After contacting me, we will arrange a mutually convenient time to speak on the phone for 20 minutes to discuss your needs, what to expect from sessions and if i am the right counsellor for you. During this meeting you can ask me anything you want to help make the decision, but most people just ‘know’ after meeting a counsellor if they are the right fit.

This is an individual choice. An advantage of private therapy is that you can set the pace.

I recommend we meet once a week for the first month and then review from there but the choice is yours. I can work with clients ad-hoc, weekly, fortnightly or monthly to suit them. We will regularly review how our sessions are supporting you to check if the frequency is right for you.

Session do vary from person to person, but they do have a few things in common:

• Sessions will start and end on time, they are 50 minutes. I will keep track of the time and give a time warning when we are getting close to the end.

• Please try to arrive on time for your session. If we meet online there will be a virtual waiting room for you to wait in and i will open the ‘room’ when it's time for our session. In person, at our agreed session time i will invite you in, there is no need to knock.

• Our relationship will underpin all sessions. This will be one of respect for autonomy, having your best interests at heart and focused on your wellbeing and your goals. Our work will be guided by what feels right for you by regularly reviewing goals, how you feel therapy is helping and general feedback on how we are working together.

• All of our sessions are safe, confidential and are supervised appropriately as per BACP guidelines.

More information about how i work and specific issues where counselling can help can be found here.

It’s important that our sessions remain confidential, focused on your individual thoughts and feelings and that we both feel free to connect and communicate without barriers. This is why, in individual sessions, it will just be you and me in the room for the session.

You are welcome to (and i encourage) you to bring objects with you that will support exploration or make you feel comfortable.

There’s no specific indicator of when is right to end therapy - generally clients know when is the right time, and this is always explored in our reviews together. If you start to feel stuck or that nothing is improving this might be a signal that something needs to change and that may or may not be ending therapy.

I encourage you to be open to this feeling and explore it in our sessions together so you are ready to make an informed decision.

You can cancel a session up to 48 hours before free of charge. Regrettably there will a charge for any sessions cancelled after this time.

I would always encourage you to explore the issues around coming to sessions with me in the first instance as there may be something important there to explore together.

If you have any questions that are left unanswered please get in touch.