Important Information
To be read and agreed within the first meeting with the counsellor.
Confidentiality
Counselling is a private and confidential form of help. I hold information about clients and the counselling they receive in confidence.
This means that I will not normally give your name or any information about you to any other parties. However, there are exceptional cases where we might ethically or legally have to give information to relevant authorities, for example if we had reason to believe that someone, especially a young person, is at serious risk of harm or to prevent a miscarriage of justice.
If you come with a partner, the counsellor may suggest seeing each of you individually. It is important for you to know that what is said in those individual sessions will be confidential and not shared with your partner or family.
What to expect in the first session
If this is your first experience of counselling, it can feel a bit daunting. Please don’t worry, it will be fine. The first appointment is what we call an Assessment Session, which gives me a chance to check that I am the best person to help you and gives you a chance to work out if counselling feels comfortable and right for you.
Often it is the first-time people have spoken about their situation and maybe you won’t want to tell me everything straight away. That is fine too. The sessions will always move at a pace that you are happy with.
Working via Zoom or phone
If working by Zoom I will email a link for the Zoom meeting prior to the session. If you are waiting for a zoom link email, its worth checking your junk inbox as it has been known to end up there at times, before getting in touch.
If working via phone, then I will call you, at the arranged time of the appointment. Each session is for 60 minutes.
Arranging appointments or contacting for any other reason should be done by email to yorkshirecounsellingservices@outlook.com or you can text / phone 07841 354305.
Technical Issues
I will never finish a session either by phone or Zoom unexpectedly, so if we should lose internet connection or the phone line cuts out during the session, I will contact you. If its an internet issue then I will, in the first instance try to reconnect, so if you can give it a couple of minutes to see if reconnection happens and stay in the meeting.
If I am unable to reconnect quickly for any reason, I will phone you and we can either continue the session via phone or rearrange. If you lose internet connection then I will wait for 5 minutes to see if you can reconnect, then try to call you, if you haven’t managed to. Please provide an up-to-date contact phone number that I can call in the event of any issues.
I will log onto the Zoom session at the time of the appointment and will wait for 15 minutes before closing the session if you haven’t joined by then and will either phone or email to see if there has been an issue. If you are running late for any reason if you can try to let me know as soon as possible so I am aware. Appreciate sometimes things crop up at last minute and emergencies can arise.
Privacy
It is your responsibility as a client to ensure the space you are holding the counselling session is confidential and not going to be easily overheard by anyone else in the building, as reasonably possible, especially in the current climate, as this may not be totally possible. I will ensure that the counselling space I am working from is equally not going to be interrupted or overheard. There may on occasions where we may need to answer the door etc and that is fine.
You may want to consider which room you are going to be in when you do the sessions and what you are happy for me to see of that room through the webcam. Some clients are happy to do zoom but have the camera switched off, if you would prefer that then that is fine, just let me know that is what you would prefer at the start of the session.
No recording of the sessions is to take place without prior discussion and an agreement, that is ok to do so by either parties.
Payment & Charges
Sessions are for 60 minutes and cost per session is £50 for Individual counselling, £65 for Couples and £65 for Sex / Porn addiction Therapy.
Payment should be made prior or on the day of the session. A bank transfer can be made to
Jason Gillery
HSBC
Sort Code – 40-47-31
Account No: 24454480
BIC: HBUKGB4109Y
IBAN: GB65HBUK40473124454480
Reference – ‘your surname’
Alternatively, a payment can be made via debit / credit card via a payment link. If you would prefer to pay via this method, if you can let me know prior or on day of the session, I can email you a payment link, so payment can be made via the iZettle.
Data Protection and GDPR
The information about confidentiality (above) in no way contravenes your rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 or the GDPR 2018 to access personal date that I hold on you. I keep confidential records about our clients. All records are kept securely and are only seen by the counsellor.
These records are subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR 2018. Your personal and sensitive personal data will only be used in order, to provide the service to you and for managing and quality assuring the service. Records are kept for a period of 7 years and are then destroyed.
We recognise that on rare occasions our clients may wish to exercise their rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR 2018 and make a subject request in respect of their personal information held by us. Often during counselling information is provided by more than one individual. In these cases, I will only release information if consent has been given by all the individuals involved.
I am registered with the Information Commission Office (ICO) as requirement when handling personal data whether that’s paper form or electronically, via email, text etc.
ICO registration no ZA521966. https://ico.org.uk/
Cancellation Policy
Less than 24 hour notice full charge for the session will apply.
Reports and Client records
Occasionally I may be asked by our clients or by external agencies such as Social Services or the NHS to write reports on the progress made in counselling. I am not normally able to do this because of our duty of confidentiality to clients and because I am not trained in the specialist areas of diagnosis or social work assessment. However, I can in some circumstances on receipt of written consent from the client(s), who attended counselling, provide brief information about the dates and number of sessions attended.
In addition, I may also be asked by clients, their solicitors, the police, and the courts for access to the client records. These are not suitable as evidence in legal proceedings, and I reserve the right to resist legal requests to produce the records in court. I do this in order, to protect our duty of confidentiality to all our clients and preserve our reputation as the provider of confidential counselling.
Codes of ethics and practice
I comply with the code of ethics and practice appropriate to the work I undertake.
Relationship Counselling, Individual counselling and Young People counselling are covered by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s (BACP) Ethical Framework for good practice
https://www.bacp.co.uk/ BACP membership: 00738352
Sex Therapy is covered by the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapy’s (COSRT) Code of Ethics and Principles of good practice
https://www.cosrt.org.uk/ Cosrt Membership No: 2547
Insurance
I have Professional Liability and Professional Indemnity policy
Policy Number: ZUR-TIS/21/11/23
PERIOD OF INSURANCE: From: Nov 11 2021 To: Nov 11 2022 (both dates inclusive)
Balens Ltd, Bridge House, Portland Road, Malvern, Worc.
I have monthly supervision myself to ensure good practice and undertake regular Continual Professional Development.
By signing the consent form below, you acknowledge that you understand and agree with the above and our subject access policy for counselling notes. You can either electronically sign the form on page 4 and email it back to me or an email confirmation of receipt and agreement will also be taken as agreement to yorkshirecounsellingservices@outlook.com
Confidentiality and Protection Statement
This section is retained for our records.
By signing you agree that you have read, understood and accept the attached document.
Name____________________________ Name_________________________________
Signed___________________________ Signed________________________________
Date_____________________________ Date _________________________________
