I am happy to have a brief phone call with you prior to starting treatment, so I can understand your concerns and feel confident that we can work together. It also gives you a chance for you to ask me any questions. After this we will book in a first session.
The first session is an assessment session, when I ask about your current problems and how they are impacting on all areas of your life. I will also ask about your past and negative experiences that you have had and also focus on the future, thinking about how you want things to be different.
I typically work with CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), which is a short term therapy. I also work with ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and CFT (Compassion Focused Therapy) which come under the CBT school of thinking. I am also accredited in EMDR. There are NICE Guidelines that recommend how many sessions are needed for each concern. Typically, I see people for 6-12 sessions. Around session 6, we would have a review to think about how many sessions are needed. By that time we will have a lot more understanding of the difficulties and how therapy has progressed so far. This will give an indication on the total number of sessions.
For some clients, they prefer not to be limited with the number of sessions and prefer longer term support. This is possible with Private Health Insurance as well as with self funding. The benefit of longer term support, is that you are able to choose when you feel ready to end. Longer term therapy is often needed when working with symptoms of trauma and enduring mental health difficulties.
To begin with, it usually works best to have the sessions weekly. As things improve and depending on the focus of therapy, it might be that we meet fortnightly or monthly. This will depend on what helps you the most. I am also happy to meet for one off follow up sessions after treatment has ended to make sure the progress you have made is being maintained.
If you are self funding, the fees are £95 for 50 minutes. The fees are the same for face to face, video calls or telephone calls. Invoices can be sent if required. The fees need to be paid in advance of the session by bank transfer, or at the end of the session by cash or cheque.
If any reports or letters are required, this will be discussed in the therapy session. A fee will be charged at the normal fee rate on a pro rata basis for each letter or report. This does not include letters which the therapist decides to write, where there are concerns of safety and safeguarding.
If the therapy is being funded by Private Medical Insurance or a Third Party organisation, the fees will vary, depending on my contract with them.
I am registered with the main Private Healthcare Providers including;
It is possible for me to register with further Companies and this is usually a relatively quick and easy process.
If you have funding in place for treatment, normally I just need your Policy Number and Authorisation Number and we can arrange a first session.