Questions about working together.
FEES AND FAQS
Some questions are practical. Others concern how therapy works, what you can expect from me and the professional boundaries around it. I have answered the main ones below.
Fees, availability and practicalities.
A standard 50-minute session costs £60.
I also offer a limited number of reduced-fee spaces for trainee counsellors and psychotherapists. These are subject to availability, so please ask about this when making an enquiry.
A standard session lasts 50 minutes.
Longer sessions can also be arranged if you feel that more time would be useful. A 60-minute session costs £70, while an 80-minute session costs £80. We can discuss whether a longer session would be suitable before booking.
I offer sessions from Monday to Thursday, with occasional availability on Saturday mornings. Exact appointment times vary, so please contact me to ask about my current availability.
Yes. I offer in-person therapy in Eastbourne and online therapy across the UK.
Payment is due on the day of each session. You can pay by bank transfer or in cash. I will provide the bank details when we arrange your first session.
I have a 24-hour cancellation policy. If you cancel with at least 24 hours’ notice, you will not be charged. Sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice, or missed without notice, are charged at the full session fee.
Unfortunately, the therapy room does not have step-free access and is reached by a flight of stairs. This may make in-person sessions inaccessible for people with limited mobility. If the stairs would be a barrier, I can offer therapy online.
The therapy room is at 10 Station Parade, approximately two minutes’ walk from Eastbourne train station and nearby bus stops.
Paid parking is available at the railway station and the Enterprise Centre. There are also free parking options a short walk away, although availability cannot be guaranteed.
Starting and continuing therapy.
After you contact me, I will usually respond within two working days. If you would like to meet before deciding whether to begin therapy, you can choose either a free 20-minute conversation by phone or online, or a full introductory session at half my usual fee.
You can choose one of these options rather than both. If you have the free 20-minute conversation and then decide to book a session, your first full session will be charged at my usual fee.
I generally recommend the introductory session. A brief conversation can be useful for answering practical questions and getting an initial sense of one another, but it is likely to feel more like a consultation. A full session gives you a better opportunity to experience how I actually work and consider whether therapy with me feels right for you. The choice, however, is entirely yours.
If there is anything you need to know before choosing either option, please feel free to include your questions in your original enquiry.
No. You do not need to arrive with a clear explanation of what is wrong or a prepared account of everything you want to discuss.
Sometimes people have a fairly clear reason for seeking therapy. You may be experiencing panic attacks, struggling to get out of bed or dealing with something that has happened in your life. At other times, it is much harder to name. Perhaps you do not quite feel like yourself, or you know that something is not right without understanding why.
You can begin wherever you are. There is no expectation that you will know what matters most, explain it neatly or decide in advance where the conversation should go. As we talk, we can pay attention to what emerges and gradually develop a fuller understanding of what you are experiencing.
Not knowing is not a problem you need to solve before therapy can begin. It is often where the work begins.
I usually recommend meeting weekly, particularly when we first begin. This gives the therapy continuity and allows the work to develop without too much time passing between sessions.
Fortnightly sessions can also work, depending on what you are looking for and what feels practically or financially manageable. We can discuss this together and review the frequency as the therapy develops.
There is no fixed answer. Some people come to therapy with a particular difficulty they want to understand and find that a few months feels enough. Others discover that the work is more complex, or choose to continue for longer because they find the space valuable.
You do not need to decide this before we begin. We can regularly talk about how the therapy is feeling, whether it remains useful and whether you would like to continue. You are free to end at any point, although I would usually encourage us to discuss the ending rather than disappearing from something that may have become important.
Therapy can be open-ended without becoming aimless or continuing simply because it has become routine. We will keep the question of what you need from it between us.
Change in therapy is not always dramatic or easy to measure. Sometimes you may notice something practical: feeling less overwhelmed, responding differently in relationships or having more choice in situations where you previously felt stuck. At other times, the change is quieter. You may understand yourself more clearly, recognise patterns sooner or find words for experiences that were previously difficult to make sense of.
Therapy does not necessarily make you feel better after every session. Becoming more aware of something painful can sometimes make life feel more difficult before it begins to feel different. Yet, over time, the work should offer more than repeated difficult conversations. Something should begin to shift, whether in how you understand yourself, relate to others or live with what you are facing.
We can talk openly about whether therapy is helping. If you feel stuck, uncertain or concerned that something is missing, you do not need to protect me from that. Those conversations are part of the therapy and may help us understand what needs to change between us.
There is no single measure of progress, but therapy should not continue indefinitely without us asking whether it is still useful to you.
Therapy will not always feel comfortable. There may be sessions that leave you unsettled, frustrated or unsure, particularly when we are approaching something difficult. Yet discomfort is not automatically a sign that the therapy is helpful, and you do not need to convince yourself to continue if something does not feel right.
I would encourage you to tell me if you feel misunderstood, if my way of working is not helping or if something between us has become uncomfortable. You do not need to protect me from your reaction. We can talk honestly about what is happening and consider whether something needs to change.
Sometimes that conversation can deepen the work. At other times, it may become clear that I am not the right therapist for you. If so, you are free to end, and I will help you think about what might suit you better if that would be useful. Finding that we are not the right fit is not a failure on either side.
You are free to end therapy at any point. You do not need to continue until I decide that the work is complete, and there is no expectation that every difficulty will have been neatly resolved before you leave.
Where possible, I encourage us to talk about ending rather than stopping without discussion. This gives us an opportunity to consider what has changed, what may remain unfinished and how it feels to bring the relationship to a close. Depending on the length and depth of the work, we might agree on one final session or plan the ending over several weeks.
I may also raise the possibility of ending if the therapy no longer seems useful, or if I believe that you would be better supported by somebody with different experience or expertise. I would discuss this openly with you and, where appropriate, help you think about what comes next.
Endings can bring relief, sadness, uncertainty or very little at all. There is no correct way to feel about them. Yet the way we end can be important, and deserves the same honesty and attention as the rest of the therapy.
Confidentiality and professional practice.
I hold an FdSc in Person-Centred Counselling and a BSc (Hons) in Person-Centred Counselling, awarded with First Class Honours.
I have worked as a therapist for more than ten years and completed over 5,000 hours of client work. My further study has included Somatic Experiencing, Internal Family Systems (IFS), trauma and the body, working therapeutically with autistic people and people with ADHD, and polyvagal theory.
I am a Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP - 250366) and am also registered with the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS).
Yes. What you share in therapy is treated as confidential, although confidentiality is not absolute.
I discuss my work in clinical supervision as part of practising safely and responsibly. Supervision is also confidential, and I avoid sharing identifying details unless they are necessary.
There are limited circumstances in which I may need to share information, such as a serious risk of harm, a safeguarding concern or when disclosure is required by law. Where possible, I would discuss this with you before taking any action.
I will explain confidentiality and its limits more fully before we begin working together.
Yes, you can contact me between sessions to rearrange an appointment or discuss another practical matter. However, I do not offer ongoing therapeutic support by message or email between sessions.
This is a deliberate boundary that protects my capacity to give you, and each person I work with, my undivided attention during our sessions. If something arises that you would like to explore, we can return to it when we next meet.
I am not able to provide crisis or emergency support between sessions.
If you need urgent support with your mental health, please do not wait until our next session or rely on contacting me. My practice is not a crisis service, and I may not see or respond to messages immediately.
For urgent mental health support, contact NHS 111 online or call 111 and select the mental health option. You can also ask your GP for an urgent appointment.
If you or somebody else is in immediate danger, you have seriously harmed yourself or you do not feel able to keep yourself or someone else safe, call 999 or go to A&E.
If you need someone to talk to, you can call Samaritans free on 116 123, at any time of day or night. If you would prefer to communicate by text, text SHOUT to 85258 for free, confidential, 24-hour support from Shout.
If you are concerned about something I have said or done, or about any aspect of the therapy, you are welcome to raise it with me in a session or in writing. I will take your concern seriously. You do not need to worry that questioning me, disagreeing with me or expressing dissatisfaction will be treated as a problem.
Sometimes an open conversation can help us understand what has happened and whether something needs to change. However, you are not required to resolve a concern directly with me.
I am registered with both the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society. You can seek independent guidance or make a formal complaint through the BACP professional conduct process or the NCPS complaints and concerns process.