Psychological Therapy – Terms and Conditions

Psychological Therapy – Terms and Conditions

1 Duty of care to you

It is of utmost importance to Calm Together Ltd that you receive the best support possible & we will do everything that we can to ensure that you do.

In our experience, the key to successful therapy is the relationship that you will form with your therapist. We provide an initial free telephone consultation which is a chance for us to discuss the issues that you (and your family) are facing and to see if we can find a good relational fit.

Due to the complexity of the psyche and family dynamics it is not possible to draw absolute conclusions about the issues facing or the best course of action for families in a one hour consultation. The assessment process in therapy is always ongoing & together will continually review progress throughout therapy to ensure that I am providing you / your family with the best service possible.

Where you are considering Play therapy we offer no less than 6 sessions, please see Play therapy further information.

2. Confidentiality

All confidential information is held by Calm Together Ltd  in accordance with the GDPR, 2018.

Everything that you discuss with us is confidential. Confidentiality will only be broken if there is concern about your safety or the safety of someone else or where we maybe instructed to do so by a Court of Law. We will always endeavour to speak to you about any breaches of confidentiality that we have to make as a result of “safeguarding first”.

We are required to discuss some of our clinical work with a supervisor this is in accordance with a number of regulatory bodies, such as UCKP etc. This is to ensure that we are offering you the best service possible. These conversations are bound by confidentiality & should we discuss your case in supervision any details will be anonymised.

Limited notes are also kept of each session. These are anonymised & are stored securely. These notes are for therapist use only & help us to keep a track of themes that are discussed in sessions. We are required by GDPR to keep these notes securely for seven years after your therapy comes to an end, after which they will be confidentially destroyed.

In line with GDPR you have the right to request sight of your session notes. Should you wish to view your notes while you are still in therapy please discuss this with us. If you would like to receive a copy of your notes at any time during the seven years that they will be held after your therapy comes to an end, please email info@CalmTogether.co.uk  to make the request.

Please see also our Confidentiality, Data protection and Record Keeping Policy which can be found online at www.calmtogether.co.uk/our policies.

For Employee Assistance Programmes

In accordance with our commitment to confidentiality, all content discussed during therapy sessions remains strictly confidential. Please note, however, that while we ensure the confidentiality of session content, the purchasing organization will be informed that sessions are being conducted as part of our contracted counselling services. Rest assured, specific details such as session times and dates will not be disclosed. We uphold these principles in alignment with our role as a professional counselling service provider.

3. Appointments

Individual therapy sessions usually last for 50 mins/one hour, with the frequency being discussed and reviewed regularly by yourself and your therapist.

Longer sessions can be arranged but please speak with your therapist if you feel that this is something that may be of interest.

We try to stagger appointments by at least ten minutes, where appointments are in person, to try to ensure that you do not bump into anyone else in the building. We understand how essential discretion can be, we ask that you arrive for your appointments as close to your allocated time as possible. However should you be early or be waiting for a family member or child who is attending a session then you are welcome to use of reception area.

We ask that any parent or relative remain in the waiting room for the duration of the child’s appointment and that you do not wander about the therapy corridors. Privacy and confidentiality is of upmost importance to us.

We do not expect to have contact with you or your family outside of your therapy sessions, unless you need to reschedule / cancel appointments. If you think that you may need additional support the please speak with your therapist during sessions and we can think together about where you can find additional support.

In the case of systemic psychotherapy we may from time to time follow up sessions with an email offering our own reflections from our session together. You will be invited to reflect on these reflections, should there be something that resonates with you. You can also choose to ignore these reflections if they do not resonate. You are not expected to reply / respond outside of session times, or in fact at all.

Reflections are offered to help you to continue to consider issues or to make changes outside of the therapy session.

4 . Payment

For Employee Assistance Programmes

Session will be invoiced via your employer. Employers will be invoiced based on numbers of session delivered on a monthly basis. No detailed or identifiable information will be shared at the point of invoicing. Your confidentiality is important to us.

The number of session that you are able to access will depend upon the level of cover that your employer provides. If in doubt please contact your HR TEAM directly.

5. Online Therapy

Security and Confidentiality- Online

Security and confidentiality is very important.In order to keep both of our information safe and confidential it is important that we take precautions with both physical and electronic Intrusions.

Physical Intrusion

We agree to manage any physical intrusion into our session by ensuring that we both use a private space where we will not be disturbed. Only those contracted to attend sessions should be present during our online time together.

Electronic Intrusion

We agree to using the most secure methods of communication including protected Wi-Fi, firewalls and virus protection being used by both parties.

Agree that NO sessions will be recorded either via video or sound. Either by the PC, laptop tablet or phone.

Should any client record sessions without express written permission then therapy will be terminated immediately. Client will be liable to pay for that session.

Therapist will not record any session in line with GDPR regulations, without express consent from the client.

Wewill use TEAMS as our primary method for the delivery of online therapy. We will agree to revert to telephone should these online platforms become unavailable or are unstable and pose challenges to communication.

We ask that client remain aware of technologies such as Siri or Alexa, they are often “listening” and could likely cause a breach in confidentiality. We ask that clients remove all devises such as this from the space where you would access therapy. Where you may have a listening devise on your phone I ask that this is disabled during sessions.

6. Code of Ethics and Professional Practice

Any therapy delivered in person or online is bound by the appropriate governing body ethics and standards.

As per Code of Ethics and Professional Practice (UKCP , BACP, BABCP) should your therapist become unable to continue to offer your therapy (due to ill health or significant changes in in circumstances).  Calm Together will discuss this with you in order to explore possible alternative arrangements which might include the recommendation of another therapist.

You should note that this will be avoided where practical.

DBS – Al therapist working on behalf Calm Together Ltd have been through a safer recruitment process which include reference, qualification and police checking. We are committed to delivering high standards of safe ethical practice.

All of our therapist are also engaged in regular clinical supervision which is provide both externally/internally to the organisation.

7. Making changes to your appointment

Amendments to booking can be managed through the online portal using the links provided when booking. Should you require any support with this you can contact us;

Info@CalmTogether.co.uk

8. Cancellations

If you are unable to attend your appointment please let us know as soon as possible Using in the Info @Calmtogether.co.uk email address.

We reserve the right to charge the full session fee for cancelled sessions, where two working days’ notice has not been given & for non-attended sessions, where no prior notice has been given.

Please note that for therapy to work, regular attendance is essential.

Where 48 hours notice has been provided the full session fee can either be refunded or transferred to your next booking.

We will endeavour to give you as much advance notice as possible should we for any reason need to cancel or amend any appointment.

9. Breaks in Therapy

For therapy to be effective regular & consistent attendance is essential. It is also important that we agree upon any planned therapeutic breaks. Breaks can often be needed in therapy to try out new skills or ideas gleaned from the therapeutic process.

We will endeavour to give you notice of any holidays that your therapist plan to take and ask that you try to do the same.

Please note as parents we try to work in conjunction with the school term and we are likely to take breaks or have reduced availability in school holidays.

10. Raising Concerns

We hope that your experience with CalmTogether Therapies & Wellness (Calm Together Ltd) will be really positive.

Should you ever have any problems at all with the service that you receive from us, please let us know so that we can work together toward a solution.

Please also see our complaints policy online.

If you have any questions, with regards to our Terms and Conditions, please do not hesitate to contact me at Info@calmtogether.

Any complaints / disputes will be heard in the UK and be governed by the civil law of England and Wales.