client agreement

As well as my professional insurance and being committed to the UKCP and BPA code of ethics, I also have structures in place that create robust conditions for safety. I call this my frame. Part of my frame is the contract:

contract

Whenever I start new work with a client, I create a contract for both the client and me to read and sign. This contract outlines my payment and cancellation policy, the process for ending therapy, the time and location of sessions as well as other anchoring details.

confidentiality

I maintain confidentiality according to the UKCP and BPA code of ethics. In exceptional circumstances if I were concerned for your safety or that of others, I might need to contact a third party who could provide extra help, for example your GP. In this remote eventuality I’d do my best to discuss this with you first. However, if I were unable to reach you, I might need to go ahead and then would discuss this with you at the first opportunity.

Also, I have regular supervision to discuss my caseload with my therapeutic supervisor. No surnames or other identifying characteristics are used in these sessions.

session time and place

In my one to one work, we meet weekly at an agreed time and place for 50 minute sessions. I hold this time for you. I work both in person and on Zoom. Once we’ve established a regular meeting rhythm, I can if you have exceptional circumstances, try to find an alternative time that week where my schedule allows.

Because of the communal nature of group work, group sessions are attended in person and the timing isn’t flexible.

ending process

Finishing therapeutic work involves saying goodbye. This can be painful because not only is it a loss in the present, it can also evoke unresolved and bruising goodbyes from the past. I encourage clients to give their ending process sufficient time – this can be weeks or even months. We work together to negotiate an appropriate end date so that we can move through the ending process in a way that provides you with the most amount of nourishment and insight.