Counselling Agreement for Individuals

Counselling is a collaborative process between a counsellor and client(s). This agreement is aimed at establishing a clear basis for working together and to assist you in getting the most out of the counselling process. You will receive a copy of the agreement for your own reference.

What our Counselling Service offers
Our counsellors offer open-ended and time-limited psychodynamic counselling to individuals and couples. We are staffed primarily by qualified and registered counsellors, and now we are also offering some appointments with counsellors in training working with us at Compass Point Counselling. All our counsellors work within the ethical frameworks of their national registering bodies, all are with BPC – The British Psychoanalytic Council, and some are additionally with BACP – The British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists. Service policies and guidelines are developed in accordance with good clinical practice and all counsellors receive regular supervision.

In an initial assessment appointment we will work together to explore what you hope for from the counselling and to reflect on your priorities. Sometimes it is beneficial to have more than one exploratory session to think about what might be helpful. If this service is unlikely to be helpful for you we will think with you about alternative sources of support that you might consider.

What we ask of you
We ask that you give some thought to what you hope to gain from a counselling approach and to engage in the collaborative work that a counselling process involves. 

The fee for your counselling appointments will be agreed with your counsellor, in line with our current fee structure and guidelines as set out in the email you received.  The fee agreed can be reviewed upon request with your counsellor at any time, or when our standard variable fee is changing.  We never change our fees more than once a year, and sometimes only every 2 years.

If we need to cancel or rearrange an appointment for any reason we will aim to let you know in good time, and we ask you to do the same. Ideally this would be at least 2 working days notice, although we appreciate that there will be occasions where this may not be possible.  

Appointments missed or cancelled with less than 2 working days notice must be paid for, as your session time is kept for you.  There are some unique circumstances where the fee might be waived.  This would be discussed with your counsellor and if appropriate they will check this with their supervisor or the practice manager.  We make a reasonable allowance for holidays, but we do ask that this is discussed in advance with your counsellor.  If your session is cancelled by us you do not have to pay for it.

If you are unable to attend ongoing appointments for any reason e.g. illness or another priority, we will aim to discuss the options with you and to clarify whether counselling is manageable at this point in time. 

Confidentiality
Compass Point Counselling and Psychotherapy offers very high levels of confidentiality. Client details and any contact with the service are kept confidential.  Your contact details are not added to any mailing list and will only be used to contact you regarding your appointments with us.  Under normal circumstances we will not disclose information to others without your written permission to do so.  

In the exceptional circumstances below we may be required to disclose information to others.  We will not give any other details of why we have been in contact with you.  In all cases we would normally let you know if this was needed and endeavour, where possible, to do so with your agreement.

• where there is risk of serious harm to yourself or others

• where we are required by law to disclose information e.g. under the Prevention of Terrorism or Money Laundering acts

• if the Counsellor is required by a court order to do so

Record Keeping
Compass Point Counselling and Psychotherapy works under the terms of the GDPR and holds the minimum of sensitive personal information from your Registration Form securely.  Please see our Privacy Notice on our website.  We will never sell your information.  We might use non-sensitive information to draw together anonymised statistics to keep track of service use and to help with service development.

Counsellors keep a log and brief notes of the initial appointment and any ongoing appointments, as a record of the work. We maintain clear principles of anonymity in record keeping, all records are kept securely, in line with Service guidelines, and they are only held for as long as they are needed.  No records are kept for more than 7 years maximum, as part of a legal requirement set by HMRC.  None of those records refer to you by name.  Any requests to see the recorded information held should be initially discussed with your Counsellor, and then in writing to Compass Point Counselling. 

We sometimes give out a Feedback Form at the end of the counselling process, and we welcome all your comments. The Feedback Form aims to promote your own further reflective thinking, and also helps us to develop and improve the service we offer. 

If you have any questions or concerns about any of the above or about the counselling process you are encouraged to discuss these with either your Counselling Assessor or your Counsellor in the first instance. 

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