Counselling Contract and Information Letter
Welcome to counselling with Jess. I hope you will find this counselling supportive, kind and helpful. I believe counselling can make a positive difference. Counselling might also feel challenging at times. You will choose what we speak about. Counselling can help you, speaking to a confidential, impartial therapist, about yourself, can help you to feel things you may need to, to begin to feel differently. Counselling may also help you let go of things you are carrying, change how you think, heal, accept feelings, situations, experiences and begin to see new ways forward. A supportive, safe therapeutic relationship can also be healing in itself, especially if you have previously had difficult relationships. It can help to know you have been really heard, understood and seen.
Therapy is a space where you can talk about, process, and feel anything from your past or current life. It’s a place you will be accepted and respected and not told what to do. It’s a privilege to be with you as you undertake this journey. I believe that with support you can process everything you need to and you can find a way forward. I will be happy to support you to do this. I encourage you to listen to your feelings, thoughts, and instincts and let that guide you in therapy. It’s ok if you aren’t sure what to talk about. That is normal and I shall not leave you stuck or in silence (unless that is helpful) and together we can help you to listen to yourself and find what you need to speak about. You may at times feel tired or more emotional after a session, perhaps it’s good to think about what you have planned after a session. If you are speaking about traumatic or distressing experiences in therapy you may feel it’s hard at times to regulate how you feel after a session. We can speak about how to help you manage this. You are not alone with this.
You are always welcome to let me know in sessions how you are finding therapy in general, how your needs or goals may have changed and if there’s anything that feels difficult in this experience. You are welcome to ask me questions at any point on this journey.
I work in a relational, humanistic way weaving in a range of integrative practice. I am a highly qualified therapist with an BSc (Hons) first degree from the Sherwood Institute of Counselling and Psychotherapy. I am also an individual BACP registered member and follow the codes and ethics of the BACP and SPTI. I offer support with anxiety, depression, life challenges, grief, adoption issues, loneliness, mental health struggles, identity issues, eating disorders, addictions, and relational difficulties of all kinds. I have experience working with a wide age range of clients and also with those who experience neurological difference.
Mental health is an important issue and I appreciate many people have been given a mental health diagnosis. I feel what’s important with such labels is how you feel about this. I respect some people feel a diagnosis has been very helpful to them and fits them well, but I also respect others feel they don’t agree with the diagnosis or accept it. I will see you as a whole person and not as a label or defined by anything you may have experienced or done. You are welcome to speak about any aspect of your life including your spiritual beliefs, cultural experiences, sexuality, abuse experiences, rage, poverty, discrimination, racism, intimacy issues or experiences of breaking the law. It is ok to show emotion and distress and use any language. Creative work e.g., poems, photos, songs, artwork are welcome.
Therapy is a caring, supportive, genuine, professional relationship but not a personal friendship. Counselling isn’t an emergency situation and in a mental health emergency please contact your GP practice, highlighting just how serious your situation is, an NHS crisis team, supportive connection, or the Samaritans. After we have ended our work together you are always welcome to contact me again and book a session. I will do my best to accommodate this. It is also ok for you to email me after we have completed working together if you wish. I won’t initiate contact with you but would be happy to hear from you again! I do not expect any gifts or cards but will be happy to accept these if they are not of significant monetary value. If you see me outside sessions I will either say hello. Please let me know if you would rather, I avoid this for your privacy.
Confidentiality
I keep client notes in a locked filing cabinet in a secure location. The notes are identified only by numbers and confidentially kept. I have professional indemnity insurance. I discuss my clinical work with my supervisor monthly to ensure that I can offer the best support possible to you.
I will break confidentiality for the following reasons:
1) If you share that you are involved with money laundering.
2) If you disclose you intend to act upon a plan to end your life.
3) If you share you plan to seriously hurt another person.
4) If you share information about a child or vulnerable adult who is currently at risk of abuse, injury, assault or exploitation.
5) If you share that you are involved with terrorist activity or people trafficking.
6) If ordered by a court to speak about our work.
Sessions
I currently offer sessions by phone/online or in person at Edwinstowe House, Edwinstowe on a Tuesday between 9am and 7pm. I offer sessions of 50 minutes or 90minutes. There is a free car park on site, as you enter the main front door at Edwinstowe House there is a room directly in front of you within 5-10 metres, walk through the doors to this room which contains sofas and chairs. Make yourself comfortable and I will come to meet you promptly at your appointment time to take you to the therapy room. If we are working online, please then join the Zoom video call via the link sent to you via email, or phone call me at the time arranged.
There is never an assumption you will continue having more sessions, but I suggest an ‘ending session/s’ can be valuable for you when you feel ready to stop working together. If 2 consecutive weeks are missed and no contact is returned I will assume therapy is no longer wanted by you and sessions will end. Of course, I am happy for you to then contact me in the future. I’m happy to work together just very briefly or for many years, as is right for you.
I seek to be reliable, consistent and to give at least 24hrs notice ahead of any need to rebook sessions. Rarely, a health or life urgent situation could possibly mean I need to cancel at short notice. We could explore any impact of this on you in a future session. I would appreciate if you are able to generally offer 24 hrs notice of the need to change a session but I appreciate occasionally that may not be possible.
I offer therapy at a lower cost than some therapists with this level of training, experience, and specialism because I seek to offer therapy to people in a wider range of situations and to contribute to local affordable and accessible therapy. I understand that (amongst other things) a person’s sexual or gender identity, financial situation, race, ethnicity, nationality or asylum status, disability, mental health, family estrangement, care experience, historical relational experiences, self-worth, criminal record, isolation, mental health diagnosis, experience of exploitation, violation, abuse or ‘power over’ can contribute to unfair accessibility to or experience of therapy and other life opportunities.
A 50 minute session costs £55 and is the standard session length. A 90 minute session costs £80 and may be preferable for some clients. Please arrange to pay on the day of your session via cash in person.
If less than 24 hours notice is given to cancel a session, the session cost will need to be paid on the day as I will be unable to book another session in at short notice and the room/business costs will still apply to me. This is standard counselling practice. Please do not be embarrassed if I remind you to pay, I appreciate we all forget at times.
GDPR Privacy Policy
Secure Storage
I make every effort to keep all information confidential. Your personal information is stored securely and confidentially. I collect your name, address, GP details and emergency contact. I keep these for my personal records and in case you inform me during or outside a session that you are intending to end your life, or your life is in danger. I also keep them for 6 years and then destroy this data. I store this data in a locked filing cabinet in a locked building. Only I have the key for the filing cabinet. Your mobile phone is stored in my work phone but it’s not connected with your full name. I use your mobile number or email address to confirm appointments, change appointments and to communicate where necessary between sessions.
Sharing Your Data
Under normal circumstances I don’t share your address or GP details with anyone else. The exception to this would be if I believe that your life is in danger. In this situation I would disclose your name, GP details and possibly address to the GP and or a safeguarding officer or the police as appropriate. The other exception is if I have reason to believe that you are a sexual, physical or emotional danger to a child or vulnerable adult. Finally if I were ordered by court to share your information or acknowledge our therapeutic relationship. I have regular supervision but in these sessions you remain confidential as I don’t share your name, your address or GP details. Only anonymised aspects of how we are working together would be shared. The content of our sessions will be briefly noted on my client notes, and these are kept in a locked filing cabinet which only I have access to. The content of these wouldn’t be shared unless you request a copy of these. Then I would need a months’ notice and would supply you with a copy of them.
The information disclosed during the course of counselling is confidential. However, there are legal exceptions. For example if you reveal a threat of harm, or there is a threat of harm to self or others, or if a court order is received and a legal obligation arises. I will notify the ICO if my data security is breached if it is likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of clients. If, for example, it could result in discrimination, damage to reputation, financial loss, loss of confidentiality or any other significant economic or social disadvantage. Where a breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, you will also have to notify those concerned directly in most cases.
Right to Access
You have the right to ask for a copy of your personal information, free of charge, in an electronic or paper format. A month notice will be needed to supply this. You also have the right to ask me to amend or change any incorrect information about you. You have a right to complain to the ICO if they think there is a problem with the way I’m handling your data. You always have the right to request information about your stored data, its origin, its recipients, and the purpose of its collection at no charge. You also have the right to request that it is corrected or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in the legal notice if you have further questions about the issue of privacy and data protection. You may also, of course, file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities. I am registered with SPTI and the BACP.
Right to be Forgotten
You have the right to ask me to erase any information that I hold about you. This includes your personal information that is no longer relevant to original purposes, or if you wish to withdraw consent. In all cases and when considering such requests, these rights are obligatory unless it’s information that I have a legal obligation to retain.
Data Portability
As the client you have the right to receive your personal information which you previously provided, and also have the right to transfer that information to another party. For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018, the data “controller” is Jessica Gill, Fusion Counselling & Psychotherapy, Edwinstowe. This Privacy Policy lets you know how your personal information is being collected, stored and shared and this is in line with EU General Data Protection Regulations.
I give permission for Jessica Gill to collect and store my address, email, mobile phone number, GP details, and my full name. I am aware of the ways that my data will be stored, how long it will be held and the legal exceptions of when it may be shared with a third party. I give consent for Jess to contact me via mobile number/s between sessions where necessary.