West London Counselling & Psychotherapy Terms & Conditions

Terms and Conditions

By working with any of the therapists which form part of West London Counselling and Psychotherapy Services (known as WLCPS in this document), you are agreeing to be aware of and abide by the terms and conditions laid out in this document and in our GDPR / Privacy Policy document.

What is WLCPS

Gareth Sammer is the owner, lead therapist and practice manager of this website and of WLPCS. He operates a counselling, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy practice in Chiswick West London. He works in close conjunction with a number of trusted, professional counsellors, psychotherapists and therapists in the London area whom he refers clients too from the WLPCS website. He is responsible for managing and allocating all incoming website enquiries and allocating them to either the therapist a client has asked to speak to or the one he feels will be the best fit for them. Each individual therapist including Gareth have their own terms and conditions around confidentiality, cancellation policy, payment and ending sessions which they will communicate to you in writing on, just before or just after your initial session. Each individual therapist including Gareth are bound by their own ethical and professional codes of conduct as set down by their accrediting body and are required to have regular supervision, carry adequate insurance and maintain regular Continuous Personal Development throughout the year. It is your responsibility to check your individual therapists additional terms and conditions if they have not been communicated to you already.

Matching You To a Therapist

WLPCS work in conjunction with a number of therapists in the London area. In the “Find a therapist” page, you can search these therapists and contact them directly. Alternatively you can contact Gareth directly who will allocate you to who he feels to be the best member. Whilst every care is taken to match you with a counsellor or psychotherapist who is appropriate to your needs, occasionally you may find that you do not relate well with your therapist. If you wish to change therapists at any point in your treatment, please inform your current therapist that you wish to end sessions as per their terms and conditions. You then have the choice of selecting another therapist through our service or going externally to find another. Once you are working with a therapist, the only further part WLPCS or Gareth will play is helping you to choose another therapist if necessary.

Each of our therapist within our service has their own individual terms and conditions including payments, confidentiality and cancellation policies. They are the person you must then contact for any queries around paperwork, note keeping or anything else covered under their terms and conditions.

Session Payments

Session payments are due in alignment with your therapist’s individual terms and conditions which they will go through with you at your initial session or earlier in your communication if requested. Please be aware that as a service, in addition to your therapists individual terms and conditions, we retain the right to break confidentiality if we need to take legal action to pursue owed funds.

Confidentiality

As in our GDPR policy, your email / telephone contact information and any other information shared on the enquiry form or initial phone call may be shared with selected members of our select team in the process of matching you to the most suitable therapist in the group. Your individual therapist will then present you with their terms and conditions around confidentiality. Please be aware that as a service, we retain the right to break confidentiality if we believe you or others pose a significant risk or are at significant risk of harm. We also retain the right to breach confidentiality with regards to pursuing owed funds through the legal system or in the process of any legal proceedings where we are required to submit evidence to a court of law.

Complaints Procedure

In the unlikely event that you have had a negative experience with one of our therapists, we encourage you to resolve the issue directly with the therapist you are working with as they should be in the position to explore the issue with their clinical supervisor to help reach a resolution. If you feel you cannot resolve the issue directly with the therapist for any reason, you can ask them for details of their accrediting body so that you have the option to raise a formal complaint with the accrediting body over the therapist’s conduct should you feel it is appropriate. Due to the confidential nature of the therapist / client work, WLCPS cannot directly get involved in the complaint. However if the accrediting body upholds any complaint you make, we will then take whatever action we deem appropriate with the therapist, including dismissal from our service. Please be aware that both a complaint to an accrediting body and dismissal from our service would have a profound impact on the therapist’s career which is why we urge you to try a reach a satisfactory resolution directly with your therapist where possible.