The BACP definition of counselling/psychotherapy states that:

“Counselling and psychotherapy are umbrella terms that cover a range of talking therapies. They are delivered by trained practitioners who work with people over a short or long term to help them bring about effective change and/or enhance their wellbeing”.

Face to face counselling is conducted in a private room, which is not overlooked. Remote counselling (e.g. webcam) would be conducted via highly secure platform.

Everything you say will be treated with the upmost confidentiality. The only time that confidentiality may be broken is if you or another person are at serious risk of significant harm. Disclosures are usually made with your consent only.

However, please be aware that by law, counsellors have a mandatory duty to disclose information regarding terrorism.

As a registered data controller with the Information Commissioners Office, Moonstone Counselling complies with the General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR), Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

As such, these laws dictate that information processed about you is kept safe and private, limited to, and only used for the purpose it was provided for. In addition, information processed about you should be accurate and kept for no longer than necessary.

For further information please feel free to request my Data Privacy Statement. This will also be provided with the Working Contract before your first session.

This is your decision. However, it will depend on your particular issue and how much you feel able to engage in the counselling process.

Short term counselling can last anything from a few sessions up to approximately 12 sessions. This tends to be for a particular individual issue. Long term counselling or psychotherapy, can last over a year and potentially deal with multiple issues where the counsellor will explore and unearth unconscious dynamics. This may involve exploring challenging childhood experiences, or significant traumas that occur in either childhood or adult life.

However, your autonomy in the process is paramount and you can choose to end at any point.

I will greet you in reception and lead you to the private counselling room. I will then briefly go through the counselling agreement to clarify you understand and are happy with the terms. You’ll then be invited to discuss what your concerns are. I will listen carefully and may ask you some questions to clarify understanding of your situation or to ask for more information.

Towards the end of the session, the approach would be to explore together what you would like to obtain from counselling (if it is possible at this stage) and how this might be accomplished. This includes how often you’d like to attend counselling and what type of approach would suit you best (e.g. Person Centred, Psychodynamic, CBT, Solution Focused, or a combination. See 'Counselling Process' for more information about this.

Finally, booking the next session would be discussed if you feel ready to commit to the process. However, you might want to go away and think about this before you are ready to book.