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Counselling
Contract.
A counsellor listens to what you are saying,
to experience the same feelings and emotions.
It is not for a counsellor to give advice but to help you see
the options that you have identified yourself and for you to
make your own choices.
Counselling is a confidential service. This means that anything
that is said is confidential, with the exception of if it is
felt that you are going to harm yourself, or someone else. A
counsellor also has regular supervision, which means that he
/ she speaks with someone more experienced than himself / herself,
so as to increase or improve skills and therefore give a better
service. When involved in supervision, all clients remain nameless.
During a counselling session, the counsellor may feel that by
telling you something about his / her own experiences, it will
help you with how you are feeling. The counsellor therefore
entrusts the client with this information, thus creating a genuine
relationship.
Although it is usual to agree to work together for at least
four sessions, (at which point a client can usually assess whether
he / she will benefit from further sessions), you are free to
call a halt to counselling, at any time (i.e. one session or
after several). Payment is expected, only for sessions carried
out.
A counselling session is often referred to as a 'fifty minute
hour'. This means that the first five minutes will be to settle
down into the session, fifty minutes will be working on feelings
and emotions and the last five minutes will be to reflect on
everything that has happened during the session and to wind
down. Should you call late for commencement of the agreed hour,
you must respect that the previously accepted ending time may
still have to be adhered to, since another client may be awaiting
his / her agreed appointment time.
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