| Online
counsellor
Will
you be able to help me?
Some people use online counselling to unburden themselves
of thoughts and feelings that keep going round and round in their heads, seemingly
not getting anywhere. Writing down these thoughts and feelings helps to get them
out of your head and you do feel they are less of a burden afterwards. If you
are using emails, you can write to me, press the Send button and wait for my reply
feeling better because you are doing something about the situation (even though
nothing has changed yet). In my online counseling practice I have helped people
with problems in the following areas:
Anxiety
and panic attacks (read more)
Bereavement
and other Losses (read more)
Depression
(read more)
Relationships (read
more)
Stress both at home and at work (read more)
This
is a joint task - you are not alone
Our work together is a joint effort. By sharing your thoughts
and feelings with me you are no longer dealing with them on your own. I encourage
you to focus and prioritise the situations that are causing you a problem. Together
we look for new ways of understanding them perhaps by problem-solving, perhaps
by challenging, perhaps by doing some writing about them. What
does it cost?
My charges for counselling are shown below as different
combinations of email and live session. 1
Email (of at least one page) £25
Or pre-paid package of emails paid
ahead in one payment:
3 emails (£23 per email) £69
5 emails
(£21 per email) £105 1
Live session (one hour) (text/audio/whiteboard) £40
Or pre-paid package
of sessions paid ahead in one payment:
3 one-hour sessions (£38 per
session) £114
5 one-hour sessions (£36 per session) £180
I
accept payment in £ sterling through Google Checkout or internet bank transfer.
I also accept sterling cheques through the UK post. top
of page
Is
it confidential and private?
I follow the Guidelines for Good Practice of my professional
body, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
which means I have regular supervision of my internet work. I don't identify you
to my supervisor and any transcript material I might send is always anonymised.
Reviewing my work with my supervisor helps me give you the best service I can.
Whilst we are in counselling contact, I keep my copies of our work on my personal,
password protected computer (it requires my fingerprint to unlock it). If I am
away from my desk for long periods of time, or there are visitors in the house,
the computer is locked. When our work is ended I transfer the transcripts on to
a CD which is locked in my filing cabinet for 2 years - in case you want to return.
After that time, the CD is destroyed. The next paragraphs tells you how to protect
your computer and keep our work private. If
you are sharing a computer or using a workplace computer for our emails (or have
curious friends or relatives who look inside your computer) you could use a portable
key drive (also called a USB drive); or a memory stick; or an external hard drive.
Then you can write and store our emails on the portable drive or memory stick
which can be removed and hidden when not in use. If you also download a portable
version of your web browser, use your ISP's website to collect and send your emails
and do all your counseling work on the portable drive you won't leave a cyber
'footprint' on the computer you use. Please ask me if you're not sure how to do
this. Another option would be to encrypt our emails (but you would need to follow
the privacy suggestions above as well once the emails were de-crypted on your
computer). I have an email address at hushmail (which is free to download for
personal use), please ask me for details. Do remember that if you use a workplace
computer, your employer has legal ownership of any emails that are on it. The
Instant Messenger chatroom I use for live sessions sets up a direct connection
between our two computers and our conversation does not pass through a third party
server (where our conversation could be intercepted or stored). It is also encrypted,
so anyone intercepting our messages would have to unencrypt them to read them.
You can read more about this chatroom software here
(it is free to download for personal use) top
of page Email
or live sessions
Clients who work online with me can choose to send emails
or attend live chat sessions. As we do not see or hear each other, the words we
write become our main method of communication. This has both advantages and disadvantages.
We can't see or hear each other (we use text instead) but there is less chance
of you missing or misunderstanding something because you can always go back and
re-read it another time or ask a question about it. There are other advantages,
some people find that a face to face counselling session makes them anxious. They
may have had to make complex arrangements to attend the session and this can be
on their minds at the same time. Sometimes they worry about their counsellor's
reaction to what they say and try to 'please' them (telling the counsellor what
they think s/he would like to hear). Some online clients have said to me they
felt freer to write whatever they wanted because they couldn't see my reaction. top
of page One-off
('instant') Emails
Some people prefer to receive a one-off ('instant') email
reply rather than negotiate an Agreement and package of emails or live sessions.
I am happy to offer this email service and undertake to send you a 500-word (approx.)
email response within 48 hours of receiving a 500-word email from you and card
payment via Google
Checkout or PayPal
(see also How Do I Begin?) top
of page How
do I begin?
Traditionally, counselling is conducted on the basis of
an agreement between the counsellor and the client but not everyone wants to go
through that process before receiving a reply. So there are two possible routes
for you to choose - either the One-off Email route or the Counselling Agreement
route (see below). One-off
Email Route (within 48 hours) 1.
Write a description of your problem ( 500 word maxmimum).
2. Send it to me
and make a card payment of £25 through Google Checkout or PayPal.
3.
I will send you a 500-word reply within 48 hours of receiving notification of
your payment and your email. Counselling
Agreement Route 1.
Send me an email with a brief outline of the problem you want to explore. Don't
go into too much detail at this stage, a sentence or two about yourself and the
problems you want to examine will be sufficient.
2. I send you my thoughts
about what you have written and possible ways we might work on the issues. I will
attach my basic Agreement to the email and suggest you ask me questions before
completing it.
3. Once you have completed the Agreement, sent it to me you
then pay me for whatever counselling package you choose.
4. When I have received
the completed Agreement and notification of your payment, I send you the first
therapeutic email or we arrange the first live therapeutic session. top
of page Agreement
Before online counselling can begin, we agree when and how
it will take place. It is helpful that we agree our expectations about the timing
of counseling communications because we have to trust each other to respond when
expected. We also need to have a back-up plan for a technology crash (the internet
and computers are still not 100% effective all of the time) or other emergency
situation. I send to you a copy of the basic Agreement (below) which can be altered
to suit you and invite you to ask me any questions about it. When you are ready
to begin you complete the Agreement and send it back to me, together with notification
of your payment and we are ready to begin our therapeutic work together (see also
How do I begin?)
|
SAMPLE AGREEMENT COUNSELLOR
SECTION
I can offer you online counselling either live, using a private
Messenger chatroom (a confidential Instant Messenger can be downloaded free for
personal use from www.bitwiseim.com) or by email either plain or encrypted (ask
me for details). Whichever method you choose the following points form the basis
for our working agreement. Emails
can be exchanged in different ways in my online counselling service and I ask
you to indicate your preference in the Client section of this Agreement.
You may want to write to me as often as you like, knowing I will respond to all
your emails on a set day each week (e.g. a Thursday.)
You may want me to
respond to each email as I receive it. I normally reply to emails within 48 hours
and will let you know when this is not possible.
You may want to make a weekly
payment to exchange as many emails as you choose during that week. My
main email response to you I call a Therapeutic Email and that is the one I charge
for. (I number the emails in a pre-paid package in the subject line as TE1/3 or
TE2/5 etc.) You may have a query after you have read a TE and I reply briefly
to such queries at no additional charge. Any administrative emails (e.g. to query
something I have written or to book a live session) are also not charged for. Live
Sessions need to be booked with me in advance by email or telephone 01908
550570. It normally takes 24 hours to arrange but can sometimes be done more quickly.
Confidentiality
I keep our counselling sessions and records confidential within the framework
described on my website www.gjcounselling.co.uk.
I work to the Guidelines for Good Practice of my professional body, the British
Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
where I am a Senior Accredited Counsellor. You can check my details in BACP's
online directory at www.counselling.co.uk
I am registered as a controller of sensitive data under the Data Protection Act
(Reg. No. Z6065539) and comply with their recommendations for storing sensitive
data. Sensitive data includes our counselling emails or chat transcripts and any
further notes I may make about our work. If you have concerns about keeping our
work confidential on your computer, please ask me about this, as it may be prudent
for you to open a new email account using a remote server such as hotmail just
for sending and receiving emails or you may wish to encrypt emails. Your
identity and personal details will be protected by me and the only exceptions
I will make are when I judge that 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 prior knowledge if possible and only to people who absolutely
need to know (e.g. doctors). I have regular supervision of my online work but
I do not disclose your identity to my supervisor. Referral
It is not always possible to know if working online is the most appropriate way
for you to get help. If I believed that face to face counselling would be a better
way to help you I would suggest that either we hold face to face sessions or,
if this were not possible, I would help you to find a counsellor near to you and
support you whilst you made the change to face to face counselling. If I felt
that another online counsellor might be better placed to help you than I am (because
they had specialised skill or experience) I would suggest a change and support
you whilst you made it. Emergency
Contact In the event of complete technology failure, I suggest we each send
a text message to our mobile phones and use the same system to let the other know
when they are back online. My mobile phone number is 07939 244765. Payment:
The charges for my counselling services are set out here (See What Does it Cost)
I respond to your emails and hold live sessions after I receive notification of
payment. Payment can be made using: Google
Checkout
Internet
bank transfer.
Cheque
Details available on request
HOW WE CAN WORK TOGETHER ONLINE - Basis for Our Agreement
CLIENT
SECTION
Please ask any questions before completing the blank spaces below
and returning the form to me with your next email. I
have read through and agree with the previous page of this Agreement. 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. Basic
Details about me Name
… Telephone
number (for emergency text message in case of computer or internet failure)…
Email address
… Communication
I would like us to communicate in the following way (please put X against the
option you prefer - you can always change it later) Method
of Payment
I
will pay for my counselling in advance using
(put X against method)
Google Checkout ... Bank Transfer …. Cheque…. 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) Date
of commencement of this Agreement … IMPORTANT
NOTICE for clients who are resident in the US or Canada. My professional indemnity
insurance covers me to work with any client no matter where in the world they
reside. However, if a resident of the US or Canada makes a claim against me, this
insurance cover will only apply if the case is "heard in a British court
under American or Canadian law" (whichever is appropriate). So
far, I have never had any claim made against me either for online or face to face
work. If you live in the US or Canada and you agree to work with me, please add
your name and the date below to show you have read, understood and agree to this
limitation in the unlikely event you may wish to make a claim against me.
I have read, understood and agree to the terms of this Notice.
Name
......................................... Date .................. Country
of Residence ........................ | top
of page Choosing
an online counsellor
I've put down here some ideas you might like to consider
before deciding which online counsellor is best for you. 1.
Is the counsellor properly trained, not only as a counsellor but also to work
online?
(See About Me page for
my qualifications)
Most counsellors list their counselling training qualifications
somewhere on their website. If they don't, you can email them to ask what training
they have completed in order to work as a counsellor.
Have received additional,
specialised training to work online? Counsellors who have received such training
will tell you about it and how you can check this out. 2.
Do they belong to a professional accrediting or registering body? Are they listed
on a professional register or can their credentials be checked out by visiting
another website?
(See About Me
page for my qualifications)
Most counsellors will describe their professional
or regulating body on their website and if their credentials can be checked out,
they should include a link to the website of this body. It's up to you to follow
that link (or visit the website yourself) and check that what they are claiming
for themselves is true. 3.
Do I understand enough about them and how they work, from their website? Has the
counsellor given you a sufficient picture of how they work?
If not, ask. Most counsellors are happy to answer questions before an agreement
to work together is set up. 4.
Do I trust them with my personal thoughts and feelings?
You are preparing
to reveal vulnerable parts of yourself to a complete stranger. It is important
that you trust they will treat your writing with respect and respond to it without
judging you. As you read the different pages of a website you will be forming
an opinion about the person behind it and you can ask yourself if you believe
they are trustworthy before contacting them.
If everything they claim for
themselves checks out and you feel you can trust them, then you are probably ready
to go to the next stage of setting up an arrangement to work together - but you
may want to take the next point into consideration as well. 5.
Do I like their website?
Is it clear, informative and easy to find your
way around? If it is, then working with that counsellor is also likely to be clear.
Do you understand the language they use? If you do, then working with that
counsellor may be easily understandable. top
of page | 
