Psychological Therapy Contract

The basis of our therapy contract is set out in terms specified below:

• I am a trained, experienced, and insured Chartered Counselling Psychologist. I am happy to provide you with further details of my training upon request. I am registered with the Heath Care Professions Council (HCPC) whose code of conduct and ethics I follow. I have been awarded the protected status of Practitioner Psychologist from the HCPC.

• I regularly attend supervision with to ensure the quality of my work. During supervision conversations clients’ first names may be used but not further identifying details (such as surname, DoB, address, place of work etc.) to protect clients’ anonymity.

I may (rarely) ask to tape record a session our work for supervision purposes only. You are entirely free to decline this request.  If you do agree this recording will be stored confidentially on a password protected and encrypted device and used only for supervision purposes. It will be safely destroyed after use.

• I keep all your contact and referral information, including the name and details of your GP, in a file that is securely stored in either a locked storage cabinet to which only I have access. None of the contact or referral information provided to me will be passed to a third party without your permission or used for purposes other than in support of the therapeutic work we are undertaking.

• Please be aware that I also keep a record of our sessions and make brief notes of what was discussed as well as my own thoughts and ideas on our work. These notes are entirely confidential and will not be disclosed to any third party unless required by law.  They are stored separately away from any identifying personal details on a secure, password protected and encrypted cloud storage device (Evernote). 

• All personal information that I keep is controlled and processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (2018). Under these regulations you have a number of legal rights in relation to the information being kept on you, which you can find out more about via the Information Commissioners Office (www.ico.org.uk).

• I actively review all personal data held on a regular basis and delete/destroy information that it is no longer necessary for me to keep. Please note I keep session notes and personal information related to our therapeutic work for a period of 7 years following the final session of our therapeutic work for the purpose of offering continuity of service. All notes and information will be kept securely until this period elapses and then safely destroyed. If you would like me to destroy notes earlier than that you may request this.

• All matters discussed in our work are confidential. However, you are asked to be aware that I have an obligation to ensure that you do not present a risk to yourself or other people, or a child is at risk, and to notify your GP (or other relevant parties) if I believe this to be the case. I will talk to you about this if I need to take such action wherever possible.

• It is sometimes important to let your GP know that you are starting therapeutic work. If I believe this to be the case, I will ask for your permission to write a short letter informing him/her that we are working together and I would provide you with a copy of this letter to you should you request it. You are welcome to read draft letters before they are sent and input on what information is included. 

• I require you to tell me if at any point in our therapeutic work if you prepare or make a medical or employment claim that may require me to make a report on your psychological wellbeing or upon the content of our work. 

• The fee for each of your sessions is £90 (or a negotiated concession fee) this is payable after each session by cash or card payment, or by online payment. I require a minimum of two full working days (48 hours) notice of a cancelled session. If you do not attend a session or cancel a session without giving two full working days notice then you will be charged the full fee for this session.

• Please note that I operate a 'reasonable use' policy on cancellations, and reserve the right to terminate the therapy should you cancel sessions without good reason on a regular basis. 

• You are free to terminate therapy at any time. However I would ask you to attend for a final session if this is possible, in order to help you end the work in the best possible way for you.

• If you are unhappy with any aspect of the service you are receiving from me you should raise these in the first instance with me as your practitioner. Following any unsuccessful resolution you would have recourse through the HCPC.