How Much Will A Session Cost?
Each hourly session is charged at £45, although the introductory meeting is charged at £40. I offer a subsidy to those on low incomes and to students. Please get in touch for further details
How Many Sessions Will I Need
I offer both short and long term counselling. How many sessions you will have is a personal choice and led by you. We can discuss this in more detail during your first session and is always open to change.
How Long Will It Be Before I Feel Better?
Many people come to counselling hoping (understandably so) that they will begin to feel better straight away, and in some ways this may be true. Being able to speak freely can, for some, feel like having a weight taken off their shoulders. However, it is also the case that what has brought you to counselling may be painful and upsetting. In some situations, you may be discussing something that happened years ago which you dealt with at the time by not thinking about it, or not acknowledging how painful it was. You may find it challenging, difficult and painful working through those experiences. However, I aim to be warm and encouraging and provide a safe space to support you to do this throughout our sessions together. We’ll also discuss how you may look after yourself in the gaps between our sessions.
Where and when will the sessions take place?
I can arrange appointments using whichever method best suits you. This can be on the telephone, via Zoom or face to face. I use facilities at both Church Stretton, Thursday and Friday 9-5, or Shrewsbury town centre, Thursday and Friday 9-5 with some evenings possible by arrangement.
Are the sessions confidential?
Counselling sessions are confidential, and this includes any notes that are written to record your session. However, there are some circumstances, in order to work legally and ethically, in which this confidentiality agreement may be broken. These are outlined below and will be discussed in our initial session.
Many people seek therapy when they are in crisis and may even feel suicidal. An important part of therapy is for these feelings to be explored. In many cases after spending time understanding them, these feelings subside. There may be occasions when these feelings don’t abate or they become worse and a client believes that they will harm themselves or another. If this is the case additional support would be required. At this point I would discuss with a client that I need to contact a medical professional, usually their GP, and I would hope to gain their consent to do this. In addition, I may seek to contact the emergency contact which I ask for in a first session with a client. This means that I need to break the confidentiality agreement I have put in place with a client in order to protect them.
Additionally, the protection of children and vulnerable others is of primary importance, and if a client were to disclose any information to indicate that a child or vulnerable other has been harmed, or is in danger of being harmed, I would need to share this information with other agencies. In addition, from a legal perspective, I am required by law to report any information that is shared regarding serious organised crime such as dealing in weapons, terrorism, money laundering, or drug or human trafficking.
In any of these circumstances only relevant information will be shared with relevant agencies. This means that a lot of the information a client had shared with me will still remain confidential.
For more information on how your information is held please feel free to read my Privacy Policy.
What qualifications do you have?
I hold a Masters Degree in Clinical Counselling (Merit) and I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
