Introduction to Psychotherapeutic Service – Information Sheet Dear Client Welcome! You have made an important decision to seek psychotherapeutic assistance (or perhaps you are still trying to decide). This document is designed to give you some guidelines to my general approach to practice, and what you can expect in treatment. It is also meant to alert you to some important logistical issues such as your rights as a user of psychological services, my fees, payment, emergencies, etc that we will discuss in your first session (and serves as a record you can refer to later). Initial Consultation & Assessment Psychotherapy begins with an assessment consultation (your 1st appointment) where I will be interested in finding out more about you as an individual (your family background, personal relationships, general health and work functioning, your personality, interests and values), in particular I will focus on trying to understand the nature of your current concerns or difficulties and the history of these difficulties. This means that I will spend a good deal of the initial consultation asking you some general and more specific questions. Assessment and diagnosis, if that is warranted, may sometimes take up to 2 sessions before I will give you feedback about the nature of your difficulties and whether psychotherapy is the best form of treatment for you. In the case of couples seeking therapy, this initial assessment phase can take up to 3 sessions as there are 2 people involved with their own individual histories and experiences. Deciding Whether You & Therapist are a `Good Fit’ It is not unusual in the nature of this work that you will want to `feel out’ the therapeutic relationship with me (I am also making an assessment of whether I am the appropriate `fit’ for you) in an initial session and decide whether I am the most suitable psychotherapist for you to do this very personal work with. It is important that you find a psychotherapist with whom you feel you can form a trusting relationship. If I am not the `right’ therapist practitioner for you I am very comfortable for you to discuss this with me, and I will make every effort to refer you on to another psychotherapist. Confidentiality Confidentiality is a fundamental principle which underlies the therapy relationship and you are guaranteed of my commitment to provide this. There are however, at least 2 instances in which I am legally and ethically obliged to reconsider this commitment to confidentiality which you need to be aware of: 1) if I determine that you are a serious risk for self-harm (suicidal); and 2) if you are a serious risk to the personal safety of an identified person (homicidal). In both of these instances I will exercise the greatest care in respecting confidentiality, and obtaining your consent, whilst seeking the appropriate assistance to ensure your safety. This may involve a referral to your doctor or a specialist psychiatrist, and your privacy and confidentiality will still be respected. Beginning Therapy The particular form of psychotherapy that I practice is short-term or long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy. The basic ideas which inform this therapy approach is that our personal histories (early family relationships and experiences as children, adolescents) have quite a huge influence on our current relationships, the decisions we make, the psychological distress we experience, and how we choose to cope with stress in our lives. So your early family experiences and experiences growing up are treated as valuable information in helping me to determine important contributors to current problems you may be experiencing. After the initial assessment has been completed therapy will be more free-flowing and we will try to address the concerns that you bring to our attention each week. Middle Phases of Therapy Once we have established more or less the nature (and source) of your difficulties we can begin to work on how to try to manage these differently. Change in psychotherapy is not a quick-fix, it will take time anything from 8 sessions up to 20 sessions. My experience is that most clients do feel like there is a noticeable shift within themselves after about 8-10 sessions, and then at this point may realise that the benefits of therapy can extend beyond the initial problem which brought them to therapy in the first place. This makes them decide often to stay on as a long term client. It becomes very clear to clients that the therapeutic space holds great potential for healing ourselves and taking care of our psychological selves. Termination of Therapy Termination in psychodynamic psychotherapy is usually left to the client to decide and usually a period of at least 3-4 sessions are allowed for this gradual tapering and bringing to a close a period of therapy. Termination is not a single session usually, but should you decide that you want to terminate your treatment immediately (as it is your prerogative), I only ask that you allow us to have at least one session for us to discuss your motivations for doing so, and that we can then bring closure to issues which may still require this. Fees & Payment My fee structure is R440 per (50 min) session for individual therapy and for a child play therapy (45 min session). For couple therapy the fee is R480 per (60min) session. These fees are set at rates that are well within the medical aid recommended rates. I do not deal directly with any medical aid but will provide you with an invoice at the end of each month for the purposes of you making a claim from your medical scheme. Fees are payable in cash at the end of each session or we may negotiate a monthly settlement of fees. Please note that because of the peculiar nature of therapy work, I ask that you pay me any cash monies directly, and not to do this with our receptionist. I will make my Bank Details available to you on all invoices if you wish to pay via EFT. Please note that non-payment of fees may become a matter for us to discuss in our therapy sessions so that we can explore the reasons for this and find some resolution. Please always confirm your payment via fax (031-2017174), or e-mail deposit slip fawn@health202.co.za . Telephone Contact I do not as a matter of standard procedure give out my cell phone details to clients unless there are exceptional circumstances that warrant this. Should you leave a message on my cell after hours and it is not an emergency situation I will only make contact with you on the next working day during office hours. If you make an emergency telephone contact after office hours (after 5.30pm), please note beyond 15min, you will be billed appropriately in terms of emergency rates (which are higher than the usual standard rates). Late Cancellation or Rescheduling Appointments You will be offered a regular weekly appointment slot. From time to time you may need to cancel or wish to reschedule an appointment due to some unforeseen circumstance or planned circumstance. Please can you contact me directly in either of these instances as our receptionist is not allowed to change / reschedule any appointment unless I instruct her to do so. I will always do my best to accommodate you but it may not be possible always find you an alternative time. You should also take note that if your appointment is being cancelled with less than 24hrs notice (eg calling to cancel after 2pm Tuesday when you have a 2pm appointment on Wednesday) that you will be billed for the full session. Hospitalisation, Referral Medical Intervention From time to time it may emerge that the nature of your psychological condition warrants more serious psychiatric or medical intervention such that only a hospital environment can provide. In this instance I will always firstly discuss the options thoroughly with you, and develop a plan for your care with your agreement. During this period of time I will remain the treating psychotherapist but will likely work in conjunction with a psychiatrist to manage your care. A psychologist may not prescribe any form of medication for the treatment of psychological disorders so we may need to refer you to an appropriate medical practitioner (your GP or a psychiatrist). Rights of Users Psychological Servicers Please note finally that you have rights as a user of Psychological Services and you can access this information on www.hpcsa.co.za and click on Psychologists. Should you have any serious concern about the nature of your treatment the Professional Board of Psychology may be contacted via this website. Conclusion Finally, I do hope that these guidelines have given you some more information about the way in which psychotherapy works, and how I run my practice. I hope you will have gained a sense that your best interests as client comes first, and I look forward to working with you. Thank You Fawn Daniels-Clark |