Fees

I abide by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Guidelines, the PTUK Code of Ethics, and as a child counsellor, I have a current enhanced Criminal Records Bureau Check. I work within the boundaries of the Children Act (1989/2003) and Safeguarding Children Guidelines in dealing with disclosures.

Therapy sessions are normally 50 minutes duration. Payment of the agreed amount £70.00 is required following receipt of a monthly invoice or on or before the day of each session, paid to me by BACs transfer.

Some therapy sessions might require longer to complete a particular process – this is particularly true of EMDR and Internal Family Systems sessions.

The fees for longer sessions are as follows:

60 – 70 minutes £80

70 - 90 minutes £95

I can occasionally offer concessionary rates in certain circumstances. Please enquire.

Paying for Therapy

Sessions are normally weekly and regular so - if at all possible - they are at the same time each week. Attending regular sessions is an important part of the therapeutic process. Once we make the decision to start working together in regular therapy, I undertake a commitment to keeping the appointment available and open for the clients. This means that I will also ask clients to pay for missed sessions as they are kept open for them even in their absence. If they are unable to attend, I will make every effort to offer a replacement session during the week but unfortunately this might not always be possible. I will endeavour to give ample notice of times when I am away from work and I normally take my holidays around Christmas, Easter and in the Summer. Once we decide to start therapy I will normally ask clients to pay either weekly on the day of their session or monthly in arrears. Payment can be made by cash, cheque or bank transfer. For initial consultations or stand-alone sessions I normally ask clients to pay at the end of the session. I am not able to accept payment by credit or debit cards.

Starting Therapy

Taking the decision to start therapy to address painful, often long-standing and deep-seated issues is an important commitment. Finding the right therapist with whom it feels possible to connect and whose style of working feels ‘right’ can take time. I therefore normally suggest to new clients that we meet for a number of sessions to get to know each other and to get a flavour of what it would be like working together before we make the shared decision to starting regular therapeutic work.

Ending Therapy

I do not normally set an end date to therapy, nor do I ask clients for a notice period if they wish to end the sessions. However, I do believe that it is important to think together and make a thoughtful decision about ending therapy so that we can spend the final sessions reviewing the progress and looking ahead to the future. Some clients prefer from the onset to have an ending date in mind, either because they feel more comfortable about entering into brief or time-limited psychotherapy or due to expected changes in external circumstances (relocating, pregnancy etc.) In my experience it is helpful to discuss this from the outset so we can tailor the work accordingly.