Working Alliance

This working alliance aims to create a strong foundation for building our work upon. It is essential that, when working together, we both have an idea of each other's expectations. This ensures that our work remains healthy and on track. Please take the time to read this document thoroughly. If you have any questions, please note them while reading this document, and we can address them over email or in our next session together.

Therapy (Counselling, Psychotherapy, Supervision) is a team effort where we work collaboratively. While I bring experience and theoretical knowledge to support you, it's essential to acknowledge that you're the expert in your own experiences. Theory only holds value when it connects with your lived reality. This collaborative approach is crucial in therapy, empowering you to take positive strides. I can provide a supportive and safe environment for you to offload, explore, understand, reframe, and equip you with tools to support you, however, for life long change to occur there needs to be a motivation from you to apply and integrate the information that aligns with you into your everyday life.

Unless otherwise specified, a counselling session will last 50 minutes, and a check-in session will last 30 minutes. While it is helpful to have an overarching goal for therapy, I will always start our meetings by asking what you want to focus on in your session. This keeps the work client led and looking at the most present issues. I encourage you make note of things that happen during the week or thoughts that you would like to discuss further, and bring that list to the session. The sessions where you get the most are the ones that are approached intentionally.

When arriving for your session, please ring the buzzer to let me know you are outside. However, I do kindly ask that you do not ring the buzzer until a maximum of five minutes before your scheduled session. This allows time and privacy for my previous clients as well as yourself to complete your session and leave the building peacefully without crossing paths with other clients.

Since COVID-19, the world has become increasingly exposed to working remotely. All of my work today is done remotely, presenting some unique challenges. In this section, I highlight some housekeeping rules to help keep our sessions a healthy and helpful experience for all:

• Please seek to attend sessions from a quiet and private location. I appreciate that this not always doable, so if you need to be out and about, please find a place where you feel comfortable and safe to discuss what you would like to speak about.
• Please avoid multitasking or engaging in activities that may divert your attention during our sessions, such as gaming, answering emails, or texting friends.
• Please refrain from participating in therapy while driving or engaging in activities that could compromise your safety.
• Please attend sessions while sober and free from the influence of drugs or alcohol.
• Please make sure to dress appropriately for virtual sessions.
• Please avoid having others present in the same room as you during sessions unless previously discussed.
• Please treat our virtual sessions with the same level of respect as in-person meetings.

Another issue that arises from remote working comes in the form of connectivity issues. Even with the best-laid plans, there are times when connections drop, or electronic devices decide they do not want to work. To manage these issues, please have two different forms of communication available to help us continue the session, even if we encounter difficulties. For example, if we are working through video conferencing online, you could also provide a telephone number in case we need to move to the telephone. Alternatively if we are having telephone sessions, we could also have a back up of WhatsApp audio incase we lose telephone signal.

In therapy, I ensure to keep your information private. However, there are a few occasions when I cannot maintain the confidentiality of the sessions, and I shall highlight these occasions here:

• Risk of Harm: If I am led to believe that you pose/ or know of a person who poses an immediate or severe risk of harm to yourself or others, I may need to disclose information. This could include situations involving minors, suicidal ideation, violence, or abuse.
• Legal Obligations: In some cases, I may be legally required to disclose information. For example, a judge can order access to notes via a court order and in this case I would be legally obliged to share your notes.
• Client Consent: If you give me explicit consent to share information with a specific person or agency, I will be able to do so within the limits of that consent. If you would like me to share information with a specific person, I will require you to reach out of your own accord through email to instruct me on what you would like shared and provide the details of the people with whom you wish it to be shared. Until I have your consent in an email, I will deny knowledge of you and not reply to emails enquiring about you, even if you have given verbal consent.

In supervision, I may discuss your case with my supervisor to ensure I provide you with the utmost support I can offer. If I do raise casework in any way, I do so in a manner that maintains your anonymity. Supervision is important because therapists, although informed, are, first and foremost, human beings. Thus, we are just as likely to have biases, blind spots, and misconceptions that may affect our work together. Working regularly in supervision allows us as practitioners to remain ethical, healthy, and able to provide you with the best possible service as a client.

In our sessions, I take simple notes to help me keep track of the areas we have worked on. They outline the area of focus for that session and include a sentence or two about any struggles faced and any work set. These notes are stored in an Excel document on a password-protected external hard drive, which is only accessed when my device's internet is switched off, keeping your information cyber safe. When I am not in the office, this external hard drive is locked in a cabinet in a locked building, further protecting it from physical theft. This storage method is in line with current GDPR guidelines. Your notes can be requested to be sent across to you at any time until the working relationship ends. Upon termination of sessions or after three months of no communication, these notes will be removed from the system and thus will not be able to be retrieved. When requesting session notes, please send the request to me in an email and allow me 24 hours to get back to you.

Payments can be made in cash for face to face appointments or via bank transfer for remote sessions using the details below:

Account Number: 34240233
Sort Code: 54-30-06
Business Name: Andrew Ellis Counselling

If paying by bank transfer, please include your name and the session date in the payment reference section as it helps me keep track of payments.

If you would like an invoice to be made out to you or would like to explore other payment options, feel free to discuss them with me prior to your session. Please note that cancellations made within 24 hours of the session will still be charged, as the slot cannot be filled on short notice.

If you are running behind of time for your session, please message me to let me know when you plan to attend. I will wait for 15 minutes for you to show with no contact, but if I still have not heard from you after that time I will repurpose my time and we will need to rebook our session for another time.

In the unlikely event that you have concerns or issues regarding our sessions, I am committed to addressing and resolving them promptly. Your feedback is valuable, and I encourage open communication to ensure your satisfaction and well-being.

1 . Informal Resolution:

Please feel free to raise any concerns or complaints with me directly. I am here to listen and work collaboratively to find a resolution that meets your needs.

2 . Escalation to BACP:

As a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), you can escalate your complaint to them if you are unsatisfied with the resolution provided. Objections to the BACP can be made directly through their website (www.bacp.co.uk) or by contacting them at (complaints@bacp.co.uk)