Ethics and policies

Ethical Framework for Counselling

I am a member of BACP –British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

As such, I am bound and committed to working in accordance with the Ethical Framework of Counselling Professions which outlines ethical commitments and best practices in the profession.

You can download a pdf document of the framework below.

My policies

Confidentiality

This is a very important aspect of the counselling relationship. Everything that is discussed in the counselling session is kept in the strictest confidence.

As a BACP Accred Member, I am required to have regular supervision and will need to discuss my work with a supervisor on a regular basis. However, I will not disclose your name or anything that would enable you to be identified.

The only reason for breaking confidentiality would be If there is convincing evidence that you intend to harm yourself or others, we might need to break confidentiality by informing your doctor, or in serious cases the police, again this would ideally only take place with your prior knowledge. In all other circumstances any disclosure would require a court order, even in circumstances in which you, the client, request such disclosure (e.g. court case, insurance claim etc).

I keep brief notes after a session, which do not contain your name or hold any identifying features and are securely stored.

For more information on how I manage your personal information from initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended, please take a look at my Privacy Policy.

Fees & Holidays

Counselling sessions are charged at £80 per session for adults and £75 for under 18s.

I do offer a number of places on a sliding scale, which I am happy to discuss with you during an assessment session.

Counselling will take place on the same day and at the same time.

I recognise the need to take a reasonable amount of holidays etc and as long as I have a week’s notice these will not be charged. I consider 2 weeks within any 6 month period to be reasonable, additional fee breaks would be at my discretion according to your individual circumstances.

I will endeavour to inform you of any breaks I may take at least 4 weeks in advance.

Endings

Endings are an important part of the work and need to be planned for accordingly, if we agree to work in an open ended way then a four week period of notice needs to be given in order to manage the ending of our time and work together.