Counselling Contract -Informed Consent and Confidentiality
Counselling Approach
I believe that clients have the desire and the capacity to grow towards fulfilling their true potential, and that they are the experts on their own lives. As such, I will not give you advice or offer solutions, but will work with you to help you understand yourself more fully and to find your own ideas and answers. I will also help you develop skills and strategies to help you make positive changes. With greater self-awareness and trust in yourself, I hope that you will be able to make constructive changes, leading to a more satisfying and meaningful life. If you have service needs beyond my practice scope, I will endeavour to help you identify appropriate referral options.
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Contact Between Sessions
Email or telephone contact will be limited to practical arrangements only, such as booking or altering session times. I will not enter into telephone or email counselling except by prior arrangement. If you are faced with an emergency in between sessions, please contact the appropriate emergency service. In a life threatening situation, call 000 without delay.
Ending Counselling
In general, the counselling relationship ends by mutual agreement. However, you have the right to end your counselling service at any time. I would appreciate you letting me know if you decide not to return to counselling, particularly if you need to cancel an appointment. If at any time I feel that our counselling is no longer appropriate for you, I will discuss this with you; I may suggest discontinuation or a referral to a more appropriate service.
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Privacy, Confidentiality and Record Keeping
In general, the information that you share with me will remain confidential. This means that I must protect your privacy and not share information about you with others. This applies whether the information is given to me verbally or in written form and extends to the fact that you have attended or are going to attend counselling with me. I have a legal obligation to protect this information, and I do so by ensuring that all paper records are kept in a secure filing cabinet to which nobody else has access; that all electronic records are kept in secure documents to which nobody else has access; and that I keep information with your identity separate from your session/contact notes. I will keep information relevant to your counselling services, including details you have provided and notes for each session. These are critical to helping me keep track of our progress together and for the purposes of accountability. These notes will be stored in a private and secure location (see the Privacy and Confidentiality Agreement). You have the right to view the records and I keep about you upon request. I will keep all records relating to our work together for a period of at least seven (7) years from the date of your last contact with the service. Under some circumstances I may be required to keep records for a longer period.
Limits of Confidentiality
It is important that you understand, however, that there are certain circumstances under which I will share information about you or about what you have told me.
These situations are:
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Where you have explicitly given me permission to share information, such as informing your emergency contact of an emergency situation or when you have signed your permission for a referral.
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Where I consider you to be at risk of harming yourself or someone else.
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Where I consider a child to be at risk.​
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In some cases where a significant crime may be or has been committed.
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Where your counselling records, or part thereof, have been requested by a court of law.
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At times, I may also discuss aspects of our work together with my professional supervisor. This is an important part of meeting my professional responsibilities. I will not provide information that could identify you in the course of these discussions.