Terms & Conditions for Psychotherapy

1. I am bound by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Standards of Conduct. Information about the codes of conduct can be found at the following website: https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-us/protecting-the-public/professional-conduct.
2. Free initial phone/video consultation: The first step is for us to arrange a free 15 minute telephone/video consultation after you have read the Terms and Conditions and are happy with what is contained within these. (You will need to sign the Terms and Conditions before scheduling an appointment). This free consultation will help me to ascertain further whether I think it would be beneficial for you to undertake an Initial Assessment. If I anticipate there may be a wait for assessment and potentially a wait of a few weeks between the assessment and commencing therapy, I will alert you to this.
3. Initial Assessment: Before starting a course of psychotherapy, it is essential that you book and complete an Initial Assessment with me. During this session, I will ask you about presenting difficulties along with relevant background information and current functioning. This information helps me develop a ‘Psychological Formulation’ with you, which summarises what you are struggling with, where it has come from, and what is keeping it going. The formulation enables us to develop a treatment plan together. If I do not think I am able to offer you appropriate treatment, I will discuss this with you and where possible support you in making links with other appropriate sources. Type of therapy and number of sessions will be discussed at the end of the assessment appointment and can be reviewed at any time. You are not contracted to a specific number of sessions. In order for me to do my best by you, it is important that you are honest with me about previous or current therapy and/or involvement with other mental health services. I reserve the right to end therapy if this is indicated.
4. Please note that you are expected to be willing to explore your childhood experiences, as these are usually central to presenting distress. I do not work with clients with addictions to either alcohol, prescription medication or recreational drugs. Although experienced in working with complex cases, I do not generally work with clients who require lots of additional input in terms of liaising with other professionals as this takes up a significant amount of additional time in terms of phone calls, emails, report writing and attending meetings. If this is requested at any point in therapy, I will charge for this time accordingly and a contract would need to be set up regarding number of hours dedicated to this each month. I do not write Court reports.
5. Length of Therapy Sessions: The duration of a psychotherapy session is 1 hour. I may amend the duration for therapeutic reasons and will discuss this with you. If you are late for a session, I will contact you via text and email and wait for you for 15 minutes. If I have not heard from you in this time, I will assume you are not attending, and I will consider this a non-attendance and end the session. If you do attend the session within that 15-minute period, I will see you for the remainder of your appointment time but will be unable to work beyond the allotted finish time as this will disrupt the clinic for other clients who may be waiting. Similarly, if you decide you do not wish to use all your allocated time, I will need to charge in full for this since I have set the time aside for you.
6. Frequency of sessions: Typically, therapy sessions take place weekly or fortnightly in order to achieve maximum benefits; however, I am aware that due to time or financial reasons this is not always realistic. Frequency of sessions can be discussed at any point. At times, you can request intensive therapy where you may book longer sessions or more than once a week; however, this needs to be discussed with me and may not be possible to accommodate. If you have not made contact with me to book again within 2 weeks of your last appointment, I will need to reallocate that space to another client. If you regularly miss appointments or cancel and this is hindering your progress in therapy, I will discuss the implications of this with you and potentially discharge you.
7. Location of Sessions: Sessions will take place online or at 47 Cheap Street, Newbury RG14 5BX. I do not offer home visits.
8. Online sessions: Online sessions are usually conducted via Zoom – unless we agree otherwise. I will discuss the practicalities of this with you. The price of online therapy is the same as if you were attending in person. Once I have received payment for the sessions, I will send you a Zoom link to your email. This will be a ‘recurring any time’ link that we will use each time we meet so please keep the email containing the link safe. You simply click the link in the email to connect to the Zoom session.
9. Recording: It is important that you do NOT record the sessions. I will not be recording any of our sessions unless I have prior consent from you and this has been mutually agreed.
10. Time of sessions: My sessions for in-person appointments are run within school hours only 9:30am-2:00pm Mondays through Fridays. Online sessions can occur in the evening also. Please be advised that if your circumstances change  and you are no longer able to attend in these hours, I cannot accommodate alternative hours and therapy will need to be drawn to a close.
11. Cancellation or Non-Attendance: I understand that sometimes life events, such as emergencies, happen, that may make it necessary for you to cancel appointments with less than 48 hours-notice, or fail to attend without being able to notify me. On these occasions, I reserve the right to charge a fee. In general, if you fail to give less than 24 hours-notice of your intention to cancel or postpone an agreed therapy session, or if there is a repeat pattern of cancellations/non-attendances, I will charge in full for missed sessions. At a minimum, I will need to charge 50% of the full fee. Please advise me of any periods of time that you are unable to attend with as much notice as possible. I will give you as much advance notice as possible in terms of dates when sessions may not take place, or of any need to cancel/rearrange a future appointment. However, there may also be occasions when sessions may be cancelled at short notice due to unforeseen circumstances. In such cases, you will not be charged and I will offer an alternative time. Therefore, please notify me of any change in contact details. If for any reason, I am late for a session, you will be reimbursed accordingly.
12. Booking and payment of treatment sessions: Bookings should be made either by phone or email. If I am in session and unable to answer a call from you, please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can. You are required to make payment for your session after each session in order to be seen for a follow-up session. An invoice with BACS details will be sent to you within 24 hours of your session. Short and necessary telephone or email contact between sessions will not generally be charged. Conversations of more than five minutes will normally be invoiced pro rata, unless otherwise agreed. I am happy to deal with appointments and payments by email, but any other personal material needs to be discussed in session. Unpaid invoices not settled within 14 days may incur a 1.5% per month late payment charge at the discretion of the therapist. It is always preferable to communicate directly with clients in order to find a solution to overdue accounts. Outside agencies will not be contacted about the recovery of unpaid fees unless accounts are overdue by 90 days. The therapist will be entitled to recover the full amount of any administrative or legal costs or expenses incurred in the recovery of unpaid invoices. If you intend for an insurance company to cover the costs of any assessment or treatment, it is your responsibility to check beforehand whether the services that we provide are covered by your policy. I reserve the right to terminate therapy.
13. Fees: Individual Psychotherapy £80.00, Couples Psychotherapy £95.00. Packages for specific types of issues may be available and will be agreed upon at the time of booking. The cost of therapy includes any written materials I supply, but excludes the cost of any recommended books/online resources. Fees are subject to regular review. I do not offer discounted rates.
14. Ending Therapy: I will have discussed engagement in therapy with you at the assessment. It is always difficult to predict with complete accuracy how many sessions of treatment will be required and the course therapy might take, because everyone is unique and responds differently to treatment. The usual process will be that I will be led by you as to how often you wish to attend. However, I am aware that situations and priorities change and sometimes people decide not to continue with therapy at that time. It would be helpful for me to know from you if you decide to take a break from therapy or end therapy.
15. Accountability, Safety and Efficacy of sessions: In line with professional codes of practice, I am required to regularly engage in continuing professional development activities and receive on-going clinical supervision. I may discuss your case in supervision but will not use any identifying details. As with any therapy, I cannot guarantee that you will benefit as we had hoped at the outset. I will regularly review progress against your goals with you.
16. Confidentiality: Confidentiality will be maintained within the codes of ethics and legal requirements. Confidentiality does not apply where it would mean that I withhold information that would result in me breaking the law or breaching the codes of ethics. Safeguarding is my main concern in supporting you and if I consider there is a risk of harm to you or others, I will discuss this with you and share this with relevant professionals. For this reason, I require the contact details of your GP, but where appropriate it may be beneficial for me to liaise with other professionals involved in your care. I may choose not to discuss this with you if I believe that in doing so, I increase imminent risk of harm. In the case of a disclosure concerning acts of terrorism, vulnerable adult or child protection issues or drug trafficking, confidentiality will be breached and such disclosures will be passed onto the relevant authority without delay. Due consideration should be exercised before disclosing anything of a previously unreported criminal nature, as I am obligated to contact relevant authorities. You must NOT let anyone else listen in to any part of online sessions (via phone or any other technical device or in person) without my prior agreement.
17. Communication and Contact: Please note that most email providers do not guarantee a secure network. Please be aware of this when contacting me via email as no responsibility shall be held for unauthorised disclosure of information through the use of an unsecured network. Please let me know if you would prefer not to use email and, if so, what your preferred method of communication would be. To help best manage my time, and for the benefit of all my clients, I cannot respond to lengthy emails in between appointments. If you have a number of queries, this is best addressed in a scheduled appointment (either in-person, or by telephone / video call). If you have an urgent query however (e.g. a quick yes / no question), then please contact me via the contact details provided. In addition, I do not provide a crisis service. If clients are in need of urgent assistance, I advise them to contact the Samaritans, their GP or the nearest Accident and Emergency Department.
18. A word about therapy: At times, therapy can be a difficult process to go through and there may be times that you wish to avoid attending or end therapy before it is complete. I encourage you to be open with me about any struggles you are encountering so that an honest and open conversation can be had. I will endeavour to resolve any of these difficulties so that you feel more comfortable continuing. It is best not to terminate therapy abruptly. If you do wish to terminate therapy, speak to me so that I can arrange a closing session for you to contain the work that has been started. In the normal course of events you will develop a sense of when you are ready to end therapy or an ending can be agreed in advance and worked towards. This will always be the case with insurance funded work. Please be advised that I do not offer therapy to people experiencing acute mental health crises that would warrant a team approach from an NHS Mental Health Team service, who can then activate appropriate team level responses and interventions. My main priority in therapy is safety, and if I feel you require a team approach within the NHS I will be clear with you about this. Whilst I will do my utmost to ensure a positive outcome for you in therapy, this is never guaranteed. If I am unsure as to whether therapy is benefitting you, or indeed that it is destabilizing you unduly, I will discuss this with you and may suggest we draw it to a close.
19. Therapeutic Boundaries: I will not suddenly or without warning terminate therapy, except in exceptional circumstances. In the unlikely event that your treatment needs to end abruptly because, for example, I am taken seriously ill and am unable to continue the work, I have entrusted a colleague to contact you and discuss the situation. In this event, my colleague will have access to your contact details and the basic information about the work undertaken. If I do decide to bring your therapy to a close earlier than expected I will make you aware of this and give reasons as to why. Please note any threats or acts of violence are unacceptable and will lead to immediate termination of treatment. Sessions will not take place if you arrive under the influence of substances. You are responsible for ensuring you are in a suitable place to have your session. If you are not in a private space where you are not interrupted or overheard and I am not comfortable going ahead with the session, I will cancel the session but will still charge in full for this.
20. Providing reports: I do not provide assessment or treatment reports unless instructed by insurance companies. I do not write Court reports.

If you have any questions, with regards to the Terms and Conditions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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