Home
What is therapy?
What I offer
Contract
Fees
Availability
Contact
 



Your or your child’s psychotherapy will entail discussing some very intimate things, such as your thoughts, feelings, and actions. To some extent, my ability to help you or your child will really depend on how open you are about yourself during your meetings. Anything that you do disclose will remain confidential. It is important that during your discussions, you or your child feel you can talk openly with me, and that your right to privacy is protected. This generally means that I cannot discuss you or your case with any third parties without your consent.

Records: It is useful for me to take notes during your sessions. These tend to be brief and include information such as the dates we met, the topics covered and any problems or goals you have. These are really just to document our meetings and are subsequently kept locked in a filing cabinet and protected under the strictest of privacy rules. Records of charges and payments are also kept in a locked cabinet. Records of diagnoses, and any other sensitive information (e.g. letters) are kept on my personal computer which is password protected.

Exceptions to confidentiality: There are some situations that may arise where confidentiality codes can be broken. Although these situations are rare, you should be made aware of what they are:

1. If you threaten to harm another person, I am required by law to protect anyone I feel may be in danger. This could include making contact with the person or people who have been threatened and, in some cases, notifying the police. I will always discuss these things with you before they happen.

2. Likewise, if you threaten to cause severe harm to yourself, and I believe your threat to be serious, then I am ethically required to protect you in any way I see fit. In situations such as these, my intervention may involve talking to you about going to a hospital, or having you placed in a hospital without your permission. I may also need to call a crisis team or, in some cases, the police. I will always discuss these things with you before they happen.

3. If I suspect that any child, elderly person, or vulnerable person is at risk from abuse or neglect, the law requires me to report this to the appropriate body. I will always discuss these things with you before they happen.

4. If you have been ordered or referred to me by a court for psychotherapy or an evaluation of your mental state, the court will require some form of report from me. Therefore, it is in your best interests to provide me with any court letters or orders so I can determine exactly what the court wants to know. Of course, you have the right to only disclose information you feel necessary; however, in some cases, I will be required to reveal treatment plans or progress and results reports to the court.

5. If you are involved in a lawsuit or administrative procedure, e.g. an Employment Tribunal, you may wish to tell the court about your psychological issues, especially if they could help your case. However, if you do this, please be aware that I may not be able to keep your records or information about your therapy private in court.

6. If I receive a subpoena or a court order requesting your records, I will be required to provide any relevant information.

7. If you are planning for your health insurance to cover the costs of your psychotherapy expenses, you will be asked to sign a consent form enabling JP Independent Therapy Services the right to disclose certain information to the insurance company. Generally, insurers require me to submit a diagnosis, treatment plan and treatment summary. On some occasions, they may even request progress reports. Please take into consideration that once an insurance company requests this information, it is no longer in my control who sees it. Insurance companies state that they will keep the information confidential, but It cannot assure you that they will. However, prior to sending any information to any third parties, I will discuss with you what has been detailed. It is completely up to you what information I release, but please note if you do not release the information required most companies won’t fund your treatment.

8. In order for me to provide you with the best treatments, I may need to seek advice from other mental health professionals. For example, this could be my Clinical Supervisor as all psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists consult with a Clinical Supervisor on a regular basis for the duration of their career to ensure best practice is maintained. If I do need to talk with my clinical supervisor or colleagues about your case in order to help you, this will be done with your best interests in mind. Your identity will always be kept confidential. Furthermore, the content of what is discussed will also be treated with the same level of confidentiality and the same exceptions to confidentiality will apply to other professionals as well.

9. If your therapy sessions involve family members or couples then I will ask each person involved in the therapy to keep the content of the sessions confidential. This means that no-one in the therapy should discuss what has been said or done with anyone who is not involved in the therapy, except of course their own individual therapist. Despite requesting this discretion, the therapist cannot guarantee that everyone will honour this agreement.


Appointments will take place either in your home (if you live within 3 miles of PL2) or at The Jan Cutting Healthy Living Centre, Scott Business Park, PL2. Please do not contact The Jan Cutting Health Living Centre about sessions. I will try to be as flexible as possible regarding your or your child’s needs with respect to the appointment venue.


Please note that an appointment is considered confirmed once verbally agreed with the practitioner. If you think you will be late to an appointment please try to let me know as soon as you can. I will still see you, and your session will end at the pre-arranged time. If you cannot attend a planned appointment, please call or email me to notify me as soon as possible. If our appointments take place at the Jan Cutting Centre, a fee of £5 will be charged for any appointment cancelled with less than 7 days notice. A fee of £10 will be charged for any appointment cancelled with less than 3 days notice. If you simply fail to show up for a scheduled appointment the full fee will still apply, regardless of where the appointment was due to take place. Please take into consideration that insurers will not cover you for any missed appointments and you will be responsible for the full fee if you were unable to notify me 48 hours prior. There may be occasions when I cannot attend a session. If this occurs I will endeavour to let you know as soon as possbile. There will be no charge for sessions I cancel.


We will endeavour to agree an ending date together. However, you may wish to end therapy earlier than this. If you wish to do so, please contact me. If your decision to end therapy results in a cancellation of an agreed appointment with less than 7 days notice, you will be asked to pay a fee of £5. If your decision to end therapy results in a cancellation of an agreed appointment with less than 3 days notice you will be asked to pay a fee of £10. These fees are to cover costs.


If you have a complaint please contact my professional body:
British Psychological Society (BPS)
Health & Care Professions council (HCPC)

 
 
Top