First Psychology Assistance

We (First Psychology Assistance - FPA) work with any individual referred to us under the following terms.

Your therapist

Your practitioner is a trained, experienced and insured mental health professional. They are a member of their professional organisation and bound by that organisation's code of conduct and ethics. They will be happy to provide you with further details of their training, qualifications and professional body memberships upon request.

Your practitioner regularly attends supervision to ensure the quality of their work. They may ask to tape record a session for supervision purposes only. You are entirely free to decline this request.

Record keeping

Your practitioner keeps a record of all sessions and makes brief notes of what was discussed as well as their own thoughts and ideas on your work. These notes are entirely confidential and will not be disclosed to any third party unless required by law.

Confidentiality and duty of care

All matters discussed in therapy are confidential. However, you are asked to be aware that practitioners have an obligation to ensure that you do not present a risk to yourself or other people, and to notify your GP (or other relevant parties, including the organisation funding your therapy) if they believe this to be the case. Your practitioner will talk to you if they need to take such action wherever possible.

If they believe that you pose a risk to yourself or to other people within your workplace they have an obligation to notify the relevant person at your work of this. Your practitioner will talk to you if they need to take such action wherever possible.

It is sometimes important to let your GP know that you are starting therapeutic work. If your practitioner believes this to be the case, they will ask for your permission to write a short letter informing him/her that you are working together. Your practitioner will be happy to provide a copy of this letter to you should you request it.

Medical claims

FPA requires you to let us know if you have any outstanding medical claim that may require us to make a report on your psychological wellbeing or upon the content of your work. You are obliged to inform your practitioner if these circumstances apply.

Reporting to your employer

Your therapy is funded by __________________________________. As a result we are obliged, at the end of therapy, to supply __________________________________ with a list of dates you attended therapy, including any cancellations or any sessions booked that you did not attend. In addition, we may have to make certain reports at different stages of our therapy linked to our goals and our progress towards these - for instance should it be advisable for you to have more than the original number of agreed sessions and should __________________________________ be open to funding these additional sessions. These reports will not contain any detailed information about what we talk about, and your practitioner will discuss with you the content of any report needed. However, as a result of these requirements there are potential limits as to the degree of confidentiality FPA can guarantee.

Cancellation and attendance policy

FPA require a minimum of two working days' notice of a cancelled session. If you do not attend a session or cancel a session without giving two full working days notice then __________________________________ will be charged for this session. If you do this on more than one occasion, we are obliged to inform __________________________________ and suspend the therapy contract until we have authorisation from __________________________________ that the therapy can continue. Please note that we operate a 'reasonable use' policy on cancellations, and reserve the right to terminate the work should you cancel sessions without good reason on a regular basis.

You have agreed to meet for an initial number of sessions, each lasting 50 minutes. Following these, you and your practitioner will review progress and determine if any further work is necessary.

You will be asked to sign a copy of these terms and conditions to confirm that you have read and accept the conditions detailed above and agree to progress on this basis.

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