Practicalities of Online Counselling

How It Works

I offer counselling by email. After filling in the introductory form and my accepting you as a client, you can write me as many emails as you want to during a given week. I will respond at a set time which we have agreed between us, devoting a full counselling hour, i.e. 50 minutes, to my response.

This system offers you the flexibility of being able to add background information as you think of it during the week, and the comfort of not feeling that you have to type extra quickly in order to get as much information into a counselling hour as you could were you speaking. It also offers you certainty as to when you will receive a reply.

Fees

One week of reading your emails and a one hour reply costs 35 GBP (payable in advance).

The ‘sessions’, or counselling hours, must be paid for in advance, and you can buy up to six at any one time. Please remember not to buy more than one or two sessions at the start, which serves as a ‘trial period’ for us both.

Payment Method

PayPal is strongly preferred, but if you have an alternative method of payment that you wish to discuss with me, you can email me a query.

Refunds

If I have not had any communication from you for a period of three weeks, and you have not told me about this in advance, I will write to you to ask whether you wish to continue counselling. If I do not receive any reply after another week, I will assume that you would like to terminate our counselling relationship and refund any unused counselling hours to you in full.

If, during the ‘trial period’ of our work together, one or the other of us decides not to continue, or if you choose to terminate earlier than you planned, the same applies, you will receive a full refund of unused counselling hours.

If you should ‘disappear’ without supplying a valid email address or PayPal account, I will make every effort to refund you. However if 28 days pass after my first attempt to refund you, you will lose your money.

Internet Security

Sharing intimate feelings, thoughts and information on the internet may seem like quite a scary thing to do. In fact if you don’t take some steps to protect this information, it probably is! Hence I offer:

• SSL encryption of all the personal details entered on my Introductory Form.
• Fully encrypted storage of your messages on my computer.
• An individual email address for you, and only you, to use when writing to me.

If you wish to add a further layer of security by encrypting emails in transit, you may send me any key which you currently use on the SSL secured Introductory Form, or sign up for a Personal email certificate, a free resource from www.Thawte.com. I will use the same service in my communications with you.

I do suggest that you take great care if using computers in a public space or a shared computer in the home. The guide to encryption and security on CounsellingResource.com gives a general overview of security issues and possible solutions.

Confidentiality, Ethical Work

All my work adheres to the ethical code of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), which you can download here. What this means for you is that if you have any ethical complaints about my behaviour you have recourse to a professional body.

I have a professional obligation to keep not only your personal details but everything which you say /write to me in confidence.

The only instances in which another ethical obligation may override this, meaning that I may need to share some of the information which I hold, are

1. if I have extremely good reason to believe that you are likely to pose a serious threat to yourself or someone else, e.g. suicide, homicide, sexual abuse, or terrorist activity. I would if at all possible discuss whatever breach in confidentiality I intended to make with you first.
2. if my professional obligation to preserve confidentiality is removed by a court of law (which rarely happens but is possible).

I feel that I also have an ethical obligation not to undertake online work with you:

1. if you are in the midst of a severe mental crisis which is stopping you from functioning. If this is the case, online counselling will not offer the immediacy and ‘holding’ which you require at this time. Consider talking to a doctor, to a psychiatrist if you feel that it is appropriate, or to a face to face counsellor.
2. if you are suicidal, or homicidal. If this is the case, then internet counselling is not a safe option for you now. Picking up the phone and talking to someone through an organisation such as The Samaritans or Befrienders International will help. Consider talking to your doctor, and indeed to anyone with whom you feel safe.

Supervision

The only other instances in which I may discuss my work with you are during sessions with my individual supervisor, and communications with my peer supervision group.

Supervision is a confidential relationship between professionals which provides consultation and support, and basically ensures that my work is as effective as possible. In the UK it is an ethical obligation for every counsellor to have regular supervision.

No names or other identifying details are shared with my supervisor, or with my peer support group, and my relationship with them is bound by the same high degree of confidentiality as my relationship with my clients.