Contract for Therapy with Privacy Policy

Contract for Therapy

This contract sets out the key policies and procedures under which I work and asks you to agree to them. It does not tie you into therapy for a particular period of time nor does it ask you to make a financial commitment beyond each individual therapy session.

About Laura McNaught

I am a qualified Relationship and Psychosexual Therapist and a member of the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT) and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

I have regular clinical supervision and hold full professional liability insurance.

Therapy Sessions

You should expect to be treated with consideration and respect at all times during therapy sessions and you can of course choose to end therapy at any time.

Each session lasts for 50 minutes and the time and location must be pre-booked. Payment is due by the date of our session. Longer sessions of 75 or 100 minutes are sometimes helpful and can be booked by arrangement. Please give me at least 48 hours notice if you need to cancel a session, otherwise the full fee is due. Also note that because of the arrangements I have with other clients, you should aim not to arrive early at sessions and be aware that all sessions must finish by the planned end time.

It is rarely helpful or appropriate for children or pets to be present during therapy sessions, so please do not bring them with you unless by explicit prior agreement.

I usually suggest that we plan initially for 4 sessions and then we can discuss whether you would like to continue. For most people, 6 to 8 sessions is the minimum needed to achieve positive change, but every client is different and this is something we will review regularly together.

The end of the therapeutic relationship will be planned and mutually agreed. I do however reserve the right to end particular therapy sessions and/ or future sessions in rare situations. These include:

  • Where a client is under the influence of drugs or alcohol
  • Where aggression or violence is shown or threatened
  • Where a client fails to attend and does not cancel an appointment
  • Where payment is not made in a timely way
  • Where a conflict of interest arises within the therapeutic relationship
  • Where I feel that therapy is no longer helpful for the client

Confidentiality

The content of therapy sessions is confidential and confidentiality continues after the therapeutic relationship has ended. The very rare exceptions to this are:

  • If you have given me clear, written permission to contact someone, for example your GP
  • If I think that you are at serious risk of harming yourself or someone else
  • If a court of law or similar statutory body compels me to give information
  • If you make a complaint and I am required to give evidence about my practice
  • If you disclose involvement in drug trafficking or act of terrorism
  • If a child safeguarding issue arises

During my own professional supervision, client issues will be discussed, but full anonymity will always be maintained.

Privacy Policy

I am committed to protecting your privacy in line with GDPR.

I am registered with the Office of the Information Commissioner. My registration number is: ZA526754

Please see below a statement of what I do to protect your personal information:

  1. All my client details are held within files that require a password for access. These files are strictly limited to Laura McNaught and an administrator.
  2. Any specific files, such as databases, also hold a password for access and where possible two-step authentication has been added.
  3. Sensitive information need not be included when arranging appointments. Should you wish to send sensitive information, you may email me directly at laura@lauramcnaught.com.
  4. For any online sessions, I use software (such as Zoom), which fully implements data security in its programmes and whose adherence to GDPR compliance is stated within their Terms and Conditions.
  5. I may make brief hand-written notes during therapy sessions. These are purely for my own benefit and are kept in order to facilitate the therapeutic process. These will form part of your client record, as will the factual information (name, address, date of birth, contact details) provided by you. All paper records are kept securely in a locked filing cabinet in my personal home office and, once therapy has ended, they are shredded and disposed of.
  6. I will never share or sell your information with third party companies.
  7. I may retain any information you choose to share with me until you advise me otherwise to delete or alter your information. If you would like to have your details deleted from my records, I will be happy to do so, providing there are no adverse reasons (e.g. a complaint or for legal reasons).
  8. You have the right to see any personal data I hold about you. By law I have a month to respond to any such request, although I would endeavour to do so more quickly. Where I have seen you as one half of a couple, my notes are confidential to the client relationship, which means that one person alone cannot request access for a third party.
  9. When visiting websites, these may create "cookies" in order to track which pages are accessed over which browsers. In common with many other websites, we use Google Analytics to understand how the website is used and to give us data to improve it. These cookies do not store personally identifiable information. You may decline cookies in your browser for any website, including mine. This makes no difference to the operation of this site, although it may affect others.
  10. I will review my data security management annually to ensure that I am always compliant with current regulations.

Please don't hesitate to contact me should you have any questions on the above.

Contact Outside Therapy Sessions

I will contact you outside therapy sessions primarily to arrange or confirm future appointments. Contact will be by email or text according to the permissions given on the Client Consent Form.

Please do not invite me to be a friend on Facebook or other social media sites;this is not appropriate to the therapeutic relationship and I won’t be able to accept.

If we meet by chance, I will respect your confidentiality by not acknowledging you.

Complaints

I endeavour to be professional, caring and confidential in all my dealings with clients. If you are not happy with the way I am working, please raise this with me and we will seek to resolve the matter together in the first instance. Where a complaint cannot be resolved informally, you have the right to make a formal complaint to my professional body: The College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT).

Contact

You can contact me:

  • by telephone: 07786 331721
  • by email: contact@lauramcnaught.com