Working agreement between Client and Counsellor
Face-To-Face Appointments
Young People aged 16 and over
This information is valid from the 23rd April 2023. It is periodically reviewed for accuracy. Changes will be highlighted at the top of the document.
Please note, changes to wording have been made to help make it easier to read and understand.
Counselling is a partnership between you and your counsellor. This working agreement aims to set out what is involved in committing to this partnership. You can raise any questions or concerns about this agreement with your counsellor at any time. Clinical standards adhere to the BACP ‘Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions’. A copy of this is available online at www.bacp.co.uk/ethical_framework.uk
The initial part of this agreement is what you, the client, and the counsellor agree to and can expect from the counselling sessions. The later sections within the agreement provide details of terms around safeguarding, confidentiality and payments. While this is important information for you to know, your parent/carer would be required to complete some of these sections if they are paying for the counselling sessions.
Counselling Aims and Objectives
The Aim of counselling is to provide you, the client, with the opportunity to talk about any problems or difficulties you have that are bothering you and to explore your thoughts and feelings in a safe place, without judgement.
The objectives of the counselling are decided by you and what you want to achieve. These will be regularly reviewed, with the expectation that objectives can and may change as the counselling progresses.
Counselling has no guaranteed outcomes and can be a challenging process. If you have any concerns about your counselling, in the first instance, you should discuss these with your counsellor.
What is provided
Regular weekly sessions
Sessions are held at the same time on the same week day and each session lasts 50 minutes.
If you wish to discuss meeting less regularly, please discuss this with your counsellor, but please do note that often meeting weekly is best at the beginning as you and your counsellor are getting to know each other and gaining some understanding of the issues you are seeking therapy for.
Confidentiality (within the limits of the law)
Full details are found below.
A mutually agreed ending of counselling
If you undertake short term counselling, you will agree the end date with your counsellor when you begin your sessions. All other counselling is open-ended and is ended by mutual agreement between you and the counsellor. Once you and the counsellor agree that the work is finished, it is usual to fix a date for the last session to allow time for the ending process.
An ending is an inevitable part of the therapeutic process, working together towards the ending enables us to bring our work to a close in an agreed timescale that feels helpful to your wellbeing. Your feedback on your experience of both your counsellor and your counselling sessions is always welcomed.
Your Commitment
When you begin counselling you make the following commitments:
Regular, punctual attendance
Once counselling begins you are expected to attend all of the agreed upon sessions, apart from where these fall on public holidays, when your counsellor is away or during your own annual holidays. If you are late, sessions cannot be extended.
Payment for all sessions
To pay for all your counselling sessions within the agreed timeframe. Full details are found below.
Cancellations
If for any reason your counsellor has to cancel a session, they will aim to provide you with at least 24 hours’ notice. Likewise, if you need to cancel an appointment, please provide at least 24 hours’ notice. You may be charged at the agreed rate for missed sessions, where you cancel a session and less than 24 hours’ notice has been received. If your counsellor cancels the appointment, payment will not be taken. Should payment have already been made in advance, the funds will be carried over to the next appointment.
Communication regarding cancellations will be made using the details provided on the Client Contact Details form. Should you need to provide updated contact information, please do so either by emailing administrator@cau12.com or giving them to your counsellor.
Communication outside of the counselling session
Communicating with the counsellor outside agreed counselling sessions is limited to making, changing or cancelling a session. This helps to manage expectations of the support available within the boundaries of the therapeutic relationship. If you do not wish to leave a voicemail message, please either email or send a text message to your counsellor and they will get back to you as quickly as possible.
There may be occasions when you and your counsellor agree, in session, to the emailing of information to aid the understanding of a therapeutic task or activity, or to aid the process of your self-help. This will be explicitly agreed beforehand.
If between sessions, you find yourself in immediate distress and need to speak to someone urgently please contact the Samaritans on 116 123 (free to call) or by e-mail on: jo@samaritans.org.
To discuss with the counsellor when you feel you are ready to end therapy.
To let the counsellor know if you are in or are considering entering another therapeutic relationship.
Your Counsellor’s Commitment
When you begin counselling your counsellor makes the following commitments:
To be available at the agreed time.
To start and end on time.
To offer a quiet, appropriate and undisturbed space.
To maintain safe, professional boundaries.
To regard all contact and information as confidential, unless there is reasonable doubt concerning actual safety of the client or others (see section on Confidentiality above).
To encourage your autonomy.
To uphold ethical and professional practice in their work, in accordance with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) ‘Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions’ as outlined above.
To collaboratively review the therapeutic work and relationship with you regularly.
To attend regular supervision.
The following sections should be read by you as well as your parent/carer. If your parent/carer is paying for the counselling sessions, they would need to sign the additional signature fields at the end of these sections.
Confidentiality
As a general rule, what you say in counselling sessions will not be shared with anyone else. However, there are certain circumstances when confidentiality may need to be broken. This includes the following situations:
You or others are, in the opinion of the therapist, seem to be in danger or at serious risk of being harmed.
The therapist is required to do so by court subpoena.
The client infers involvement in or knowledge of a serious crime, a threatened act of terrorism, knowledge of or involvement in drug trafficking or money laundering.
The client infers knowledge of or involvement in behaviours that may, in the therapist’s opinion, lead to harm or neglect to children and vulnerable adults.
Your counsellor will aim to discuss any concerns with you first.
There may also be times when your parent/carer will have a meeting with your counsellor. Nothing that you do not wish to be shared with your parent/carer from your sessions will be discussed, but your counsellor might ask for your permission to share certain information with your parent/carer at these meetings. Only if you agree to this content being shared, then your counsellor may do so, in order to help you and your family communicate and work together more effectively.
At times your case will be discussed with a supervisor and brief written records of initial consultation sessions and progress on on-going counselling will be kept. These are available on request and kept in line with the current Data Protection Regulation. Please see our Privacy Notice on www.cau12.com/privacy-notice for detailed information.
Please note, recording of the counselling sessions is prohibited without express consent from both you and your counsellor. At times, your counsellor may ask for your permission to record a session for the purpose of self-evaluation of supervision. You have the right to decline this request and your decision will always be respected.
Under no circumstance must any recording of a counselling session be posted on Social Media sites or otherwise be made publicly available.
Payments
Once allocated, your session time will not be available to anyone else. For this reason, you will be asked to pay for all sessions other than those when the counsellor is unavailable or for breaks that have been agreed between you and your counsellor. The agreed amount due is £65.00 per session, or at the rate agreed with your counsellor. This fee is payable by bank transfer within 48 hours following the session or via cash on the day of your session. If you are paying by cash, please put the payment in a sealed envelope marked with the amount, the date of your appointment and your initials.
Please note that when paying by bank transfer, your name will be visible to the bank and the counsellors accountant.
To accept the terms of this Working Agreement, please complete the online form you can access by clicking on the following button.