Psychological Therapies Statement of Understanding
When attending your sessions in person you are expected to follow the instructions your therapist gives you as these will be following current guidelines around Covid or other public health issues and are to maintain everyone’s safety. This statement also covers remote (online/telephone) therapy courses.
Please note that as a service we abide by the BACP Ethical Framework
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPIES CONTRACT
You have been allocated _____weekly sessions. The sessions take place on ___________ at ______ every week and last for 50 minutes. If you are late for your session, it will not be possible to extend the session or make up the lost time.
MISSED SESSIONS
To benefit from psychological therapies, it is important that you make a commitment to attend your sessions regularly.
Up to two sessions can be missed without affecting the total providing there is enough notice given (24 hours minimum). This includes things such as holidays, doctors and hospital appointments and sessions missed because you are unwell.
It is important that you contact us when you cannot attend a session. If you are unable to attend a therapy session and you have not given us at least 24 hours’ notice, the session will be taken from your allocated number of sessions. If you miss more than two sessions without providing us with at least 24 hours’ notice, you will be discharged from the service.
If your therapist must cancel a session, it will be made up to you at a later date.
CONFIDENTIALITY
The relationship with your therapist is strictly confidential within the service. Some aspects of the counsellor’s work will be discussed in supervision, within the context of total anonymity. Brief notes will be kept by the therapist on a secure database with restricted access.
There will be no other disclosure. The only exceptions to this policy are where it is reasonably believed that the health and safety of an individual(s) is at risk and/or where we are legally obliged to disclose material, i.e., in the case of child protection and drug trafficking. Every effort will be made to discuss this with you beforehand.
Online: Online sessions are provided through Teams. You do not need to have the software downloaded to access. You will be sent a link and instructions from the Psychological Therapies department at Mind CHWF. These sessions are the nearest to replicating the face-to-face experience. Please note that sessions may need to end or pause due to confounding factors like connectivity or noise disturbance.
Telephone: Where accessibility is an issue, we can offer telephone therapy. If this has been agreed with you then your therapist with call you at the specified session time.
Please ensure that you are in a quiet, safe and confidential space for remote (online or telephone) sessions. If the space no longer supports the delivering of a confidential session, then it may be drawn to an end by your therapist.
Please do not attend your therapy session if you are unwell: Stay at home, rest and do not travel.
Call or email to update us that you are unable to attend your scheduled session. You will have been provided with these contact details in your appointment confirmation. Once you have begun your therapy course, please email your allocated therapist directly and cc in pthelp@mindchwf.org.uk
If your symptoms are mild then you can still have your therapy session, however over the preferred method that you will have indicated as being the way in which you would like your remaining sessions should lockdown reoccur at any given time. Due to being a small team and having limited resources, all sessions will count towards your counselling term as explained earlier. If you have significant symptoms and are unable to attend even remotely then your course of therapy will be paused and you will be reallocated a therapist, once you are well enough to resume and a slot is available. Do discuss this with your therapist as the need arises
COMMUNICATION
The therapy sessions are the best place to discuss any holidays or absences or to field any questions about missed sessions or cancellations. Your therapist will be the ideal person to answer these questions for you, as well as any around the therapy itself.
If you would like support with any aspect of the service you are receiving and do not wish to discuss these directly with your therapist (although we highly recommend this as the first port of call) , please reach out to our administrative team pthelp@mindchwf.org.uk and for any clinical concerns please reach out to (Nadia Manganello) nadia.manganello@mindchwf.org.uk.
DRUGS/ALCOHOL
Counselling is not effective if you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. We therefore ask you not to attend any of your psychological therapies sessions if you are under the influence of mood-altering substances. Your counsellor reserves the right to terminate your session if they feel you are under the influence. If you have drugs or alcohol problems, please speak to your therapist.
THIRD PARTY information sharing
From time to time, your therapist may need to share information in relation to your therapy with your GP and/or other outside agencies to better support your psychological and sometimes other needs which may be impacting your mental health. By signing this form, you are agreeing to this. Whenever the need may arise to discuss your case with a third party your therapist will remind you of this agreement and will further seek current consent from you to information share.
PLEASE SIGN
Client Name ……………………………..Client Signature………….………………….Date…………………..
Counsellor Name ………………………Counsellor Signature………………………Date…………………..
