You will be asked to complete an intake form. This form gives me information about why you have come for counselling, background information of your current living situation, past therapy information if you have had therapy before, medical information, what you want from the counselling and other important information that will give me a good insight of you and for you to learn about me. At the first session we will we discuss the intake form and frequency and times of the sessions. It is important that you keep consistent with your counselling times and frequencies so that you can get the most out of the sessions.

Prior to Covid-19 counselling was done face to face within a therapy room, however since having to deliver the counselling via our computers and phones we have found a lot of people now prefer this method. Remote working is more flexible and offers more availability for clients who are working and have small children. It can also support people who do not want to let anyone know that they are receiving counselling. I am still able to offer face to face sessions if preferred. I can offer sessions via WhatsApp, Facetime, Messenger and Zoom. It is important to have a quiet space at home or wherever you are doing your counselling from where you will not be interrupted or overheard.

There is no right or wrong answer here as it really depends on you, the issues and how quickly you feel things are getting better or not. As a rule, I suggest between 6-12 sessions. It takes time to establish the relationship between client and therapist. Trust is crucially important to the work that we do. If you do not feel safe talking to your therapist about deeply personal matters, the work cannot happen. If the trust is not there, the therapist will not be able to challenge your deeply held assumptions and expect you to consider the usefulness of what’s being suggested. Sometimes, it becomes obvious that much more work is needed in order that you can really benefit from it. It is hard to unravel a lifetime of ingrained and increasingly disabling feelings, thoughts and behaviours in just a few weeks. If you want to work more deeply, that work takes time and deserves care. Reviews will be undertaken throughout the therapy, and this is where we can decide whether you need more sessions, want to take a break for a couple of weeks or stop the therapy.

Sessions will be booked for 1 hour; however, the last 10 minutes of each session will be used to reflect on what we have discussed, confirm any homework and what we will discuss in the next session.

I have a cancellation policy in place which will be shared with you at the intake meeting. I ask for 48 hours’ notice to be given which there will be no charge. If the session is cancelled less than 48 hours’ notice, then the session will still be charged at the full rate. If you are late for a session the session will still go ahead from the time you arrive and finish at the original time booked. I will not be able to overrun any sessions due to other pre-booked appointments. If for whatever reason I arrive late then I will offer you the full session if I am able to at the time but if I am unable to do this, I will credit you with the time lost on another session.

You are able to end the therapy at any point, it is your counselling therefore we go at your pace. However, we will have a process in place to safely end the therapy and this will be discussed at the intake meeting.

You will be able to find this on the website under prices. You will also be able to see what discounts are available for block bookings, low income and under 25’s. You will also find out what I can offer for crisis support whilst waiting on an NHS waiting list.

I have a confidentiality policy in place which will be shared with you prior to any work being undertaken. Everything that is discussed during your sessions will remain confidential, however there are times when I might have to break the confidentiality for reasons such as a risk to yourself or others, court of law requests, during my own supervision but names will remain confidential. This is in accordance with the ethical framework. No shared information will be disclosed without you being informed. I am registered with ICO (Information Commissioners Office) and adhere to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The levels of confidentiality at which I work will be clarified during your initial session.

There may be times where you find that you know of me, or I know of you. If this happens then this will need to be disclosed so that we can decide together if it would be a conflict of interest or if we agree to continue.