Terms and Conditions

Purpose

Sessions provide a safe, non-judgemental space for you to explore any aspect of your life you wish. Therapy provides support for you whilst you facilitate this exploration.  

 

Ethical Practice and Confidentiality

I am an ethical practitioner and follow the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)’s code of ethics. All sessions remain confidential except as described below:

• If you, or someone involved directly with you, are at serious and immediate risk, I am ethically bound to take appropriate action. This may break the confidentiality agreement I have with you. If this were to eventuate, I will try to discuss this with you before acting.

• If I am subpoenaed by a court of law, or required by law to do so, eg under the Child Protection Act and Terrorism Act. 

• As an ethical requirement of counselling I receive regular clinical supervision with another qualified and experienced therapist and I may bring aspects of our work to supervision, the purpose of which is to ensure I am working safely with you and with your wellbeing paramount to the work. My supervisor is also bound by an agreement of confidentiality, no personally identifying information eg contact information is used, and I refer to you by first name only.

• There is no audio or visual recording of sessions unless both parties agree

 

Frequency and Payment​

• Sessions occur regularly each week, at the same time on the same day.

• Sessions last 50 minutes and if you are late, it is not possible to extend the session past the agreed, allocated time and the same fee will apply.  

• Payment can be made monthly in advance, or per session by bank transfer on the same day. 

• Please use the date/s of your session as a reference.

• Non-payment may result in the cancellation of the counselling agreement. 

• Should you cancel two consecutive sessions, it may be necessary to review whether counselling is right for you at this time and may result in cancellation of this agreement.

• Due to issues around ethics and legality it may not be possible to conduct sessions online/via telephone whilst you are not in the UK.

• Fee reviews occur regularly each year and may be subject to increase. At least 1 month's notice will be given of any increase.

 

Fortnightly therapy or check in sessions

Should you have completed the whole or the bulk of your therapy work and aren't ready to end, it may be possible to continue the work or phase out the therapy process by switching to fortnightly or reduced sessions by individual arrangement. In this case, it is important that you attend all sessions and adhere to the schedule agreed. If you are not able to attend all agreed sessions it may be necessary to review the agreement. Payment for reduced sessions will be charged monthly and are not subject to the refund policy.

 

Cancellations and Refunds

• Missed or cancelled sessions are chargeable unless at least 48 hours notice is given.

• At least one week's notice is required if your holiday dates extend beyond one week.

• Missed or cancelled sessions are refundable if at least 48 hours notice is given. If availability for both parties allow, rescheduling may be possible.

 

Safety

You will not cause physical harm to yourself or me, or cause damage to property during the course of the therapy. You will not attend any sessions whilst under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 

 

Contact

Should the need arise for contact between sessions, please do so by email: kfcounselling@gmail.com . Contact between sessions is generally limited to making arrangements for sessions. The Athena Practice currently does not use social media to correspond or connect with you.

 

Review and Ending

The initial number of sessions is set at 6 sessions. At the end of this time, therapy will continue on an ongoing basis, unless there is a reason that it is not possible to do so. Should you decide to end the work, please give adequate notice to enable the process to be brought to a constructive close. If this is prior to the six session period, this could be as little as one week. For ongoing therapy, a planned session, dedicated to the ending process is generally necessary. Depending on the length of your time in therapy this could be anywhere between 2 weeks - 3 months. If my training is not adequate for your requirements, it may be necessary to work towards a constructive conclusion and to sign post or refer you to an alternative practitioner.

 

Data Protection and Privacy

Electronic correspondence is deleted once our work concludes. Confidential, handwritten notes of sessions may be kept as an aid to memory only. Agreement to these terms and conditions is considered permission for this. Any such notes are shredded seven years after the ending date of therapy unless it is a legal obligation to do otherwise. 

 

Pre Trial Therapy (PTT)

• If you are accessing therapy whilst an active report, investigation or trial is taking place due to a crime you have reported, you are considered to be having “pre-trial therapy”. This is a term set by the Crown Prosecution Service and applies to any kind of crime.

• If this applies to you please advise asap as it may be the case that any notes kept about your work may be used as part of the evidence in your case. In the first instance we will discuss what this means and how we can work together whilst you are managing the criminal justice process. If we undertake PTT you will need to sign a consent form in addition to these terms and conditions  to demonstrate that you understand how services will be provided to you and that you agree to proceed accordingly.

 

Professional Will

Should I die or be incapacitated and unable to continue therapy, you will be contacted by a nominated third party. This person has access to your contact details only, and only for the purposes of advising you of this.