NCS Client Agreement Information

 Client Agreement and Information Sheet  

Nottingham Counselling Service, from here on in referred to as NCS, are a BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy) Accredited Organisation and therefore we abide by their Ethical Framework. Your counsellor will be a registered member of either BACP, UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy), NCPS (National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society) or BABCP (British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies). These are Professional Standards bodies which you can approach should you have any concerns that cannot be addressed either with your Counsellor or NCS. 

NCS are a registered charity (registration number 1045464) and operate under the auspices of the Charity Commission. 

Confidentiality

The content of all client sessions is confidential with the following accommodations: 

• Clinical Admin Staff have access to all records. 

• Counsellors discuss their work in clinical supervision to monitor and strengthen their work. This is a professional requirement. 

• Safeguarding concerns will be shared with NCS’s Clinical Team. 

• Counsellors may need to contact your GP, Psychiatrist, or other professionals. This would, typically, be with your consent, however, there may be occasions where this is not possible.  

• Whilst we will always try to give advance notice, safeguarding concerns involving your wellbeing, or that of another, might be brought to the attention of external services. 

• Legally, if you disclose involvement with Terrorism (Terrorism Act 2000), or we have concerns regarding the radicalisation of a vulnerable adult, Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering, we will need to contact the relevant authorities. 

• In a court of law, a Counsellor may be required to answer questions about a client, or the work undertaken, and possibly share both case and process notes. 

Contribution and Regularity of Sessions 

At Assessment you have agreed to pay a weekly fee for your counselling. 

We operate a sliding fee scale dependant on your income and personal circumstances. The contribution you make enables us to continue providing therapy services to all our clients. 

If your income changes over the course of your therapy, you need to disclose this to allow us to make the necessary adjustments to your fee. 

NCS offer weekly sessions. The only exception to this is in the ending phase of therapy (see below). 

Cancellation or change of sessions 

• If you are unable to attend your appointment, you need to provide 48 hours' notice. Cancellations made after this time will incur your full session fee. 

• To cancel a session please call us any time on 0115 950 1743. Leave a message if we are unable to answer, or email [email protected] 

• If your session is cancelled by NCS you will not be charged. 

• If you miss two consecutive sessions without giving notice, we will notify you that we will withdraw your counselling place. 

• It should be a rare occurrence for your Counsellor to rearrange your session time to accommodate their needs. If this becomes a regular occurrence this will be attended to by the Clinical Lead as a transfer of Counsellor might be required. 

• Any pause in the therapy to accommodate a Counsellor’s personal circumstances which extends beyond one month will result in you being offered a transfer to another Counsellor. 

• NCS operate a Zero Migration Policy regarding NCS clients being transferred into private practice with their Counsellor. 

Duration of Sessions and the Counselling Contract 

• Your Session is for 50 minutes and will take place once a week (see the exception below regarding ending work). 

• NCS aim to provide you with counselling support as agreed in assessment, with a maximum offer of no more than two years.  

• If you are a continuing client of NCS we will calculate your two years from when you started your therapy with NCS. 

• If you are on an old NCS contract, which offered open ended therapy, or you are on a more recent contract which offered you up to 3 years, you will be given a long-term ending plan which should bring your therapy to a close no later than October 2026. 

• There is no return to NCS for consideration of an additional episode of counselling for one year after the two-year limit has been reached. 

• NCS offer a maximum of three episodes of therapy, i.e. 3 lots of a maximum of two years of therapy with the minimum of 1 year between episodes. 

• Occasionally, the allocated Counsellor might need to leave NCS prior to the end of your therapy offer. If this happens you will be transferred to another Counsellor to complete the therapy, should you so wish. This ‘continuity episode’ of counselling should remain within the original duration offered in this contract. 

• If you do not attend your therapy for two consecutive sessions without notifying NCS, or request a transfer of Counsellor, the Clinical Lead will contact you to try to understand why. 

• We ask for a commitment from you to focus upon the issues that have brought you into therapy, to be receptive to the Counsellor’s contribution to the therapy, and to regularly attend. 

• We ask that you either switch your phone off, or put it on silent, for the duration of your Session. 

• Whilst NCS offer both telephone and online therapy we encourage you to attend your sessions at NCS in person. 

• If you are studying in Nottingham and return home to outside of Nottingham in the breaks, you can move from in person to online or telephone during this time. 

• If you require a therapy break of more than 3 weeks consecutive duration, this will invite consideration of whether this can be accommodated, and the work might have to be pulled to a close. 

• Whilst we try our best to offer room consistency, we might not always be able to offer you the same room every week for your therapy to take place. 

• There will be reviews every two months, throughout the duration of your therapy, to gather your feedback and to ascertain therapeutic progress and movement toward change. 

• All communication outside of the therapy session between yourself and the Counsellor needs to go through the NCS Admin Team. NCS’s policy is for Counsellors only to share their NCS email address with you. 

• You will receive CORE 10 forms to complete every 4 weeks. 

• Counsellors will outline anticipated holidays and absences at the outset of therapy. At the very least, Counsellors will offer you 4-weeks advance notice of holidays. We also ask that you give your Counsellor advance notice of your holidays.  

• NCS closes over Christmas and New Year, Easter and Bank Holidays. 

• Counsellors might have to cancel sessions, with the necessary notice, to attend trainings to support their professional development. 

• Counsellors will introduce themselves at the beginning of the first session, outlining their experience or training status. They will also detail their supervisory provision. 

• Bi-weekly (every other week) counselling sessions can only be offered when the therapy is in its closing stages. This ending period should last no longer than six weeks. 

Records 

• All records of counselling work are stored securely in line with our General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Policy. 

• We might be compelled to share some of your personal data/information with outside agencies without your permission if there is a legal requirement to do so. 

• Electronic records are securely stored. These records will be kept for six years following the end of counselling and will then be destroyed using confidential disposal methods. 

• You are not permitted to record the session. 

• NCS can only confirm with outside parties that you have been or are in receipt of counselling with NCS and the dates. This requires a written request from you. However, NCS will not share the content of the sessions, nor proffer an opinion in relation to, for example, diagnosis, PIP/benefits claims, academic extensions, divorce proceedings, claims/allegations against institutions/employers, to counter any claims or allegations against you etc.  

• You can request access to your records by approaching either your Counsellor or NCS Admin Team in the first place. 

Your Therapy 

• Sometimes, as part of a Counsellor’s training and professional development, the Counsellor is required to make audio recordings of the counselling sessions for training and development purposes. This requires your written consent for which there is additional paperwork. 

• If you consent, these recording will be stored on password protected devices. The recordings will be deleted when their use for the counsellor’s training is no longer required. 

• Not consenting to the audio recording of session/s does not affect the service you receive. 

• Anonymised, thickly disguised, case material might be used for the purposes of training, research, education, publication or fundraising purposes. This requires your express consent and you will be asked by your Counsellor to sign an additional document. 

• Not consenting to the use of anonymised, thickly disguised, case material for the above purposes will not affect the service you receive.  

Opening Hours and Out of Hours Emergency Provision 

• NCS’s opening hours are 9.00am-8.00pm Monday-Thursday and 9.00am-4.00pm on Fridays. 

• NCS is not a crisis service, and we are not available 24 hours, 7 days a week. If you are experiencing a crisis and require immediate support, either call such as the emergency services (999), the NHS 111 Crisis Mental Health Support,  the Samaritans (116123) or text 'Shout' to 85258 for free (Shout is the UK's first and only 24/7 text service for anyone struggling with their mental health). You can also attend QMC Hospital Emergency Department, which is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

Ethics & Professional Practice 

• If you are unhappy with the service received at NCS please make NCS staff aware. You will find our Complaints Procedure here…. 

• If you wish to make a complaint about your Counsellor you can also approach their Professional Standards Body such as BACP (https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-us/protecting-the-public/professional-conduct/how-to-complain-about-a-bacp-member/([email protected]),UKCP (https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/ukcp-members/complaints/how-to-make-a-complaint/), NCPS https://ncps.com/complaints/complaints-process BABCP https://babcp.com/about/raising-a-concern/  

• If you are not satisfied with the service, you receive then please refer to NCS’s Complaints Procedure.

Expectations 

• NCS will not tolerate threatening or abusive behaviour. This could result in NCS terminating the work. 

Fire Regulations 

• You will need to sign in and out as you enter and leave the building to comply with the fire regulations. You need only put your initials and the times on the sheet. 

Your Counsellor will go through this Agreement and Information Sheet with you. By either starting, or continuing with, your therapy it is understood by NCS you accept the above.