The first session will be about why you have come to seek therapy, what you would like to achieve as well as a providing an opportunity for both of us to decide if we feel we can work together. Trust and rapport are vital between the client and the therapist and the initial session goes a long way to helping both parties decide if they feel they can work together.

Whichever one of us is working with you will also take a few details from you: name, address, GP details and a few notes about your general lifestyle. The first session is free and further sessions are charged at £50 per hour.

This is completely dependent on what issues you present, what change you would like to happen, and how quickly you achieve the outcomes we agree in our first couple of sessions. These outcomes will be reviewed after an agreed period. You will never be expected to come time after time without an agreement.

It is likely that we would need to meet with a new client for at least six sessions although this isn't strictly necessary. Following review we may decide between us that further sessions will be needed and we will agree on a further number of sessions between us. The key factor is your progress and that will always be decided jointly.

As stated above this depends on what the issues are and how improvement can be measured. On occasions people may feel they have had enough sessions but at a later date they may wish to return and do further work.

Yes our meetings are confidential. The only time we will break confidentiality is if we have reasonable evidence that you may harm yourself or others, or that you may commit a serious crime. On occasions we will discuss clients cases with our supervisors* but those discussions do not require us to reveal the name of the client.

*A supervisor is an experienced and qualified therapist and trainer that we see each month to monitor our work and engaging a supervisor is a condition of anyone practising in psychotherapy

There are many differences between counselling and therapy. However the main difference is that counselling tends to be for more short-term goals or for crisis management/intervention. Therapy is a longer-term process. Another difference is how the therapist/counsellor interacts with the client. Counsellors tend to assist the client to reflect on issues they present and what they say to the counsellor. Therapists are more exploratory and use interventions to assist the client to make changes. You may feel that talking is enough for you or you may wish to do further change work. We can agree that together.

No matter how much inegrity we have, there are occasions where people don't get along, maybe the other person reminds us of a person we don't like or have issues with, or we may not like the way they are interacting with us. These issues can be tackled directly in therapy, can often be part of the process itself and may, in the long term, prove very valuable to work through. If we truly cannot work together then we can discuss this and come to a mutually beneficial and respectful decision.

As therapists, we have the training, self-awareness and emotional honesty to acknowledge if we feel that for any reason we are the wrong person to help you. On occasions your issues may be outside our range of expertise or experience. If this happens to be the case, we shall share this with you, discuss, and make arrangements, such as refer you onto another recommended therapist who can help you, or a different type of therapy/support network. It really depends on what is agreed by us both as the best course of action. We are bound by the ethics and values of our professional bodies and, if for example, you were unhappy with our interaction, there are complaint procedures that you are at liberty to follow.