POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Welcome to Cover Our Community Christian Counseling. Please read all documents thoroughly and complete them where necessary, so that you are prepared to discuss any questions with your counselor during your first session.
1. CONFIDENTIALITY All information obtained/derived by the course of counseling is fully confidential. Exceptions to this guideline include instances when (a) the client is a clear danger to themselves or others; (b) the client is a minor (under the age of 18) and reports that he or she is or has been a victim of physical or sexual abuse; and (c) there is any suspected abuse to a child or elder abuse. If you desire Randall Family Counseling to release or obtain information from a specific individual or agency, ask your counselor for an “Authorization to Release Information” form. I understand that cases are occasionally discussed between Randall Family Counseling counselors to provide the best Christian Counseling as possible.
2. TELEPHONE CALLS Occasions may arise when you need to talk to your counselor in between normally scheduled sessions. If you leave a message with your counselor, they will make every effort to respond in a timely manner. Any consultation by telephone made between scheduled sessions will incur a charge to the client if the telephone call exceeds 50 minutes. If there is a life-threatening emergency, call 911 or go immediately to your local Emergency Room.
3. LENGTH OF SESSION: Each session will last up to 1 hour and will be weekly on Monday: 8PM-9PM. (Starting 9/4)
4. FEES AND PAYMENT: All payments are due at the time service is rendered. Payment may be made in the form of CashApp or Zelle. Please advise your counselor which form of payment you will be utilizing prior to your first sesion.Our current fee for individual sessions are $___50___ after your 5th visit| Couples sessions are $__75___ per session with a recommendation of a minimum amount of 4 sessions.
5. CANCELLATIONS AND MISSED APPOINTMENTS: When your appointment is scheduled, a particular time slot is reserved for you on either a weekly or bi-weekly basis. It is your responsibility to give at least 24 hours’ notice if you must miss or cancel an appointment so that the counselor can make use of that time slot.
I (your counsellor) will:
- Keep what you tell me and what we discuss to myself, unless I have concerns that you are or have plans to seriously harm yourself, if someone else is hurting you or if others are at risk.
- Support you to share this information to an appropriate person yourself. If you feel that you can't, I will speak for you. I will do my best to tell you before I share anything with anyone, but in exceptional circumstances I might need to share this before speaking to you.
- Have regular supervision where I may discuss our sessions, but I will never mention you by name, so my supervisor won't be able to identify you.
- Let you know if I am unable to make a session for any reason.
- Keep notes of our sessions in a safe and secure place and in our final session have an ending summary with you that captures what we have talked about during our sessions.
- Work within the ethical framework of my professional organisation.
- Keep any details we have on you as up to date as possible.
I ask that you:
- Attend your sessions. If you are unable to come, please give me as much notice as possible. You can leave a message on 713-870-0493. If you miss a session without letting me know, or if you miss more than two sessions, I will contact you to check whether you still want to continue with your counselling at this time.
- Respect each other's wishes in regards to confidentiality and to decide together whether or not to discuss or otherwise share what has been brought to your sessions.
- Keep to our agreed session time. If for any reason you are running late, please let me know but be aware that our session will still end at the usual time despite starting later than usual.
- Turn your mobile phone off during sessions.
- Keep C.O.C. informed of any changes to your personal details.