Terms & Conditions
PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION
I am a Consultant Chartered Clinical Psychologist and is registered with the Health Care Professions Council: HCPC PYL20871. I am an Associate Member of the British Psychological Society (AFBPS): BPS: 091263. I adhere closely to the codes of ethics and conduct of these regulatory bodies. Copies of these codes are available to you online and include information about procedures for making a complaint.
PAYMENT
Payment in full is due on the day of the session (by cash or cheque at the time of the session, or bank transfer within 24 hours of the session) unless you hold private medical insurance which is paying for your therapy. Failure to pay may unfortunately lead to sessions being cancelled until any outstanding invoice has been settled.
I am an approved practitioner by most insurance companies. If you hold private medical insurance, please check that your insurer approves these sessions and provides you with an Authorisation Number to share with me.
APPOINTMENT FREQUENCY
Your therapy will work best when there is a commitment to regular appointments. Normally I will meet with you once a week, although it can be helpful for sessions to be held at a different frequency. The therapy progress will be monitored using specialist measures and will usually be conducted in pre-agreed blocks of sessions.
CANCELLATION POLICY
If you are able to give 48 hours’ notice, there is no cancellation fee. Cancellations made the day before your appointment will be charged at 50% of the session rate. Cancellations made on the day of your appointment will be charged the full rate.
I will inform you in advance of any planned absence for holiday or professional engagements, and will endeavour to give you at least 48 hours’ notice of any cancelled session wherever possible. We aim to minimise any disruption or inconvenience to you due to missed appointments and I will only cancel a session if this is completely unavoidable and as a last resort. Any appointments cancelled will of course not be charged.
CONFIDENTIALITY
In general, everything that is discussed is confidential; I will not be sharing any information without your permission except under circumstances where there is a serious concern for your safety or for the safety of others. As part of good clinical practice, I attend clinical supervision regularly, which includes discussions of what is happening in the therapy and treatments I provide. Clinical supervision is bound by the same confidentiality guidelines as therapy sessions and discussions will always be anonymised, respectful and with the aim of supporting me to provide you with the best care.
At our first session I will discuss with you whether you would like me to write to any other professionals, such as your GP, in order to let them know that you are currently in treatment. I do not routinely contact your GP and/or referrer unless you agree that this would be helpful and will enhance your care. If we agree that correspondence to your GP or referrer would be beneficial, I will provide this free of charge and will share the correspondence with you. However, a detailed assessment report or care plan will be charged at the agreed session fee. Any extension liaison/letter writing or long emails involved around the assessment or subsequent appointments will be charged pro-rata at the agreed session fee and copies will always be shared with you via secure encrypted email.
ETHICAL AND COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE
Depending on your individual needs, several different therapeutic models and approaches can be used in your therapy. During the initial assessment, we will reach an agreement about which way of working is most likely to meet your needs. This choice will be reviewed regularly and will be modified as necessary.
At the beginning of treatment, we will agree on some goals for therapy. Together, we will review progress towards these goals at regular intervals (no less frequently than every six sessions) in order to ensure that therapy is helping you to meet your needs, and to identify any obstacles to change. I use a range of measures to gauge how you are progressing, including specialist standardised questionnaires, to help monitor your well-being.
CONTACT BETWEEN SESSIONS
I am unable to provide regular support in between contracted sessions (by telephone, email or text message). Please note that I do not provide a multidisciplinary or crisis service. The needs of some clients exceed what I am able to work with safely in private practice, and I will let you know if I believe that you require the input of a specialist team. Should this happen during the course of your therapy, I will facilitate your referral to the most appropriate service wherever possible or communicate with your GP so that they can arrange this for you.
THERAPY ENDING
Ending can be an important part of therapy and it should ideally be a planned process. The final few sessions of any contract of therapy will focus on preparing fully for the this.