Online Counselling Terms
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We ask for your informed consent to check that you have understood the benefits and risks of receiving online counselling (via Instant Messager or Email).
Please read the following information carefully before filling out the contract.
The Benefits of Online Counselling:
- The ability to ‘talk’ from anywhere in the world
- Removing the need to travel and saving the associated costs
- Feeling more relaxed in the comfort of your own environment
- The ability to email messages at any time of day or night
- Taking as long as you want to compose yourself
- Having the opportunity to reflect upon messages
The Potential Risks of Online Counselling
- Online connection can be unreliable at times
- Messages may not be received
- Messages may not arrive in the correct order
- Confidentiality may be breached by sending mail to the wrong contact address
- Confidentiality may be breached by hackers or Internet Service Providers
- Confidentiality may be breached by people with access to your email account or the same computer (extra safeguards should be considered when the computer is shared by family members, students, library patrons etc.)
- Misunderstandings are possible with text-based modalities such as email (since non-verbal cues are relatively lacking). Even with Instant Messaging (IM) via a webcam misunderstandings are still possible.
- Bandwidth and responsiveness may also be limited which can affect sound as well as picture quality
Confidentiality
Few forms of internet communication can be considered absolutely secure.I am registered with the Data Protection Act of 1998. Registration number Z9890868 http://www.ico.gov.uk
The Data Protection Act gives you the right to know what information is held about you, and sets out rules to make sure that this information is handled properly.
When I offer you online or face to face counselling I will hold the following personal information about you:
Your name
Your email address and contact telephone numbers (these are required in case of technical problems)
Your Address or name of location
Your GPs name if applicable
Information collected on the contract page (step 5)
Information shared during your assessment and follow-up face-to-face meetings, emails and phone calls
I work in line with the Ethical Framework for Good Practice produced by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). A full version of this is available on their website: www.bacp.co.uk All personal details and the content of all counselling sessions, whether online or face-to-face are confidential. Under all normal circumstances, nothing will be revealed to anyone outside the service without your express permission.
In very rare circumstances I reserve the right to break confidentiality. This occurs only where there appears to be a serious risk to your own or to others’ safety. Even in these circumstances we would normally seek to speak to you first before contacting anyone else. Please ask if you have any questions about this policy. Click here to read our privacy policy.
I keep notes on our meetings to help me work with you (you are entitled to see my notes – just ask). All clients should be registered with a GP and it is often helpful if you inform them that you are seeing a counsellor. I am not a medical advisor or mental health nurse.
You can set up an encrypted email service via Hushmail http://www.hushmail.com Hushmail provides private, secure, free email accounts. Email is encrypted, scanned for viruses and filtered for spam, automatically. My computer is password protected. Its is proposed that you do the same to safeguard your email accounts and computer.
I will do my best to keep the content of your Emails confidential although this is not 100% possible when using the internet. I will store our email exchanges on disc which will be kept in a locked cabinet. They will be erased on the completion of our work together. You may need to consider the fact that other people will have access to your computer and you will need to decide how to keep our counselling confidential if you wish to do so.
You, as a client, are responsible to ensure that confidentiality is not compromised. For example, not using a computer at work, a cyber café or library. You might consider changing your password on a regular basis to restrict access where appropriate. You need to be aware that some messages can be automatically stored on computers, you can also have an automatic storage of sites visited leading to a history being stored. You may like to install software that counteracts this. Some sites can advise about this, click here for an example.
Technical Competence
Me: I will ensure as the counsellor that all spam blocking software, antivirus software, fire walls, pop up blockers, anti-tracking / marketing devices and other technical tools are kept up-to-date. It is your responsibility to ensure this on your computer.You: You will need to understand how to communicate via Instant Messenger (IM) or Email. You will need to have the equipment set up and appropriate software installed on your computer. You will also need to have had time checking your equipment works and you understand how to use if before signing up for online counselling. Any time spent in enabling you to use your method of communication will be deducted from your session time.