Frequently Asked Questions
Practicalities: Nuts and Bolts.
Where do you work and what's your availability? Do you work online?
I work at the Wilbury Clinic in Hove, East Sussex on Wednesdays and the Hove Practice Rooms on Tuesdays and in Ashington (near Steyning) on Fridays. On Thursdays I work for the Sussex Psychological Therapy Centre. I offer online as well as face to face working.
How much do you charge and how do payments work?
Please contact me for further information about fees. I have one low-cost place so do contact me if you'd like to go on the waiting list for this. Generally, I do not offer fortnightly sessions, although might in rare circumstances. EMDR in particular can be effective on a shorter-term if booked as a block of sessions; as it can process more things more than conventional talking therapy. I charge for our intial session upfront; thereafter you are welcome to pay for each sesison on the day, or be invoiced at the end of the month.
I’m interested in working with you but am not sure how to start.
That’s ok and pretty normal. You are welcome to arrange a phone call to ask me any questions before you decide to book an initial session. If you decide to meet me, I like to use the first two sessions for an assessment, to explore your needs and from this to form a plan for our way forward. At this point we can also decide whether you are coming for a limited period or for something more open-ended.
I’m not sure which of the therapies you offer will work best for me.
That’s completely understandable. This will become clearer during our initial consultation and anything we decide is worked out collaboratively. As a general rule of thumb though, all three psychotherapies, (Relational Integrative Psychotherapy, Music Imagery Psychotherapy and EMDR) are powerful standalone treatments. If desired, they can all be integrated with each other; EMDR integrates naturally into Relational Integrative Psychotherapy and Music Imagery Psychotherapy may be a powerful means of resourcing prior to EMDR processing. My strong ethical framework, commitment to working for your best interests ensures that whichever bespoke combination of psychotherapies you choose, will work powerfully for you.
What is your cancellation policy and do I have to pay even if I’m on holiday?
I require a minimum of five days’ notice if you need to cancel a session; otherwise the full fee will be payable. I take up to 7 weeks’ holiday per year, and you can also have up to three weeks off (holidays etc) per year without charge. This means that normally we work for about 42 weeks per year. This will be discussed with you in our early sessions.
What are your other terms and conditions?
Once we have decided to work together I ask you to sign a standard agreement which states the following:
- Length, frequency of sessions, and ways to benefit the most from your sessions
- Considerations around online working.
- Cancellation terms
- Confidentiality
- Holiday notice periods
- GDPR (how I store legally store information).
- Complaints procedures
Generally, people find it immensely helpful for all these to be laid out at the beginning of our work together.
How can I be certain that I will get what I really need from working with you?
I am a highly trained and extremely experienced psychotherapist, accredited with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and the government body the Health and Care Professions’ Council (HCPC). This means that I have committed to the highest ethical standards; not only to regular supervision professional development activities but also to abide by these bodies’ ethical frameworks. This ensures your needs always remain at the heart of our work together. To this end, we have regular reviews where your input, feedback forms part of how we move forward into to keep things on track.