For Vanessa Zopp – Counselling and CBT
Initial meetings: I usually allow 2/3 of initial meetings to explore your reasons, expectations, hopes and goals for therapy. It is also an opportunity for both of us to evaluate whether we feel that working together will help you and how or if other services/professionals may better help you. If this is the case, we will discuss the various options available to you, and I will support you in this. It is difficult to determine how long therapy will last; this depends on your needs and preferences; we will discuss and agree on therapy length collaboratively during these initial meetings.
Confidentiality: The content of the sessions is kept strictly confidential. After our meetings, I draft some minimal notes to enable me to follow the topics of our conversation; this is a widespread practice. Those are stored and electronically filed securely. No other person will have access to them. I must receive clinical supervision for my work, and the duty of confidentiality extends to my supervisor. When I talk to them, the whole identity of my clients remains protected. A copy of my Privacy Policy and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Your written consent acknowledging that you fully understand and accept this Privacy Policy for records held and use of personal and sensitive personal data for the stated purposes will be required before the commencement of therapy.
Only in exceptional circumstances might confidentiality be broken:
- If you as a client give consent for the confidence to be breached
- If I am legally compelled by a court of law
- Where statutory law requires me to inform the relevant authorities (e.g. terrorist activities, drug
trafficking or child or vulnerable adult abuse). - Should exceptional circumstances arise which give me reasonable grounds for believing that serious harm may be caused to you or others, I will try to discuss them beforehand. I will initially encourage you to contact an appropriate source of support/help. Yet, if I feel that you cannot do so, I will have to make this contact myself. Whilst I will discuss this with you first before passing any information on to others and explaining why I am taking this course of action, this might not always be possible.
- Should I be incapacitated to communicate with you directly (death, illness), your details may be passed on to my Therapeutic Will Executor so that they can inform you and help you to find support if needed.
- Should you, another client, or I, the therapist, test positive for Covid, then confidentiality will be broken if necessary, for reasons of public interest in the area of public health.
Online Therapy: I offer video therapy via Skype, Telehealth or WhatsApp to clients living and residents in the UK. Online counselling is not appropriate for clients in major crises or severely distressed. I will ask you where you are and the address if I do not have it; this is for your health and safety. Interruptions may happen during our online sessions, and we agree that we will actively try to minimise this. I appreciate that some creativity is needed to maintain privacy. However, if I feel that you may subject yourself to risks, I will interrupt the session and ask to reschedule within the week during my working time subject availability. We will try again on the same platform if the connection is lost during our session. If this is unsuccessful, I will try one of the other platforms we agreed on for this purpose.
Referral:
During our work together, we will regularly evaluate how the therapy is going and if it is the most suitable form of support for you at this time. If you require a therapist with specific expertise or online work is unsuitable, I will help you find a therapist to best suit your needs.
If I feel that I am not able to provide you with the level of support you require (such as if I think your mental health issues are outside my area of expertise), I have the right to discontinue our work together. This would be done with your best interests at heart and carried out as sensitively as possible. I would help you to find alternative support where possible.
Freedom to End: You are always free to leave therapy anytime. Feel free to discuss it with me; if you wish, I will give you the names of other psychotherapists/counsellors.
Cancellations:
If you need to cancel a session, please give me more than 48 hours’ notice; otherwise, the missed session will be charged. We will try to rearrange the appointment for a later date if you wish. If I must cancel the session, I will always do my best to inform you with significant notice. If I must cancel with short notice, I will offer an alternative arrangement where possible.
Late attendance and ‘no show’: Please note if you join late, we will have to finish on time. If you do not show up or you are 20 minutes late from the agreed beginning, I will treat it as a cancellation without notice; the fee will be charged, and I will send you an email/text or call you to confirm you missed the session.
Fees: The fee is £70 per session. Insurances/EAP is £80-90 per session. Fees are payable in cash at the end of each session or via online bank transfer at least 24 hours in advance.
Health Insurances : Health insurance fees vary depending on the insurance; please provide insurance details and the authorisation code before the first meeting. Please be aware that you are responsible for paying any insurance excess and any cancellation.
Additional sessions and Crisis
If, at any point in our work, you feel emotional discomfort and would like an additional meeting, please do not hesitate to contact me, and I will do my best to find an allocation.
My practice is not an emergency service. If you are in a major crisis now, risking causing harm to yourself or others, please get in touch with 111 or 999, go to your nearest accident and emergency service (A&E), or any other appropriate service. Here is a list of links to services that can support you.
Contact in between Sessions, Emails and Texts
The phone and email addresses will be used only between sessions for cancellations and appointment arrangements. Please note that messages are monitored regularly but not continuously. I endeavour to reply to texts or emails within 24 hours only during office hours. I use an encrypted online management system to send/receive your personal information and assessment questionnaires. However, I am not using an encryption program for my email, and although my phone and laptop are password protected, they can be stolen or hacked.
Covid: Please read this Covid Policy before meeting in person.
Behaviour
I will not be able to work with you if you are under the influence of any misuse of alcohol or substances or in the event of violent, threatening, aggressive or inappropriate behaviour. Should this be the case, I will immediately end the session, and you will be charged the fee.
Complaints
I am committed to good practice. If you are unhappy with my service, please discuss this with me, and we can hopefully work through and resolve these together. If you feel unable to do so or do not receive a satisfactory resolution, you have the right to inform my professional bodies by contacting the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) or the National Counselling Society.
