Terms & Conditions

Confidentiality

All sessions will be conducted in the strictest confidence and this confidence will be maintained and applied to any and all records, in accordance with the Data Protection Act, except in the following instances:

Where the client gives consent for the confidence to be broken.

Where the therapist is compelled by a court of law.

Where the information is (to quote the Code of Ethics of the accreditation organisation NCH) ‘of such gravity that confidentiality cannot be maintained’. This usually means a situation where the therapist considers the client an imminent danger to others or themselves.

Data collected about my clients are hand written case notes which are stored anonymously. I do not hold information about you electronically other than meditation recordings. All information about my clients, such as contact information and medical doctor are kept separately on index cards and is stored in a secure and locked filing cabinet – and is destroyed once our therapy has finished.

In the case of 2) and 3) I will always attempt to speak to you before I share your information.

In the case of my sudden death or incapacity, I have appointed an Executor for informing my clients, ensuring referrals and the destruction of any case notes or associated recordings.

Sessions may be recorded for accuracy purposes, particularly where therapy is exploratory to find the most suitable and effective treatments.

Because I am not a medical practitioner, it is a requirement of us working together that I have the name and contact details of your general practitioner. If I need to contact your GP, I will always endeavour to speak to you first.

Therapeutic Principles

While clinical hypnosis, meditation and related healing therapies are generally regarded as beneficial it may not be so in every case.

The therapeutic relationship is based on trust and mutual respect, guided by the client’s development. The main purpose of the therapeutic conditions; set time, set fee, working within an ethical framework and so on, is to create and maintain a safe space in which to facilitate this development. These conditions also help to create a professional working alliance. The boundaries of the therapeutic relationship are set according to the professional organisations I belong to as well as my own experience of what works best for my client and me.

Various techniques may be used in your therapy; for example, Meditation, Hypnotherapy, Reiki, Pranic Healing, Emotional Freedom Technique, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Affirmations, Neurological Reprogramming and Yogic Breathing Techniques. These are used according to my professional judgement of what may help your development, rather than applied as prescriptions or methods aimed at achieving a specific outcome.

The therapeutic relationship is designed to support your growth and development. I see it as my professional responsibility to inform you if it does not seem to be benefitting you or if it ceases to do so.

Therapies are not designed to replace on-going medical treatments. Should you wish to cease medical treatments, this should be done according to the advice of your doctor; however, in some cases therapy can significantly support healing and you may find that you feel differently about your conventional medical treatments. If you consider changing your medical treatment, you should always consult your doctor.

Sessions, Payment, Cancellations and Holidays

We will normally meet once a week at the same time. It is sometimes appropriate for the sessions to be more or less frequent than this.

Therapy tends to work best when there is commitment and regularity in the arrangement on the part of both client and therapist.

I therefore strongly recommend that if we enter into a long-term therapeutic contract after an initial course of therapy that the terms and costs of the therapy are agreed separately. I aim to work with all clients to enable them to become independent of long-term help and regard as a life change and new behaviours. If life change and new behaviours are maintained there can be lasting positive effects.

Sessions are 60 to 180 minutes long and the fee per session is determined by the therapy course recommended. Courses are typically 11 sessions over 4 months. Sessions are at regular agreed times. It is not normally possible to rearrange them at short notice.

Fees are paid in advance in full for the therapy course. If you cannot attend your regular session, you should contact me to rearrange it as soon as possible, and as a minimum (24 hours) in advance.

A new time and date will be offered up to a maximum of two times.

There is no refund if you fail to attend your appointment. Cancellation of appointment at short notice (24 hours of appointment) will be charged a cancellation fee of 30% if the appointment cannot be moved to alternative time and date.

If you are late for your appointment – additional time will not be added to the end of your appointment.

Payment is either via this website, point of sales card transaction or on receipt of an electronic invoice, which contains payment options available (cash, bank transfer, BACs). If you plan to pay in cash, please advise me in advance of the first therapy session.

Payment plans can also be agreed in advance and receipts are supplied on request.

Fees are reviewed and published annually. I will give you advance notice of an increase in fees, however, fees will not be increased if (e.g. part way through a course that has already been paid, where we already have a payment plan in place).

I will do all I can on my part to ensure you are not inconvenienced due to missed or delayed appointments. I will give a minimum 48 hours’ notice of any cancelled sessions where possible.

Length of Therapy

We will either set a specific period for the therapeutic process, such as six months, two years, etc., or we will (more usually) leave the contract open ended. During the period of the therapeutic relationship we will have regular review sessions on an approximately six-monthly basis.

If you want to stop therapy during a course of therapy, it is usually appropriate to meet at a mutually agreed time and date to professionally conclude your therapy. If you want to stop a long-term therapy agreement, in which there is no end date, it is usually appropriate to meet at a mutually agreed time and date to agree the most suitable termination so that it is possible to accomplish any outstanding therapy. The number of sessions depends on the length and depth of the relationship. An onward referral can be arranged where appropriate.

Case Study and Endorsements

All of your information is held anonymously. As I continue my work and conduct research, I may approach you to ask whether I might use your case, which will be anonymised and pseudonymised with your agreement, to further my research or include in professional papers or books.

DEFINITION: Pseudonymization is a procedure by which the most identifying fields within a data record are replaced by one or more artificial identifiers, or pseudonyms. There can be a single pseudonym for a collection of replaced fields or a pseudonym per replaced field. The purpose is to render the data record less identifying and therefore lower client objections to its use. Data in this form is suitable for publication in books, articles, professional papers and analysis.

It is important that clients have reassurance that treatments are effective and beneficial, one of the most effective methods of providing this reassurance to new/perspective clients is by endorsement.

I do not send my clients regular marketing emails or literature, however if in the event there is a therapy or course that may benefit you in the future I will send this information to you by email to clients who have given prior permission. This can be cancelled at anytime by emailing Meditate Place at meditateplace@gmail.com.

I will not sell or provide your contact information to any third party for the purposes of marketing or selling products or services.

In the event that these terms and conditions need to change, I will give 40 days’ notice and will discuss this with you directly.