Online /Telephone Counselling
Online counselling, just like face to face counselling, is talking therapy where your session time is dedicated for you to express and explore your issues and concerns in a confidential, non-judgmental and supportive space.
Online/ Telephone counselling can provide support for broad range of difficulties however I am not able to provide online counselling for a person who is under 18 years old or is in crisis. If this applies to you I can help you with the information of onward referral to a crisis teams or counselling directed specifically for your age group.
Sometimes simply by talking through the thoughts, experiences and/ or events to someone can help to release the pressure and make you feel better and it may be all you need. Other times deeper exploring is required to perhaps see if the past experiences have affected you in the way that it is causing issues in the now. Not all types of issues can be resolved through online counselling, in which case I will advice you to face-to- face counselling and do my best to assist you in the onward referral if I’m unable to do it personally.
Sessions and communication
We will agree on appointment time through either e-mail, Teams voice only or telephone. I use primarily Teams as a platform for the sessions. Sometimes technology may fail and before starting the counselling, we will discuss suitable course of action in case of technology failure, and whether we would continue counselling e.g. over the phone.
The contact form on my website do not provide encryption, and may be vulnerable to viruses or human error. For this reason it is advisable to be thoughtful about what you might include in the message to me and perhaps use it for non-confidential communications such as setting up appointments.
For the assessment and confidential E-mail exchange I use Protonmail that is secure and fully encrypted. My Protonmail E-mail address is: kat.counselling@ protonmail.com
To provide secure interactions, it is advisable for you to set up your own account at:Â www.protonmail.com
Netiquette
Netiquette refers to online etiquette. Online counseling provides an easy access to counseling from your home comforts however it is important you are appropriately dressed and in an appropriate place (e.g. not in your bed or driving) where you can give your full attention to the sessions, as you would do in a consulting room.
Social Media
I use several social media sites personally and professionally and despite my online presence would prefer our relationship remain as much as possible within the session time (tel & online). The cyber world can have a disinhibiting affect; people can be drawn to revealing matters in unsafe places possibly leaving them vulnerable. For this reason and to ensure confidentiality and boundaries I do not consider it would be appropriate to respond to social media friendship requests. However, you are welcome to follow/ like Mind Open Therapy facebook business page and twitter account. These accounts contain company information, but also posts and articles all relating to psychology, counselling, hypnotherapy, mental health and wellbeing.
In Case of Emergency
Online counseling is not suitable to use as an emergency service. In case of emergency, please contact your GP or emergency services on 999. If you require someone to talk to in between sessions please seek organizations such as Samaritans, tel: 116 123, e-mail: jo@samaritans.org.
Assessment
I offer a free 20 min telephone/ voice only initial chat. If you and I feel online counselling is for you then next step would be to fill out the assessment form and send it back to me via secure e-mail at:Â kat.counselling@ protonmail.com or mindopentherapy@protonmail.com. As already mentioned it is adviceable for you to set up your own secure e-mail account.
The first session will always still be partly assessment, for you and I to see if online /telephone counselling is suitable for you and if we would like to work together.
Payments
The counselling appointments can be purchased here via Paypal. To secure your appointment, the fee is payable via Paypal or E-invoicing at latest 48hrs before the session begins. The Paypal facility is covered by Paypal’s privacy policy found here.
