Ethics & Confidentiality

Our ethical stance

• Respect for human rights and dignity.
• Protecting your safety.
• Integrity in the practitioner–client relationship.
• Improving the quality of professional knowledge and its application.
• Alleviating personal distress and suffering.
• Supporting a sense of self that feels meaningful to you.
• Increasing personal effectiveness and the quality of relationships.
• Appreciating cultural difference and the variety of human experience.
• Striving for fair and adequate access to counselling and psychotherapy.

Your privacy and confidentiality

• Privacy and confidentiality are core to effective therapy. They create the trust needed for change.
• Your information is treated with care and discretion within a clear professional framework.

When confidentiality has limits

• If there is a risk of self harm or harm to others, the law may require information to be shared.
• Before any disclosure, I will consult my Supervisor. Wherever possible, I will discuss and seek your consent first. Consent is the ethically preferred route.

Supervision and professional development

• Regular supervision is a professional requirement in the UK. I attend supervision and undertake continuing professional development.
• Client material is anonymised in supervision. No identifiable information is disclosed.

Credentials and insurance

• Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
• Current, fully cleared DBS certificate.
• Professional indemnity and public liability insurance for work with UK and overseas clients.

If you are in crisis now

• Therapy is not a crisis service. If you are in severe distress, please seek immediate help.
• In the UK: attend A&E, contact your GP, call Samaritans on 116 123, or dial 999 if you are at immediate risk.