Therapy Contract
1. What you can expect from this service
1.1. CBT is aimed at reducing distress by looking at unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviour, which have a negative effect on how we feel. It is a solution-focused collaborative form of therapy, involving working together and guided discovery. You will be asked to carry out tasks between sessions in order to practice what you have learned.
1.2. What you can expect from your therapist:
- Your therapist is fully qualified in CBT for anxiety and depression, as well as couple therapy for depression.
- Your therapist is accredited by the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists (BABCP)
- Your therapist is covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance
- Your therapist attends regular supervisory meetings and continued professional development seminars to ensure their skills and knowledge are up to date
- You will receive therapy resources and links to support you on your therapy journey
- When either you, or your therapist, feels that you have come to the end of therapy, you will receive a relapse prevention pack to help you manage your symptoms in the future.
1.3. What is expected from you:
- It is recommend that you attend therapy on a weekly basis. Evidence suggests that you will achieve better outcomes with regular therapy appointments. We appreciate that this might not always be possible, so fortnightly or other arrangements can be discussed with your therapist.
- CBT is a practical type of therapy. At the beginning of your therapy journey, we will start by exploring your difficulties in more detail, helping us to gain a shared understanding of the problem. As therapy progresses we will work together to test out some of the issues that might be maintaining or exacerbating the problem. This sometimes involves practical out-of-session activities, of which will be discussed and decided on together. We will also set tasks for you to carry out between sessions, so that you can have a go at implementing some of the strategies in your everyday life. Your active participation in and out of sessions will help you to achieve your goals.
- Keeping yourself safe is your responsibility; however, your therapist will speak with you about any suicidal thoughts or risk to self or others. Should you have any concerns about keeping yourself safe, we would encourage you to speak with your therapist or other healthcare advisor, such as your GP or local A&E. Again, it is your responsibility to ask for support or help with these thoughts. Contact information is provided at the bottom of this contract.
2. Confidentiality
Anything that you tell your therapist will remain confidential, unless your therapist has concerns about the immediate safety of yourself or anyone else, in which case we may need to involve other people. If this becomes necessary, we will try to talk to you about this first.
It is a condition of this service for you provide your therapist with the name of your GP, so that we can contact them if we have any concerns about your safety.
Keeping yourself safe is your responsibility, however if you are concerned about this please speak with your therapist who might be able to offer some advice. If you are at immediate risk of hurting yourself, or someone else, please speak with your GP or go straight to A&E and ask for a mental health assessment. There are also many helplines available, including the Samaritans who offer a 24/7 telephone service on 116 123.
3. Data Protection
All of your personal information, e.g. contact details, will be kept secure on an IT system. All sensitive information will be secured with a password, which will only be held by the therapist. Your details will never be shared or sent to anyone else.
Your therapist is certified with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
4. Recording of sessions
Your therapist may audio record some sessions, to ensure quality assurance. If your therapist wishes to record a session, they will speak to you beforehand about this and the reasons as to why they wish to record the session. They will also ask for your signed consent for any recording in advance, so that you are fully aware of what will be recorded and when. You are under no obligation to agree to a session being recorded and if you decide not to allow recording, then your treatment will not be affected in any way.
We also recommend that you bring your own recording device to each session so that you can listen back to the session for homework, or to listen back to in the future to help you manage your symptoms. Most mobile phones include an audio recording device or alternatively, you can bring along your own Dictaphone.
5. Fees
Please see the ‘Fees’ section of the website for the most up to date information.
All sessions must be paid within 48 hours of the scheduled time of the appointment (for example, if your appointment is on Monday at 2pm, then payment needs to be made by 2pm the Friday before). If an appointment has been made with less than 48 hours notice (e.g. a same day appointment has been made), then payment must be made at the time of the appointment booking.
If we have not received payment 48 hours before the appointment time, then the session will be cancelled and you will be notified by email.
6. Cancellations
6.1. Cancellations must be made within a minimum of 48 hours notice. Cancellations made with less than 48 hours notice, will be charged at 50% of the session fee. Cancellations made on the same day as the booked appointment, will be charged at the full session rate.
If you do not attend a session, we will message you 5 minutes after the start of the scheduled time, to see if you are having any difficulties connecting. If you do not attend within the first 15 minutes of the scheduled time, then we will terminate the session and send you a message asking if you would like to reschedule. If you do not attend the session, without prior notice of cancellation, then you will be charged at the full session rate.
6.4. To cancel a session, please email me at mariesmith.cbt@outlook.com.
7. Service Rules
ABUSE AND VIOLENCE
This service operates a strict no violence rule. This means that physical and verbal abuse and or violence as well as threats or bullying behaviour of any kind is not permitted and will not be tolerated. Should I feel that you are acting in an aggressive or abusive way, I will speak to you about this first. If you continue to act in a threatening or aggressive manner, then the session will be terminated and this may affect you receiving any further support in the future. In some cases, the Police may also be contacted. Offensive language or behaviour or disparaging comments of any kind are not permitted in the service and will not be tolerated.
ALCOHOL AND DRUG USE
This service operates a strict no alcohol or illegal drugs rule. This means that you:-
· Must not drink alcohol on the day of your appointment
· Must not come to the session under the influence of alcohol
· Must not take illegal or street drugs on the day of your appointment
· Must not come to the session under the influence of illegal or street drugs
Do you have a comment or concern about this service?
Please make contact as soon as possible with your therapist to advise them of any dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, there may be times where we do not agree on something, and I will do my best to support you and encourage you. If however, you feel that I have done something wrong or if I have upset you in anyway, please know that this was never my intention. If I ever do anything to upset you, I would like to know so that I have the opportunity to discuss this with you and to ensure that I do not repeat the action in the future. If you feel able to, please speak to me during the session if anything upsets you, or alternatively you can contact me on the details provided.
If you are at risk of harming yourself or need urgent help:
- Contact your GP
- Call NHS 111 and select the mental health option to be connected to a 24/7 mental health crisis line
- Go to your local A&E service
- Download the stay alive app (available on iPhone and Android)
- Call the Samaritans (available 24/7) on 116 123
- Download the Calm Harm app (available on iPhone and Android)
Should you have any questions, or if anything is unclear, please inform your therapist on the contact information above.