Therapist - Client Agreement

Therapy

Therapy offers a space to slow down and make sense of what’s going on beneath the surface. My commitment to you is to offer a relationship grounded in care, curiosity and respect, where you can feel understood without judgement. From that foundation, therapy can support you to feel more connected to yourself and to move through life with more clarity and self-compassion.

Confidentiality

Counselling sessions are confidential. The exceptions to this are:

  • I attend ongoing counselling supervision. This is in place to help me review all aspects of my counselling work and ensure that I am working in the best way possible. If I discuss my client work, I will not use your name or any information that makes your identity known.

  • In extreme cases confidentiality may be broken where there may be a risk of serious harm to yourself or others. For this reason I will ask you to provide your G.P details on your intake form for use in emergencies. If this was to happen, I would do my best to discuss this with you in advance. This is unlikely to occur but essential if you require additional support outside the counselling relationship.

  • When required by law as per the Terrorism Act 2000, the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 and any abuse of a minor in accordance with the Children’s Act 1989/2004.

Session length and timings

The length of our therapy sessions is 50 minutes, and the sessions are weekly on the same day and at the same time, unless otherwise agreed between us.

Cancellation of sessions

  • If you cannot attend an upcoming session, please give at least 48 hours notice, or you will be charged for the session in full.

  • If you cannot make the usual session time I may, on occasion, be able to offer an alternative time or day that week.

  • If you miss more than two consecutive sessions without notifying me, I cannot hold your session time.

  • I will give as much notice as possible if I have to cancel our session or am going on holiday.

  • If you are late to a session, I will wait for up to 30 minutes. If you arrive during this time, we will continue our session for the remainder of the session time. If you are more than 30 minutes late to your session, this will be classed as a no-show which is still subject to the session fee as per the cancellation policy.

Fees

Our agreed weekly fee is £60.00 per session, to be paid via bank transfer at least 24 hours prior to our session.

If payments are missed or late, I may have to pause sessions until payment is up to date.

Please make payment to:

MISS RACHEL LEES

60-30-20

28346416

NATWEST

Including your initials as a reference.

Contact between sessions

If you need to contact me between sessions regarding our session, please contact me via email and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Professional membership

I am a registered BACP Counsellor (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) and am bound by their Ethical Framework and its Complaints Procedure.

Having sessions online or over the phone

  • To enable online sessions I use Zoom - this is a safe and secure platform with security features that you can view here. You can join a Zoom meeting from your web browser or by downloading the desktop app.

  • I will send you the unique Zoom meeting link on the day of our session.

  • For the best experience, I recommend joining online Zoom sessions from a desktop / tablet device.

  • Please ensure, as I will, that you attend the session from a private space that is comfortable and quiet, where you can talk freely without being disturbed, distracted or overheard.

  • If we lose signal during a call or video call, I will call you back/ re-join the Zoom link or email you. If necessary, we may need to continue the session via telephone or, if we continue to have technical difficulties, reschedule the session.

  • Please ensure that your device is charged, has signal or wifi and a working microphone and camera. You might preference using headphones too.

Other

  • I keep brief notes on each session which will be anonymised and securely stored.

  • You agree to attend sessions free of the influence of alcohol and recreational drugs. If you arrive for a session under the influence of recreational drugs or alcohol, I reserve the right to cancel the session. The fee for the session will still apply in these circumstances.

  • If we see each other outside of a session, I will wait for you to acknowledge me first. If you are comfortable with acknowledging me then I will be happy to say hello. If not, I will respect your confidentiality.