Code of Conduct

Initial Contact

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Initial contact can be made through the website, via email, phone, text or Whatsapp. I offer a free 30 minute telephone consultation. This will provide us with an opportunity to briefly explore what has brought you to consider having therapy, what may be troubling you and what you hope to achieve. It will also provide an opportunity for us both to establish if we would like to work together and if the type of therapy I offer is suitable. Other than your name, no personal information is required at this stage. There is no commitment beyond our initial contact unless we both agree we would like there to be.

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Agreement

If we decide to progress to an initial assessment session, I will send you a copy of my counselling agreement. This sets out the terms under which the work will be conducted and asks you for your personal information. I will ask you to sign and return a copy. No sessions can take place until I have received your signed consent.

Initial assessment session.

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Once I have received your signed agreement, we will schedule an initial assessment session. This is an opportunity for us to see if we would like to work together. It’s less of a therapy session, more of an exploration and a getting to know one another session. I will ask a variety of questions about your life, family, relationships etc. that will help me to understand where the root cause of what is troubling you may lie. There is no commitment beyond the initial session unless we both agree.

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Ongoing Therapy

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Assuming we decide to continue to work together,  we will diarise further sessions. All sessions will be weekly. I ask for a minimum commitment to 12 sessions. In session six, we will review our work together and decide whether you would like to continue. In session 12 we will have a further review and decide if we wish to continue in an open-ended arrangement or for a specific number of further sessions.  You may, of course, also decide at this point to bring our sessions to a close. You may decide to end our sessions at any point. Ours will be a relationship, and like any other, the ending is very important. I therefore ask for 2 weeks’ notice so that we can end our sessions in a positive and mutually beneficial way.

 

Sessions in person and online

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We will agree from the outset if our sessions are to be in person or online. In person sessions are held in either Milton Keynes or London. Remote (online) sessions are held using Zoom. When attending an online therapy session, it is important that you have a confidential space without interruptions or distractions and where you will not be overheard. It also requires a stable internet/broadband service.

All sessions will last for 50 minutes.

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Our sessions/cancellation policy

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All sessions will happen on a weekly basis and last for 50 minutes from the agreed start time.  In the event that you are late for a session, I will only be able to work with you for the remainder of that session. If you are unable to make a session, please let me know as soon as possible.  Unless there are extenuating circumstances, if you cancel less than 48 hours prior to your appointment, you will need to pay the usual fee. If you are forced to cancel our session at short notice due to genuine sickness, there will be no charge.

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Holidays/planned absence

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I will give you at least two weeks’ notice of my intention to be away on holiday, and I would appreciate it if you could do the same. If you have any pre-planned holiday, please let me know this in the first session. 

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Drugs and Alcohol

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It is important that our work together proceeds at a pace and under conditions which are genuinely right for you. If you present under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, in these circumstances the counselling session will not go ahead. 

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Fees

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I will notify you of session fees when I send you the agreement. Fees must be paid prior to the start of each session. If payment is not received, the session cannot go ahead. Fees should be paid by bank transfer (often referred to as BACS). I will provide you with the information to pay for your session.

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Confidentiality

The content of our sessions is strictly confidential. For further details, please see my Privacy Policy.