Therapy Information & Agreement

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I am a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, working largely with creative approaches, including integrative sandplay, sound, metaphor, Pesso Boyden therapy, guided visualisation, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), parts work, occasionally EMDR, sometimes art and clay. 

Therapy sessions will take place face-to-face at my Sand & Sound Centre in Hyde - I may be able to offer a very occasional online or a telephone session if a face-to-face meeting is not possible.

The standard session length is 60 minutes - if longer or shorter sessions are required we can discuss.

The Sand & Sound Centre is located on the ground floor of Digital House, 35 Ridling Lane, Hyde, Tameside SK14 1NP

You can find full directions, travel and parking information here https://sandsoundcentre.co.uk/directions-and-travel

I will endeavour to offer you a regular slot at agreed intervals (weekly, fortnightly, monthly etc) but due to my varied work commitments may not  be able to guarantee a consistent time slot on the same day of the week each time, so some flexibility with days/times may be required.

Session fees are: 

• £70 - regular 60 minute session
• £80 - Pesso Boyden therapy sessions and other trauma processing approaches - these may be somewhat longer than 1 hr and would need to be agreed upon and scheduled in advance).

The fee is paid on the day of the session via bank transfer to the account below (please use your name as reference), or in cash. Please let me know if you require invoices/receipts.

   Starling Bank

   Account Name: Maria Bennett
  Sort Code: 60-83-71
  Account No: 54309372 

Please give at least 48 notice if cancelling or rescheduling your session, otherwise the fee will still be payable.

The content of our session is confidential and will not be disclosed to other parties, with the following exceptions:

(1) If you request for any information to be disclosed to a third party, and we jointly decide that it is in your best interests for me to do so;

(2) If required by the court of law;

(3) If you disclose a serious and imminent risk of harm to yourself or others.

If I do need to break confidentiality, I will endeavour to discuss it with you first, apart from unlikely instances where I would be prohibited to do so by law.  

If you are unhappy with the service you are receiving, please raise any issues with me in the first instance - whether verbally, via email or message.

If I am unable to resolve your concern and you are still unhappy, you can complain to my professional organisations:

*UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy)

*NLPtCA (Neuro Linguistic Psychotherapy & Counselling Association)

*WASTP (World Association of Sand Therapy Professionals)

I undertake regular peer supervision with two experienced colleagues, as well as additional specialist supervision with a Sand Therapy consultant as well as Pesso Boyden supervision, as necessary.  Some aspects of your therapy (anonymised) may be discussed with my supervisors, which is a normal requirement of our professional practice and does not affect the confidentiality of your information.

I can write a brief letter confirming the fact of attendance at therapy, if requested by the client, free of charge.

I do not write reports, unless in exceptional circumstances agreed with client at the start of therapy. The charge for reports is pro-rata for the time spent on preparing it, at my standard rate of £70 per 60 minutes.

I am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office and strive to adhere to their Data Protection Guidelines. Any personal data of yours will only be kept if strictly necessary, on password protected device(s). 

Due to my way of working I choose not to write session notes, apart from recording the date of attendance, unless something out of ordinary happens during the session that gives me a cause for concern (e.g. safeguarding and risk issues). 

I will normally keep photographic records of your creative work, e.g. sandtrays or artwork, which are stored securely, and I will ask for your permission to take a photo of your work  - you are under no obligation to agree.