Gill Jones Counselling Agreement Mb. 07939 244765
Gill Jones Counselling - Agreement Please ask me any questions before completing and returning this Agreement to me at my safe-mail address: .
ONLINE COUNSELLING WITH GILL JONES
Counselling is a formal arrangement and the following points form the basis of an Agreement between us to work together. I can offer you online counselling either by (1) encrypted email (see Important Information about Encryption and Computer Privacy at the end of this Agreement) or (2) live session (using a private chatroom).
(1) Emails I call my counselling responses Therapeutic Emails (TE) and these are the ones I charge for. I number the emails in a pre-paid package in the subject line as TE1 of 3, TE 2 of 5, etc. Any administrative emails (e.g. to query something I have written or to book a live session) are not charged for.
(2) Live Sessions are booked with me in advance by email or text message to 07939 244765. It normally takes 24 hours to arrange but can sometimes be done more quickly. Live sessions are held using text chat/audio/webcam or any combination of these. I hold live sessions on Skype (free download from www.skype.com) as I believe their encryption and privacy settings are appropriate for online counselling. Even though you may sometimes see me ‘online’ on skype - I only expect you to contact me at the agreed time for our session.
My Professional Code of Practice: I work to the Guidelines for Good Practice of two professional bodies, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (www.bacp.co.uk) where I am a Senior Accredited Counsellor and the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online (www.acto-uk.org). You can check my details in their online directories. I am registered as a controller of sensitive data under the Data Protection Act (.gov.uk) (Reg. No. Z6065539) and follow their recommendations for storing sensitive data.
Sensitive data includes counselling emails, chat transcripts and any further notes I may make about our work. I own the intellectual copyright of everything I write and trust you not to reveal any of the work we do together on any social media website or blog to which other people have access.
Referral: If I felt that another online counsellor was better placed to help you than me I would suggest a change and support you whilst you made it. If I believed face to face counselling would be a better way to help you, I would support you whilst you found a counsellor near to you and made the change.
Payment: The charges for my counselling service are set out on my website http://gj counselling.co.uk/cost.htm Payment is due in advance of an agreed counselling contact and can be made using one of the following methods:
Google Wallet (for card payments) - use the Google button on my website
Bank transfer - details will be sent to you separately.
Emergency Contact: In the event of complete technology failure (e.g. computer or internet breakdown), we undertake to send a text message to the other person’s mobile phone – this is essential if we have a live session booked and helpful if you know you can’t answer my email when you expect to. My mobile phone number is XXXXXXXXXXX.
CLIENT SECTION
I confirm that I am over 18 years of age and that the information given by me here is accurate to the best of my knowledge.
Details about me
Name …
Telephone number (for emergency text message in case of computer or internet failure)…
Email address for counselling …
Main Email address (if different) …..
Counselling Communication
I would like us to communicate in the following way (put X against the option you prefer – you can change it later if another method seems more suitable)
o Receive email responses on a set day each week (you may send several emails and I will send one response to all emails on the agreed day)
Tuesday … Wednesday …. Thursday …
o Receive an email response to every email I send … (I will respond within 48 hours excluding weekends and public holidays)
o Book a live session: please indicate the days and times which suit you best (please use UK time)
Tuesdays 1000 – 1300 hrs …. 1400 – 1700 hrs ….
Wednesdays 1000 – 1300 hrs ….
Thursdays 1400 – 2000 hrs ….
Method of Payment
I will pay for my counselling in advance using
(put X against method)
Google Checkout …. Bank Transfer ….
The following information is optional.
1. Name of GP ...
(only contacted with your prior knowledge)
2. Tel. No. of Surgery …
(please include full dialling code)
Please add your name and the date below to show you have read, understood and agree to the terms of this Agreement, then save the completed document and return it to me as an email attachment.
I have read, understood and agree to the terms of this Agreement.
Name ......................................... Date ..................
ENCRYPTION AND COMPUTER PRIVACY
Keeping our work private and confidential
I keep our counselling work in my personal webmail box at www.safe-mail.net. I do NOT store it on my computer. I delete your details after a 12 months gap in our contacts. If you wish to resume counselling after a longer break, we may want to agree a new contract.
Your identity and personal details will be protected by me and the only exceptions I will make are when I judge there is serious risk to yourself or others or when I am compelled to by law. In the rare event that I break confidentiality, this is done with your agreement and prior knowledge where possible and only to people who absolutely need to know (e.g. a doctor). I have regular supervision of my counselling work but I do not disclose your identity to my supervisor.
Encryption: In order for you to get the most out of online counselling you need to be confident that no-one else can read our communications, so I have put here some suggestions about keeping our counseling work private and confidential.
§ Email counselling - I suggest we send each other encrypted emails at www.safe-mail.net. You can set up a free email address at their website. Having a separate address for our work means counselling emails don't come into your main Inbox (just an alert from safe-mail to tell you when there's an email waiting) and you can leave it all behind at the end. If you are looking for email counselling please send me your safe-mail address when you return this Agreement.
§ For live sessions, I am happy to work with you in a private chatroom on Skype (www.skype.com) which has a high level of encryption and I believe offers sufficient confidentiality and security for our work. If you share a computer and skype account, I suggest you open a separate skype account just for our work and keep the login details private. We can use audio or webcam if you are confident you will not be disturbed or overheard and if you wish to review a session I can make a recording available to you. Transcripts of live text sessions are held encrypted on the Skype server. When you log into skype you can access your personal conversation history and re-read our text chat if you wish. .
If you share a computer or you are using a computer at work (remember your employer has the legal right to read all emails sent to or from a workplace computer email address) I suggest you open a new email address at safe-mail.net whether you are planning live sessions or emails and send and store emails away from the computer you are using.
Thank you for reading and completing this Agreement, I look forward to working with you.
Gill Jones
2012
www.gjcounselling.co.uk