FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

In order that you feel able to bring what ever issue is most current for you its important to know that whatever you speak about within the session can be kept confidential.

However there are limits to this confidentiality, for legal reasons, should you mention being involved in Money Laundering, Drug Trafficking or Terrorism we would need to pass on this information to the relevant authorities.

If you were to mention that you were planning to cause immediate significant risk to yourself or others, we would try to support you with this within the session, however, if we still had concerns after the session this may lead to me contacting outside sources in order to secure yours or others safety.

In addition if we are ordered by a court of law to produce session notes then we must do so.

The first meeting is really about getting to know each other, that gut instinct on whether the way we work is right for you, whether you feel comfortable in the surroundings,  we can explore what brings you to counselling and if you wish to engage, then discuss how you would like to continue. We have experience of working short or long term with clients and will perform a review at least every 6 weeks in order to check that you are happy with how things are going.

When and for whatever reason you decide to enter into counselling it is important that you consider the different types of counselling in order to give yourself the best outcome. A full list of the types of counselling is available on the BACP web site.

It is also important for your safety when considering counsellors to take some time to ensure they are sufficiently qualified. Most counsellors in the UK will be members of a recognised organisation such as:​

• BACP – British association of counsellors and Psychotherapists
• UKCP – United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy
• BPC – British Psychoanalytical Council
• BPS – British Psychological society

And this means that they have had to prove that they work professionally and ethically to an acceptable standard.

There are many factors to consider when deciding to enter into counselling that can affect how many sessions you may have. For example, there may be financial restraints, you may only have a few months available time, and you might have an idea of how many you specifically want. We will talk through all of these areas with you during assessment or first meeting. As a private practice we are able to offer and work within time frames that we agree upon together, this can be weekly or fortnightly and towards the end of work together, it might be monthly.

A lot of people like to commit to 6 sessions, we review in week 5 to reflect upon how the sessions have been and consider whether you would like to continue or end on the 6th session. If you choose to continue we are able to offer as many sessions as you feel are beneficial with the opportunity for us to regularly review and reflect upon whether they continue to meet your needs.

How often would you like to attend counselling? Is it financially sustainable for you to do so? How much free time do you have? These are things for you to consider, in order to know what you can commit to. We are happy to work with you weekly or fortnightly for as long as you feel necessary, and lots of people decide towards the end of their sessions to either just end, or to extend to monthly sessions for a short time. Rest assured, that should you decide one thing at the beginning that it is perfectly okay to change your mind along the way, there is no charge for sessions cancelled with 24 hours’ notice.

Centred Counselling is a private practice and as such we are unable to offer free counselling. We do have a limited capacity for low-income clients, please see here for more details.

There are agencies that receive grants and charitable or government funding that are able to offer free counselling, if you are struggling financially we would recommend that you check online and make the most of these services if possible. For many of these services the funding changes each year, so its worth checking regularly.

If you are able to re-claim the cost of your counselling through health insurance or work based schemes, we are able to provide invoices and receipts as proof of your attendance, please request these at the beginning of the sessions.