This contract outlines the key agreements between you and Pregnancy Sickness Support’s counselling service. It is designed to ensure clarity around the structure of your sessions, confidentiality, and the responsibilities of both you and your counsellor. By agreeing to this contract, you acknowledge that you understand and agree to the terms outlined below, which are in place to support a safe and effective counselling experience.

Our Counselling service is dedicated to creating a safe and supportive space where you can feel heard, have your experiences validated and explore your journey with pregnancy sickness and HG, whether present or past.

Your counsellor will strive to build a relationship with you, based on acceptance, respect, and non-judgement, workingtogether to find ways for you to move forward. Counselling achieves the best results when trust is built between a client and their counsellor.

Sessions:
Our service offers up to 6 counselling sessions, each lasting 50 minutes.
Sessions will be conducted via telephone or video call. All our counsellors work remotely from safe, confidential spaces. We ask that you also attend counselling from a safe, confidential space to ensure privacy.

Counselling sessions will be scheduled for the same day and time each week, as discussed in your assessment session.

Please note that we are not a crisis service, your counsellor will only be available at your pre-arranged session time.

We understand that unexpected circumstances may arise, but to ensure our counselling service remains effective and fair for all, we operate a 48-hour cancellation policy.

· If you cancel with at least 48 hours’ notice, you will have the option to rearrange your session.
· If you cancel within 48 hours of your appointment, you will be allowed to reschedule upto one session. Further reschedules of sessions after another cancellation within the 48 hour period will be at the discretion of the Head of Counselling and will result in fewer sessions than the 6 sessions made available to you on this service.

All payments are processed securely through our booking platform, Setmore. If you are self-funded or part-funded, payment must be made via this platform before you can book a session.

Setmore accepts all major credit cards and PayPal.

Our refund policy depends on whether your sessions are self-funded, part-funded, or fully funded:

· If your session is self or part-funded, and you cancel with at least 48 hours’ notice your payment will be carried over to your next rescheduled session.

Please note: Unless expressly agreed to by the counselling service and your counsellor, you will only be able to reschedule to the same slot you were allocated (same day and time).

· If you cancel within the 48-hour notice period, we are unable to offer refunds, as the counsellor’s time has already been allocated and must still be covered. As per our Cancellation & Rescheduling Policy you will be able to reschedule this session up to one time.

Any further rescheduled sessions after another cancellation within the 48-hour notice period will be at the discretion of the Head of Counselling and will result in fewer sessions than the 6 sessions made available to you on this service.

As per our booking software, Setmore, you will be sent reminders before each appointment and will be able to notify us by a click of a button, if you need to cancel your session or rearrange.

If you are fully funded, you will not make payments for your sessions and this policy is not relevant to you until such a time which may arise where you self or part fund a session, upon which you will be bound by this policy.

If you do not attend your scheduled session without prior notice, the following policy applies:

First DNA (No Notification)

· You will receive an email from the counselling team checking in and asking if you wish to continue counselling.

· If you are self-funded or part-funded, you will not receive a refund but may reschedule the missed session up to one time.

· If you do not respond within 5 working days, we will assume you no longer wish to continue counselling, and your place will be reallocated.

Second DNA (No Notification)

· If you miss a second session without notifying us, and you are self-funded or part-funded, the missed session will still be charged and you will not be entitled to a refund. The 6 sessions made available to you will be reduced. Your ability to continue counselling will be at the discretion of the Head of Counselling and you will be notified of this decision within 5 working days.

· If you are fully funded, you will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, the 6 sessions made available to you will be reduced, and your place in counselling may be withdrawn to allow others access to the service.

Changing your mind

You are welcome to end your counselling at any time. However, if you are planning to do so, and you have already scheduled a session, you will need to let us know as per our Cancellation & Rescheduling Policy above.

If sessions are not working for you, we ask that you discuss this with your counsellor first, and then inform the Head of Counselling via email: counselling@pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk

If you feel unable to discuss this with your counsellor please contact the Head of Counselling in the first instance.

As per our Payment & Refund policy, if you notify us with at least 48-hours notice of your wish to end counselling, we will refund you any payments made to Pregnancy Sickness Support for counselling sessions. These monies will be refunded to you within 14-days of your notice to end counselling.

If you notify us within 48 hours of your next scheduled counselling session that you wish to end your counselling, it will be at the discretion of the Head of Counselling as to whether we will refund any payments made for counselling sessions.

In accordance with our counsellors’ regulatory bodies, they are required to undergo regular supervision with a qualified and experienced supervisor. For this purpose, your counsellor may share some details of your work to their supervisor,but this WILL NOT include your name or any personal details.

Our counsellors will also take notes after each session, which will be held on our secure database. For more information on how we store your data, please read our Privacy Notice.

Your counselling sessions are confidential and this confidentiality will apply to any records in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

In exceptional circumstances confidentiality may be broken. These circumstances
could include:

1. Where you as a client give consent for the confidentiality to be broken.
2. Where PSS feel it is appropriate to consult with, or involve other professionals such as your GP in circumstances where there is a risk of harm to you or to a third party. In such cases we will aim to discuss any action with you first and seek to gain your cooperation.
3. Where PSS are legally compelled by a court of law.
4. Where statutory law requires PSS to inform the relevant authorities (such as
   terrorist activities, drug trafficking or abuse of a child or vulnerable adult).

If you wish to make a complaint regarding your counsellor’s conduct or of the service, please direct your complaint to the Head of Counselling via email: counselling@pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk or through the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) www.bacp.co.uk

If your complaint is with the Head of Counselling, you can contact the CEO of Pregnancy Sickness Support, Charlotte Howden charlotte@pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk

Or you can direct your complaint via the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) www.bacp.co.uk

To help us to monitor our therapeutic support we will ask you to complete a questionnaire in your first and final session to gauge the impact on your mental health. This information will also be used to demonstrate our impact for funding purposes. This feedback will be anonymized when used for such purposes. You will have an opportunity to leave anonymous feedback that we can use for marketing purposes with your consent.