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.