Terms & conditions

Sessions

Each session will be completed at a location agreed mutually between therapist and client. Sessions will last a counselling hour which is usually between 50 and 60 minutes, unless where otherwise stated on an invoice. Ending of therapy will normally be concise and will be agreed prior to sessions starting, this however will change if there is sufficient reason not to (which will be deemed by the therapist). This will normally be related to safety of the client. Clinical notes will be taken throughout sessions and will be stored in a password protected laptop file, with hard copies destroyed when they are no longer needed.

Payment

Fees for sessions will be agreed during an initial meeting between therapist and client or in prior contact between the two parties. Payment is normally made prior to sessions beginning, or paid in advance for a set number of sessions. Cheque, cash, and bank transfer (preferred) are the only forms of payment currently accepted. The therapist will endeavour to give as much advance notice as possible of any need to cancel a future appointment.

Cancellation and missed session policy

If you are unable to attend your appointment please let us know as soon as possible. The required notice for cancellation is 48 hours. Where there is less notice, or if you fail to attend your appointment, the full fee will be charged. We hope clients appreciate that it is rarely possible to fill these appointments at such short notice, which is why we are obliged to charge for the Therapist’s time. If a therapist cancels an appointment we will endeavour to rearrange at the earliest possible convenience of both parties.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is an integral part of therapy and psychology, and is seen as essential to building the therapeutic relationship and ensuring the client’s sense of safety. The therapeutic process encourages the client to be as open and honest as possible and inevitably personal experiences and sensitive information is disclosed. It is vital therefore that the client can trust that everything discussed will remain completely confidential. All information will remain confidential unless both the client and therapist agree to discuss something with a third party. The only circumstance where confidentiality might be broken would be if there was a serious risk to the client’s life or if another person’s life was at risk; alternatively, in the rare instance where the therapist was liable to civil or criminal court proceedings if they did not disclose client information. If at all possible this would be discussed at length with the client beforehand and everything would be done to safeguard client confidentiality despite.

Homework policy

Homework is an integral part of the therapeutic method. Ben holds it in the same regard as turning up to the sessions and therefore agreed homework should be completed to the best of the clients ability. Homework may not be called homework during the session however any work that is given to a client to complete outside of the session will be understood to be homework.

Handling of personal information

Ben Chaabane holds all records securely and ensures the utmost confidentiality in the treatment of any information held about his clients. No information will be disclosed without the client’s written permission, except under certain rare legal circumstances (e.g. Child Protection). Ben is a member of the British Psychological Society and adheres strictly to their professional codes of conduct and ethical codes Copies of these codes, all associates working at the practice are fully insured for professional liability and maintain regular supervision for all client work undertaken. All records are kept secure in relation to the Data Protection Act 1998

Audio and visual recording

Occasionally it may be useful or important to audio or video record client sessions. By signing a consent form you are agreeing to the audio and video recording to take place and be used for training and development purposes outside of the therapeutic relationship. Specifically this would include supervision, reflection, and teaching. To satisfy the British Psychological Society’s ethical guidelines all recording with be made anonymous and stored securely in a password protected file.