This agreement, between the Counsellor Nishma Shah (t/a At Your Pace Counselling) and the Client, articulates the counsellor's responsibilities towards the client and the client's responsibilities in the counselling relationship.
Counselling
Counselling aims to provide you with a confidential opportunity to explore your thoughts and feelings in safety, to assist your learning, healing, understanding and growth. My role is to help you through this process without judgement or prejudice or to tell you what to do. On occasions, I may give you information or offer you suggestions. If it is felt that I cannot help you in this way, I will endeavour to offer to refer you to someone who can.
Values and principles
● Respecting human rights and dignity.
● Ensuring the integrity of the practitioner-client relationships.
● Offering the three core conditions of empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence.
● Enhancing the wellbeing of the client.
● Valuing and respecting the variety of human experience and culture.
● Striving to be respectful of contextually appropriate good practice and equitable provision of services.
BACP
I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). The BACP is the professional association for members of the counselling professions in the UK.
All BACP members must work in accordance with the Ethical Framework, of which some of the values and principles are detailed as above. Counsellors commit to complying with the Framework when they join as members, and it is the main point of reference for decisions in professional conduct hearings.
Should you wish to review the Framework or confirm my membership you can access their website: www.bacp.co.uk. My membership number is 391608.
Confidentiality
This is a particularly important aspect of the counselling relationship. Everything that you discuss in the counselling session is kept in the strictest confidence. As a member of the BACP, I adhere to their codes of conduct and confidentiality principles. This means that any information disclosed during your contact with me will be kept strictly confidential. Your written permission is required before any information about you is released.
If your doctor is treating you for emotional difficulties, you should inform them about me. I will not confer with your doctor without your knowledge and permission. Unless there is convincing evidence that you intend to harm yourself or others, or you require extra support outside of your counselling sessions, I may need to break confidentiality by informing your emergency contact, doctor, or other appropriate agencies without your consent if it was felt that the risk of not disclosing is greater than disclosing.
1. If a child is at risk of being abused or neglected
2. If you present an imminent risk of serious injury to yourself
3. If you threaten serious harm to another person
Supervision
I attend supervision on a regular basis where I may discuss any of my clients. Please rest assured, to maintain confidentiality, any details to identify you will not be disclosed to my supervisor. Supervision in counselling is when a counsellor uses the services of another counsellor or psychotherapist to review the way they work with their clients. Supervision is a requirement by the BACP to ensure all counsellors in practice are keeping their skills up to date and that they work in a safe and ethical way. Supervision in counselling also forms part of the counsellor’s professional and personal development.
Data Protection
Your privacy is especially important to me, and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose it was given to me. As a ‘Data Controller’, I must adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. A privacy notice will be published on my website in due course. It will tell you what I will do with your personal information from initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended. I can confirm I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZB388885.
Sessions
Sessions are usually held online every week at the same time and day and last for 50 minutes. Fortnightly and check in sessions are also available if required. The whole of the 50-minute session time belongs to you. Whether you choose to attend or not, I will be available to you for the entire time of the session. If you attend part way through your agreed time, you will only be seen for the remainder of the time.
If your circumstances change and the session time/day is no longer suitable, please let me know, and I will do my best to accommodate this and offer you an alternative time/day. Accommodating your request for changing the session's time/day will be subject to my availability.
All clients are asked to initially commit to a minimum of six sessions to help towards building the therapeutic alliance between client and counsellor. After this initial period, sessions will continue in the usual way, as agreed.
Cancellation and Holidays
You are expected to attend all sessions as agreed at your assessment or thereafter.
If you need to cancel your appointment, then please kindly inform me via email in advance of your session. Please let me know that you will not be attending your meeting and confirm your next availability. I will endeavour to offer you an alternative session to be held within the same week if possible. Cancellations made less than 48 hours and not able to be rescheduled will be charged at full cost.
I will aim to give you four weeks' notice of my holidays and other cancellations, where possible. Any cancellations or holidays made by me will not be charged.
Fees/Payment
My fee is £50 per session. Payment is required in advance of each session, or you may pay for a block of a month’s sessions in advance. You will need to pay for any session that you missed that was not rescheduled unless you provided seven days' notice. You may request an invoice or receipt if required for your records. Any transaction or foreign currency conversion fees that are incurred will need to be reimbursed by the client. All fees are subject to review every six months and I will provide notice in advance of any changes.
Endings
Sometimes you may feel that counselling is not helping you. It is best if you can discuss the difficulties with me instead of abruptly ending your counselling in these circumstances. I am very open to talking about this with you. I would ask that you have at least one week's notice before finishing so that we have the chance to discuss your decision. I can assure you that there will be no pressure on you to continue with counselling if you do not wish to.
Conduct
You are expected to behave appropriately and show respect during sessions. Aggressive behaviour will not be accepted. I will have to consider whether to terminate your counselling should the behaviour be considered unacceptable. You are advised not to attend sessions under the influence of alcohol and other drugs as you will not be able to engage productively in counselling. Disruptive behaviour influenced by substances will not be tolerated.
Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
I have an enhanced DBS for working with children and adults which is checked and updated annually. The enhanced DBS check is the highest level required for positions that involve caring for, training, supervising or sole charge of children or vulnerable adults. The check includes details of all convictions on record, whether spent or unspent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA). This means that even minor convictions are included on the enhanced disclosure.
Insurance
As a private practitioner I am covered under Holistic Insurance Services for Counselling and Psychotherapy Insurance. You may request a copy of the policy, otherwise details will be uploaded onto my website.
Complaints
If you have a complaint, please try to discuss it with me first, if appropriate. I will do my best to address your difficulties responsibly and respectfully. However, should you feel that your complaint is not being resolved to your satisfaction, you can contact and raise it with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Please be aware that our work together is governed under the laws of my country of residence, England and Wales, and not by the resident country of the client, if different.
Clinical Will
As part of my duty of care towards you, my client, I have to consider what will happen in the event that I am suddenly unable to carry on working. Therefore, I have a Clinical Will in place. A clinical will is essential for every therapist. It consists of the arrangements that therapists should make for the confidential welfare and support of their clients and closure of confidential aspects of their practice in the unexpected event of their death, serious illness or incapacity to continue to work. I have appointed my Supervisor as my Clinical Executor and she will be responsible for contacting you and discussing appropriate onward arrangements. At the time of my incapacity to work, my next of kin has been instructed to forward a password to my Supervisor which will open a shared document containing only your contact details. This is to maintain your confidentiality. Should you have any concerns regarding these arrangements please do not hesitate to contact me.
