Sean Etherington Online Counselling

What is Counselling?
Counselling offers you the opportunity to speak to someone about matters that may be worrying or distressing. Often painful feelings can be relieved by telling someone from a professional background and knowing you have been heard and understood. This can help you make decisions, and choices of how to handle your concerns. As a counsellor I will encourage you to discuss what is distressing you.

The focus is to make it easier to understand about the extent and effect of the problem and help you recognise possible solutions. Work undertaken might involve evaluating what you as a client could be feeling, thinking, doing, or not doing. Other work involved may reflect on you finding inner resources in order for changes in thinking, and acting and following through with those decisions.

Counselling is a professional relationship, not a friendship and as such, I cannot accept gifts or money from clients.

What is a Counselling Agreement?
This document is a working agreement between (the counsellor and the client). This document must be completed on commencement of counselling and forms the basis of the contract for the duration of counselling work undertaken between both parties.

This document contains information about how you (the client) and I (the counsellor) agree to work together. A copy each of the contract will be signed and dated and I will store one copy and another copy will be given to you.

This is a counselling contract between Sean Etherington and

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Address:

Telephone:

Email:

Sessions/Appointments I offer Online Appointments/Sessions, and or Telephone Sessions. Each session will last around 55 minutes I am committed to keeping all appointments and a similar commitment is requested from you. I offer an initial course of six sessions with a review to extend those sessions at the end of the sixth session (where needed). If you attend any session late for any reason, the session will still finish at the appointed time.

The online platform used if you choose to have online counselling is Microsoft Teams. I will send you an invitation via email to a session before your agreed counselling appointment start time. The platform is secure and safe for confidentiality.
For telephone counselling, I will call you at a prearranged time from a works mobile number. I will clearly identify the client as working by telephone means you are unable to see each other during our conversation. (I do however occasionally work with clients in their own homes, depending on location, mileage, and based after an assessment. This will be dependent beforehand that no children, adults or pets be present in the room during therapy, unless exceptional circumstances. That all distracting equipment is turned off such as TV's, radios, computers, sound systems and any odd- jobs such as Ironing, washing Up, knitting will not be undertaken during the session. The sessions are not casual social events and must start and finish on time) for home visits the cost will be as normal for a session but with travel costs added.

Please ensure when engaging in online sessions you are in a private space and use earphones (where possible) to maintain confidentiality during our session. Please make all reasonable precautions that your own space during sessions is free from interruptions, such as calls, deliveries, or visitors.

If you need to contact myself to discuss Session/Appointment arrangements you can reach me by email ([email protected]) or by mobile 07375864360

Venue
Counselling sessions will be provided Online through Microsoft Teams. Or by Telephone. My aim is to provide you with a comfortable and safe environment where you can participate in the sessions without hinderance or disturbance. (within reason)

Fees and method of payment
Counselling sessions last for 55 minutes. Initial introductory sessions are 50 mins £35 and all sessions thereafter will be £40. Fees are normally due before each session (unless otherwise agreed beforehand) Payments can be made by credit/debit card, cash, or bank transfer to Account No. 67331323 Sort Code 07-16-60 or PayPal [email protected]
Cancellations
48 hours’ notice is required to cancel or reschedule appointments, either by phone or text. If 48 hours’ notice is not given and you do not attend a scheduled session then I reserve the right to charge a full fee and is payable on all missed or late cancelled appointments before the next due session.

If you miss two appointments without notifying me, I will assume that counselling is no longer appropriate for you at this time. You may also wish to end counselling. Please discuss this with me as soon as possible so that an appropriate ending for both of us can be prepared for.

Health and Safety
My aim is to provide a safe and comfortable working environment for you for the duration of our work together. Please follow my instructions in the event of an emergency. To ensure your safety and comfort all sessions are currently conducted safely over the phone or online with Microsoft Teams that are facilitated by me.
All issues discussed during our sessions together are kept confidential (in other words anything discussed in therapy remains between myself and you) I will discuss details of our work with a supervisor but your identity will remain anonymous, with the following exceptions: I may break confidentiality if I judge there to be a serious risk of harm to yourself or others or the possibility of abuse of children and/or vulnerable adults.

Any action taken would usually be discussed with you first and it may be appropriate for me to seek additional guidance, and inform other relevant parties such as emergency services.
I may contact your GP or other medical professionals; I will not disclose the content of our sessions with any other party unless I have serious concerns about your or any other person’s wellbeing.

I am however legally required to inform the Police or appropriate authorities if I am made aware of information relating to drug trafficking, money laundering and/or an act of terrorism. I may also be required to provide the notes of our sessions to a member of the legal profession when presented with a warrant/court order or if subpoenaed to give evidence.

GDPR
For us to work together I will need to process your personal information that can identify you such as your name, address, telephone number and email address.

This information is kept confidential, stored securely and only be disclosed with your permission, for legal purposes or when I am required to break confidentiality.
This information is destroyed when all counselling sessions have ended and all fees have been paid.

This Includes shredding paperwork and deleting emails, phone numbers and text messages.
I do keep brief written records regarding our sessions for my own purposes, such as casework supervision these will be stored in a secure location and held in a locked filing cabinet for a period of 7 years in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.

Boundaries
To maintain appropriate boundaries if I see any clients outside of the counselling relationship, I would protect their anonymity by not acknowledging them during a chance meeting outside of my practice, unless the client wished to be acknowledged. In which case, the acknowledgement should be kept brief and professional.

I would like to request you do not attempt to contact me outside of my working hours including friend requests via social media are deemed inappropriate. I am unable to respond due to confidentiality. Contact between sessions should only be made at reasonable times of the day and only if this relates to cancelling/rescheduling a session or ending counselling.

Record Keeping
After the end of each session, I will make brief notes on the session and what has been discussed. These notes do not account for part of your official health record. I store records, documents both under lock and key in a filing cabinet and electronically under password protection inline with the Data Protection Act. I am registered with the Information Commissioners Office. Records will be coded to protect their identity.

Client Commitment and Other Responsibilities
Sessions will begin at the agreed time. If you are late for an appointment the session cannot be extended to accommodate this and must finish at the agreed time.

You are responsible for your own timekeeping and behaviour which includes being fully present in the counselling relationship and remembering when scheduled sessions are due to take place. You are responsible for your own thoughts, feelings, actions, and your own personal growth. You are responsible for asking about anything that is unclear to you or causing you concern. You are responsible for communicating any changes in circumstances that might influence your therapy.

If you attend counselling whilst under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs (not prescribed to you by a member of the health profession) the session will end and be classed a missed/short notice cancelled session.

I ask of all clients involved in the counselling process to display mutual respect. Violence or threatening behaviour towards me or others will result in the session ending and any continuous sessions being cancelled, and the appropriate authorities notified. To get the most out of your online sessions, I would suggest your mobile phone is either switched off or put on silent for the duration of the session to avoid any unnecessary distractions during your session.

Breaks and Endings
If sessions have not been booked and you are not responding to my contact attempts, counselling will end. If you would like to take a break from counselling, a follow-up date must be agreed on when you will contact me to discuss possible future sessions.
If you do not wish to continue counselling at this point or contact me on the agreed date, counselling will end and you will be invoiced for any fees owed.

Supervision and Code of ethics
I meet with my supervisor monthly and may discuss aspects of our work. Your identity is kept anonymous. I am a member of the (NCPS) The National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society and adhere and practice in accordance to their Ethical Framework for Good Practice.
Which you can find here at this web address https://ncps.com/about-us/code-of-ethics, if you so wish.

Review
This agreement will be reviewed periodically or at any time at the request of either party.

Jurisdiction
This contract, and the work it relates to, is subject to the jurisdiction and laws of England and Wales

I understand and agree to abide by this agreement:

Client Signed……………………………………………………… Date:………..

CLIENT PRINT NAME: …………………………………………

Counsellor Signed ……………………………………………………. Date:…….

COUNSELLOR PRINT NAME:…………………………….

https://ncps.com/counselling-directory/search

Counselling Matters Join the Accredited Register A Society Registrant is listed publicly on our website and is recorded as a Registrant in our Accredited Register. The Society allows Registrants to progress through different levels of membership depending upon qualifications and experience, but all Registrants have…

https://ncps.com/counsellors/ncs23-01850

Feeling low.
Issues with anxiety.
Stressed.
Suffering with grief or experienced trauma
Then maybe I can help. I've experience working within these areas, so please contact me either by messenger, or call 07375 864360 or drop me an email [email protected]

Carl Rogers
"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."

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