Terms and Conditions:
1. Aim of Therapy: Therapy aims to provide you, the client, with a confidential opportunity to explore personal and relational issues in safety. In therapy, we set goals and the role of your therapist is to help you through this process without judgment or telling you what to do. These goals can be renegotiated as necessary. Your therapist may on occasions, give information or offer suggestions. It is the clients responsibility to work toward those agreed goals. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about the approach in therapy or your progress. It is your responsibility to choose the therapist and therapeutic modality which best suits your treatment. It is important that you work together with your therapist to meet your needs. If you believe that you are not being helped, please let me know so that we can work through the difficulty together. If we are unable to do so to your satisfaction, I can assist you in finding another therapist.
2. Confidentiality Policy: Our sessions are held in the strictest confidence, and information cannot be released about you, without your written permission. There are exceptions to this privacy such as if there is a serious danger in the immediate or foreseeable future to the client or others, including a child. If someone else has referred you to me, we may liaise with that referrer. It is usually in the clients best interests that we work in a multi-disciplinary team to coordinate your care. In all cases, I will normally ask your permission. If someone else paying for the session, for example, Employee Assistance Program, ACC or similar, there may be an obligation to report to them some information. All counselors are required to undertake professional supervision regularly. A supervisor acts in a mentoring role, providing emotional support as well as information and guidance. I may sometimes take relevant issues from the therapeutic relationship into supervision. In these consultations, I take care to preserve clients’ anonymity. I will not disclose your name or anything that would enable you to be identified in any training, research or audit. There may be extreme cases where I am legally compelled by a court of law. I will always try to seek written permission from the client when writing reports for third parties. I keep brief notes after a session, which will be securely stored on a password-protected system
Should we ever accidentally meet in public, to protect your confidentiality, I will not say hello unless you make the first approach. It is perfectly normal for us to ignore each other. I am happy to review any celebrity confidentiality requirements you may have.
3. Sessions: Individual Sessions last 55-60 minutes. It is best practice if they occur weekly at the same time and day. Couples sessions maybe 80-90 minutes.
4. Availability between sessions: In instances where you need to contact me between sessions, please give a text to 021-0322563 or email margotoregan @gmail.com. I will endeavour to get back to you within 48 working hours. If you need urgent crisis care, please contact Crisis Team Emergency Team 0800 800 717.
5. Cancellations and Appointment Charges: If for any reason, I have to cancel a session, I will aim to give you 48 hours notice and you will not be charged for the session. Should you need to cancel an appointment, please also give at least 48 hours. That way, I have the opportunity to schedule another client in that time slot. If I have to cancel less than 24hours, your next session will be free of charge. Please note that if you are late for a session, we still need to finish on time to be fair to the next client. Repeated last-minute cancellations may incur a charge.
6. Method of Payment: Session fees and payment rates are available on my website. To secure your session, payment is made at the time of booking. Clients can pay online by card or internet banking. Non-paid invoices may be subject to debt collection and incur associated costs
7. Frequency of sessions: Initial sessions include an assessment to ensure we are a fit for each other. There are some instances where it is not appropriate to do couples or individual therapy. There are benefits to committing to at least 4/6 weekly sessions before realistically evaluating the effectiveness of therapy. At the end of 4/6 weeks, we can review the goals or frequency of further sessions. Part of the review process is to determine if more sessions are necessary to reach your goals. When someone wants to progress in something new, say a sport, consistent practice is important to ingrain new information. Weekly sessions provide the impetus necessary to create lasting change and new ways of communicating. As skills develop, then bi-weekly sessions may be sufficient. The length of therapy deeply depends on clients individuals needs, goals and resources. If you are a couple that has been struggling for several years, or there has been a betrayal of trust, it is likely to require a number of sessions to regain connection.
Please communicate with your therapist if you become dissatisfied with your treatment. This is really useful information to treatment and can be utilised to work together to discover what might be preventing progress, modify goals, or refer you to another therapist.
8. Temporary distress: Counselling can be difficult at times and discussing therapeutic material may leave you feeling worse. Even though this is often normal, please do not be alarmed and please keep me updated with how you are feeling.
9. Telehealth/Video Conferencing: I practice therapy through video conferencing. This allows me to assist clients who would not otherwise seek services. The modern-day convenience of this medium allows clients to maintain continuity of sessions, despite the stress of conflicting work schedules, childcare, and traffic. There are risks if sessions take place outside of the therapist’s office such as the potential for other people to overhear sessions. Please ensure you have a confidential space from which you can call me. There may be times when an internet connection does not work well. Should this happen, then you will not be charged for the session. Most research shows that teletherapy is about as effective as in-person therapy. Teletherapy is primarily conducted through Zoom Meetings. If Zoom connection fails, then we will use Skype and if that fails, then we will use the telephone. Telehealth records will be maintained in the same manner as in-person records. The same fees apply for in-person as telehealth.
Please read this carefully and feel free to ask me any questions. This agreement is intended as a supplement to the general informed consent that we agreed to at the outset of our clinical work together. Every effort will be made to create an agreement with you however once a client commences therapy, we will consider you as agreeing to the terms of this agreement.