The Psychotherapy/
Counselling Agreement

The Psychotherapy/Counselling Agreement
Moonstir Therapy Ltd is a professional organisation providing registered therapists to children, young people and adults.  By agreeing to therapy, your therapist will confirm via email that you are in agreement with the terms stated below forming the basis of the agreement between the therapist and client (or the client’s guardian) prior to the beginning of psychotherapy/counselling.  Reference to the term psychotherapy is interchangeable with the term counselling.

 

Psychotherapy Aims
The aim of psychotherapy is to provide you/young person, known as the client, with a confidential opportunity to explore personal issues in safety in line with our Safeguarding and Protection of Vulnerable Groups Policy.

The therapist’s role is to help you through this process without judgement, working collaboratively towards your goals; we may on occasion provide relevant information.   We will agree on goals to be worked towards in psychotherapy, sometimes using tools to explore different thinking patterns and behaviours.  You may be expected to complete some work outwith the sessions, as agreed, such that you can progress towards your goals. We will assess progress and address any obstacles regularly.

Psychotherapy Process: what to be prepared for
We will usually start with an initial 10-15 minute telephone call to check your presenting difficulties are within our competence levels and so that you can be matched with the most appropriate therapist based on their availability and experience.

 

While the aim of psychotherapy is to work with you collaboratively to help you to develop new ways of coping, it is important to be aware that you may initially feel worse for a short time before you start to feel better. In these circumstances it is best to discuss the difficulties, rather than abruptly end psychotherapy, in order to have the chance to discuss the decision and to complete the process adequately. You are always in charge of the decision to continue or to stop psychotherapy, and you will not be under any pressure to continue at any point. 

End of the contract
In the normal course of events you will probably know when you are ready to finish psychotherapy, and we will agree together on the work we need to do to prepare for this; this may include an appraisal of future challenges and planning alternative strategies to manage these.  

 

Session length
Sessions last for 50 minutes. We would usually meet once a week in a safe but confidential place at :

7 Carden Place, Aberdeen, AB10 1PP

4 Marischal Street, Peterhead, AB421HU

Room 4, Westhill Business Centre, Endeavour Drive, Westhill, AB32 6UF

or online.
 

Guardian’s of children and young people must remain on the premises during sessions either in the waiting area or in the therapy room with the client’s agreement.

 

Contract length
The psychotherapy contract is usually short term, aiming for six sessions, but may be longer by arrangement and presenting difficulties.  It is helpful to attend regularly, and to keep absences to a minimum, as too many gaps may slow down the progress of the psychotherapy.  Intervals between sessions may lengthen as the psychotherapy progresses, but this will be by agreement between us.

Fees and cancellations

Fees are agreed at the initial stage or via invoice to your referring agency. If you cannot attend, please give your therapist 24 hours’ notice to cancel to avoid charges being sent to your referring agency or to yourself. Any cancellation of therapy with less than 24 hours notice will incur a 50% charge, cancellations on the day are to be charged in full. Due to current demand, if two consecutive sessions are missed, we will postpone therapy sessions until further notice.

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Professional Membership
We are mainly Members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, working within their Ethical Framework for Good Practice, and subject to their complaints procedure. A copy of the ethical framework can be found on the BACP’s web site here and their complaints procedure found here

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Jenny Thomson is a member of BABCP. For BABCP complaints procedure please visit here.

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Laura Leslie is a member of CNHC, For complaints please visit here  
 

Client / therapist relationship
The psychotherapy relationship will remain a professional relationship.  In accordance with professional body guidelines, we will honour the trust placed by you by respecting your rights to be self-governing. We commit to promoting your well-being and avoid harm. We will treat you without judgement, being genuine in the professional relationship we have, to provide an empathic space for you to be heard. 

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Safeguarding and Protection of Vulnerable People

All clients will also be asked to read and sign this statement indicating that they have been made aware of our role in Safeguarding and Protection of Vulnerable Groups via the Safeguarding and Protection of Vulnerable Groups policy.

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Contact with your therapist

You can find more details of our therapists here:

 

Making contact with your therapist should be done direct

Morag Ormiston contact on 07845 683779 or email morag@moonstir.co.uk

Gosia Little contact on 07927192989 or email info@weechange.uk

Jenny Thomson contact on 07907 473894 or email JTTherapy@protonmail.com

Moira Mackenzie  contact on 07922 597653 or email greenmeadowscounselling@outlook.com

Moira Fleetham  email moiraf@protonmail.com

Kirsty Smith email kirsty.smith004@gmail.com

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You are invited to use email or your mobile phone as a way of contact for arranging and re-scheduling appointments etc by contacting the allocated therapist as above. Please be specific which telephone number you wish to use and indicate whether it is acceptable to leave a message.

 

Please note Moonstir Therapy Ltd does NOT offer a crises service so should you need support between sessions, please contact your GP or one of the following organisations for help:

Mind – Text 86463 or visit www.mind.org.uk;

NHS 111 – Call 111

Shout – Text 85258 

www.samaritans.org.uk or call 116123

Breathing Space on 0800 838587

Confidentiality 
As your therapist, we want you to feel safe and respected when we talk. What you share with us in our sessions is private, and we will not tell other people what you say, unless we are really worried about your safety or someone else’s.

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What does confidentiality mean?

 

Confidentiality means that what we talk about stays between us. It’s your space to speak freely, and we will always treat what you say with care and respect.

When might we need to share something?

 

There are a few situations where we might need to share information with someone else:

 

• If we believe you or someone else is in danger of being hurt.

• If you tell me something that makes us think a child or vulnerable adult is not safe.

• If a court of law asks me to share information.

• If we talk to my supervisor (another counsellor who supports me in my work), we might mention things we’ve talked about, but we won’t use your name or anything that would identify you.

 

If we ever feel we need to share something, we will always try to talk to you about it first so you know what’s happening and why.

 

You have the right to:

 

• Ask questions about confidentiality at any time.

• Know what will happen with the information you share.

• Be treated with respect, honesty, and care.

 

If you’re ever unsure or worried about anything we talk about, please let us know, we are here to support you.

 

Record keeping

You should also be aware of the Moonstir Therapy Privacy Policy. We will keep brief clinical, factual notes of our session containing concise details of what was discussed in session noting any referrals or other action taken regarding the session. These notes will be securely stored in line with Data Protection procedures and retained for 7 years from the end of your therapy in line with the privacy statement and data protection policy. We do this as such clinical notes may be requested by a judge with a court order (sub poena), the police with a court order is acquired or with your written permission or if a coroner if you have died. You may see a copy of the clinical notes on request by making a data subject access request.   

 

Where there is in-session therapy work required for reflective practice, these will also be securely stored in line with Data Protection procedures.  Where in-session therapy work is passed to you, no copy is retained by us.

 

Some therapists may take notes during sessions. Such therapist process notes are anonymised and for the therapist’s reflective practice for their own use and potential reflection during supervision. Such notes will be retained securely and destroyed at the end of therapy sessions. These notes are not accessible to clients.

 

We may on occasion want to make an audio recording of sessions for the purpose of monitoring work or for your use, but this would only occur with your prior knowledge and permission.  This recording will be for competence review and a portion of your session may be heard by the professional supervisor. Again this data is securely stored on an encrypted drive and destroyed after it has served its purpose.  At any time you may revoke your permission to these recordings and we will erase these immediately.

 

Please be aware too of the landlords in Peterhead and Aberdeen and Westhill use closed circuit television (CCTV) images and Ring Doorbell to protect the Company’s property and to provide a safe and secure environment for  their business premises.  Moonstir Therapy is not in control of such data but has been assured that data will only be obtained, retained and used only for security purposes.

Supervision and Continuing Professional Development

It is a requirement for all members of the BACP to be in professional, monthly supervision, and to undertake on-going training and self-development. As a member of BACP, we take this commitment seriously and not only undertake regular bi-monthly supervision but also undertake regular CPD sessions to keep me up to date.

Feedback

Feedback is always welcome and is invaluable in guiding development and improvement of psychotherapy service.  Feedback is encouraged throughout the psychotherapy process and at the end of our sessions via a confidential questionnaire.