which can both be found on COSRT’s website.

1.3 Therapy is a confidential space, however, personal, legal and practical limits of confidentiality apply. These will be discussed in our first session.

1.4 All sessions remain confidential except these circumstances, where personal data may be shared with third parties:

- I receive regular supervision for my counselling services with a qualified and experienced supervisor who is also bound by a code of ethics regarding confidentiality;

- Personal data shared at your request or with your permission;

- If needed to facilitate the management or the delivery of counselling services, the collection of fees or the management of any complaint. Your agreement to disclosure for the purposes of dealing with the complaint will be deemed to be given in the event that you make a complaint to COSRT or another professional body or training course, or commence legal action;

- if required by a Court of Law (for example, under Terrorism or money laundering legislation) to disclose information or any notes I may keep;

- if I believe that you might harm yourself or another I will take appropriate action that may break our confidentiality. As far as reasonably possible, I will attempt to seek your permission before taking such action, but may have to do so without it;

- In the event of my death, my Professional Executor or, in the event of my mental or long-term physical incapacity, my Power of Attorney, will contact you to inform you of this. The former person is another therapist working to the same code of ethics as I do;

- if you pay by bank transfer, Paypal, your account information may identify you in my banking records and my name will appear in your statements. Copies of receipts of payment are also kept and will have your name on them.

1.5 Your data is confidential. I keep notes electronically and on an encrypted laptop and phone, however some information is also shared within supervision, for case studies as I am continuously training and attend new courses.

1.6 You may also request clinical notes for yourself and/or data to be sent to a third party. I will need a proof of identity of the person that I will send the information to, a proof of address for the notes/data to be sent to and your written request for me to do so.

1.7 I may wish to use sessions for anonymous case studies and educational purposes, please opt out if you do not wish your sessions to be used in this way. Should I wish to make a session recording, I will request your consent using a separate form.

1.8 I will only contact you to discuss appointments, complaints and to chase unpaid fees. Please, state a contact preference (Email, text, call) and the privacy of your preferred method. If you wish to contact me, please email. I will reply as soon as reasonably practicable during business hours Monday-Friday 9-5pm regarding re- booking or administrative issues.

1.9 You agree that you will not record audio or video of our online or face-to-face sessions, this includes using any AI tools to record voice or produce transcripts.

Safety

2.1 You will not physically harm yourself or me, or cause damage to property during the course of an appointment together.

2.2 You will not attend any session while under the influence of alcohol or non-prescribed drugs, if you do this means that the session will end. If this behaviour is repeated over time, this might mean termination of this agreement.

2.3 Due to child protection concerns and the types of issues I may wish to discuss in therapy, it is not possible to bring children into our sessions.

Therapy limitations

3.1 If I believe I am not experienced or qualified regarding your presenting issue I may be required to end therapy with you and may refer you to another therapist.

3.2 If we are looking at psychosexual therapy, please note, no surrogacy or physicality is involved.

3.3 In respect to the ‘Adoption and Children’s Act 2002’ only counsellors and psychotherapists who registered as an Adoption Support Agency (ASA) with Ofsted are able to offer specialist adoption counselling. I am not registered in this capacity; therefore, it is illegal for me to take on a client specifically with the purpose of working with the adoption issue itself.

Attendance and Fees

4.1 I will inform you of any booked holidays with not less than 3 weeks’ notice in order to cause you the least inconvenience and disruption to therapy. In this case, we will re arrange the session accordingly. In order to maintain the continuity of therapy you are required to give the same notice.  

4.2. If I have reason to believe you are under the effects of illicit drugs and/or alcohol at the time of the session, I will discontinue that same session. If the behaviour is repeated this may lead to the cancellation of therapy.

4.3 Sessions have a 48hr cancellation policy and are payable 48 hours in advance. I will charge for any sessions (or part sessions) missed unless given a minimum of 48 hours’ notice.

4.4. All cancellations require a full payment before the next session. One missed session without payment will lead to discharge from therapy.

4.5 Fees can be paid by cash, BACS. If you use bank transfers, their own GDPR policies are referenced on their website under the section ‘Privacy’ . Please, note that using online banking means they have access to some of your details.

4.5.1 The fee is £70 a session for individual therapy and £90 a session for couples therapy. Fees will be reviewed annually in April.

Data protection and privacy

5.1 You agree to the Data Protection and Privacy policy. This shall cover any personal data you provide prior to beginning therapy. In the event that this policy changes for whatever reason, I shall inform you as soon as possible and seek your consent to the new policy.

Applicable Law

6. The delivery and management of the counselling services under this contract is deemed to be undertaken with the United Kingdom whether counselling services are delivered through a meeting in person in the United Kingdom or through electronic or telephonic means (whether or not you or I decide to access the appointment from abroad). This agreement is governed under and by the laws of England and Wales and the parties agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.

Limitation of liability

7. Counsellor’s maximum liability (whether in tort, contract or otherwise) is limited to amount paid under this Agreement within the previous 12 months from the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in this clause shall exclude or limit liability that may not be limited or excluded by law (including for fraud and personal injury/death arising out of negligence). 

Counsellor shall not be liable (whether in tort, contract or otherwise)  for any:

(a) loss of income or profits, loss of contracts, goodwill, use or loss of data, or other intangible losses (whether direct or indirect); or

(b) indirect or consequential loss or damage of any kind howsoever arising

This clause 7 shall survive termination of this agreement.

Ending therapy

8. Should you decide to end our work together, you must give me at least 2 weeks’ notice to enable us to work together towards resolving any difficulty to our mutual satisfaction or towards a constructive ending. Where possible, I will give you similar notice if for any reason I wish to terminate this agreement and therapy.