First step – our initial session

You may be feeling apprehensive when considering whether to meet a counsellor for an initial session, especially if this is unfamiliar terrain for you. Our initial session is an opportunity for you to see how it would be to have counselling with me. It is a time for me to understand what you are seeking from counselling and to get a better sense of how you are. It is also a time for you to ask me any questions you have about counselling in general and what counselling together would be like. 

Embarking on counselling is a personal commitment and an important decision and you are free to choose whether you wish to continue with me after the initial session. If I believe that I do not have the relevant experience or expertise to help you, I will let you know and may recommend other counsellors whom I believe might be suitable for you.

Fees and length

I currently charge £55 for this 50-minute initial session.

Cancellation

Once we have booked our initial session, I will need at least 2 full business days notice if you decide to cancel the initial session, otherwise the full fee is payable. 

Further steps -  what happens next?  

If we decide to work together, I tend to suggest that you have counselling for 6 sessions (excluding the initial session) to allow time for you to properly explore what you have brought to counselling and to experience counselling with me. At the 7th session, we can review our experience so far and decide whether we would like to continue for a specific number of sessions or on an open-ended basis. How long we decide to work together can be reviewed by us at any stage. We may, of course, at the 7th session also decide to bring our sessions to a close.

Fees, length and regularity

I currently offer a sliding scale of fees of £75-85 for a  50-minute session and you can choose any fee within that range that feels most appropriate for you.

My concessionary places for clients of limited income or in Higher Education training are currently full.

Sessions are at least once a week for the work to be more effective. This will be a dedicated on-going slot that is set aside for you. 

My fees are reviewed annually.

Cancellation and missed sessions

Once we begin counselling together, your session is an agreed time set aside for you. I do not offer your session to another potential client and it is a protected space in my practice that I keep for you. Even when you do not attend a session, as your counsellor, I continue to consider and reflect on what you are bringing to the sessions, how best to support you and what may serve you to explore more. For these reasons, you will need to pay for your session whether you attend or not. I understand that sometimes there are circumstances that make attendance not possible and if those occur, I will try to accommodate your needs and offer you an alternate session within that same week if I can. This alternative session may be at a different time but always at the same location. There is also the possibility of having an online session via Zoom if that is considered suitable for both of us.