Practice policies
Last updated: October 2026
This Practice Policy explains how I work clinically and what families can expect when they contact me, book an appointment, or begin psychotherapy.
I am an ACP-registered Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. I work in accordance with the professional standards and ethical expectations of the Association of Child Psychotherapists, and I aim to practise safely, thoughtfully and within the limits of my competence.
Who I work with
I work with children, teenagers, young adults and families where emotional, developmental, school, physical health or relational difficulties have become hard to manage.
This may include:
school attendance difficulties, EBSA or school anxiety
exam stress, pressure and perfectionism
anxiety, low mood or emotional distress
autism, ADHD, masking and burnout
chronic illness, chronic pain, fatigue, CFS/ME, Long Covid, FND, EDS, PoTS or persistent physical symptoms
family stress linked with school, health, neurodivergence or complex systems
How families begin
Families usually begin with a Parent Consultation. Where psychotherapy may be helpful, I will usually recommend a three-session Psychotherapy Assessment before ongoing treatment is considered.
A Parent Consultation may be helpful if you are unsure what kind of support your child needs, or if you want clinical guidance before committing your child to assessment or therapy.
A Psychotherapy Assessment is the next stage where further work appears clinically appropriate. It gives the young person three appointments in which to experience psychotherapy before any decision is made about ongoing treatment.
We decide together whether ongoing psychotherapy is appropriate and whether I am the right person to help.
Parent consultation
The initial Parent Consultation is £200 for 40 minutes online. It is a standalone appointment for parents or carers and includes a one-page A4 letter with recommendations. Further parent work can be agreed at £360 per hour, pro rata.
It may be helpful where concerns involve school attendance, EBSA, anxiety, exam stress, neurodivergence, fatigue, chronic illness, pain or persistent physical symptoms.
Recommendations may include parent guidance, school liaison, healthcare liaison, onward referral, further assessment, or psychotherapy with me.
A Parent Consultation can be a standalone appointment. There is no obligation for your child to begin treatment.
Psychotherapy Assessment
A Psychotherapy Assessment takes place over three 50-minute appointments. I think about your child’s emotional life, development, family context, school experience, neurodivergence, physical health, medical history and wider professional network.
Liaison with school or healthcare professionals can be agreed separately at £360 per hour, pro rata.
Assessment includes a brief parent feedback call and a one-page A4 summary letter. Longer feedback or an extended report is agreed in advance and charged at £360 per hour, pro rata. We then discuss the most helpful next steps.
When an assessment is booked, a regular weekly psychotherapy appointment is available. Assessment helps us decide whether psychotherapy is appropriate and gives your child a chance to experience it. There is no obligation to continue.
Psychotherapy appointments
After assessment, we decide together whether ongoing psychotherapy is the right next step.
I offer psychoanalytic child and adolescent psychotherapy. This means I think carefully about the child’s emotional life, development, relationships, school experience, neurodivergence, physical health and family context.
Treatment with children and adolescents also involves clinical work around the child, such as parent meetings, parent-child work, professional liaison, letters or reports. We agree the purpose and scope together in advance, taking account of your child’s needs. You have a say in the plan.
With younger children, therapy may involve play, drawing and other creative ways of communicating. Children do not always express distress directly in words, and play can help us understand their feelings, anxieties, relationships and inner world.
Psychotherapy takes place every week during term time, at an agreed regular time. More frequent sessions may be considered where clinically appropriate and agreed separately.
We review the work together and agree any changes to the treatment plan.
Intensive psychotherapy
Intensive psychotherapy may be considered where clinically appropriate, subject to assessment, availability and a separate agreement.
Intensive psychotherapy involves more than one session per week, and in some cases up to three sessions per week. This is discussed after assessment, once we have considered your child’s needs, the family context and whether this is the right form of treatment.
Intensive work can be particularly powerful because it offers greater continuity and allows the therapeutic relationship to develop more deeply. It also requires significant commitment from families, so I offer it selectively.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is central to psychotherapy. It helps children and young people feel safe enough to speak, play, think and express themselves honestly.
At the beginning of work, I will explain confidentiality in a way that is appropriate to your child’s age and developmental stage.
We agree the focus and frequency of parent meetings together. This takes account of your child’s age, development, consent and needs, while protecting the privacy of their sessions and meeting safeguarding responsibilities.
I do not routinely share session details with parents. We agree what information may be shared, respecting the young person’s ability to make their own decisions and obtaining appropriate consent. Any disclosure without consent must be justified by the confidentiality limits below.
Limits to confidentiality
Confidentiality has limits.
I may need to share information if:
I am concerned that your child, another person, or you may be at risk of serious harm
there is a safeguarding concern
there is a legal requirement or court order
another professional needs relevant information for agreed care, with appropriate consent
I need to consult with my supervisor, insurer, professional body or legal adviser
there is a serious concern about professional conduct, safety or risk
Where possible, I will discuss this with you before sharing information. However, if doing so would increase risk or compromise safety, I may need to share information without consent.
Safeguarding
Safeguarding children and young people is a core professional responsibility.
If I have concerns about a child’s safety or welfare, I may need to contact parents, carers, the child’s GP, school safeguarding lead, local authority children’s services, emergency services or another relevant professional.
The child’s safety and welfare will always be the priority.
Risk and urgent concerns
I do not provide an emergency or crisis service.
Call 999 or go to A&E when someone’s life is at risk, there has been a serious injury or overdose, or you do not feel able to keep someone safe. For urgent mental-health help without immediate danger, call NHS 111 and select the mental health option, or ask for an urgent GP appointment.
Emails, website forms and booking requests are not monitored continuously.
If risk becomes too high for private psychotherapy alone, I may recommend involvement from a psychiatrist, GP, CAMHS, crisis team, paediatrician, school safeguarding team or another appropriate service.
Working with parents and carers
Parent work is often an important part of child and adolescent psychotherapy.
We agree the focus and frequency of parent work together. Meetings may help us think about home life, school, boundaries, illness, anxiety, neurodivergence or family stress. Parent work is charged at £360 per hour, pro rata.
The aim is not to blame parents. It is to understand what may be happening and to support the child’s emotional development in the context of family life.
Liaison with schools and healthcare professionals
Where helpful and agreed, I may liaise with schools, GPs, paediatricians, psychiatrists, clinical nurse specialists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, educational psychologists or other professionals involved in your child’s care.
This can be especially important where school attendance, EBSA, anxiety, neurodivergence, chronic illness, fatigue, pain or persistent physical symptoms are part of the picture.
Professional liaison is agreed in advance and charged at £360 per hour, pro rata for the time used. Routine scheduling, invoices, receipts and appointment links are not charged separately.
Attendance and the therapeutic frame
Psychotherapy appointments take place weekly during term time at an agreed regular time.
This regularity is part of the therapeutic frame and helps your child develop trust, continuity and a secure therapeutic relationship.
Your child’s appointment time is reserved for them throughout treatment. This means it cannot usually be offered to another family if you are away or unable to attend that week.
Before starting, please consider whether your family can commit to weekly appointments during term time.
Billing and attendance at a glance
For Parent Consultation, give at least 48 hours’ notice to cancel or request a change of time. Contact me directly about a prepaid cancellation. For Psychotherapy Assessment, cancellation at least seven days before the first appointment receives a full refund; individual appointment changes need at least 48 hours. Late-cancellation deductions reflect unavoidable loss, capped at £300 per affected assessment appointment and reduced where loss is avoided. Unused assessment appointments are refundable under the detailed terms below.
Weekly term-time psychotherapy appointments are reserved for your child and remain payable if you cannot attend.
Appointments are charged at £300 each and billed in advance on the first day of each month.
The monthly bill reflects the number of scheduled sessions in that month. There is no psychotherapy session charge for a planned practice break. Term dates and breaks are confirmed in advance.
Regular attendance remains clinically important. Repeated absences or unplanned gaps may require a review of whether continuing to reserve the appointment remains appropriate.
Fees and payment
Current fees are set out on the Fees page.
The Parent Consultation and three-session Psychotherapy Assessment are booked and paid for in advance.
Psychotherapy is £300 per 50-minute session. Scheduled sessions for the month are billed in advance on the first day of that month.
Other work, including parent meetings, school or healthcare liaison, reports and letters, is agreed in advance and charged at £360 per hour, pro rata. The scope and cost are discussed before the work begins.
Letters and reports
We agree the purpose and scope of additional letters and reports before they are written. This work is charged at £360 per hour, pro rata.
The initial Parent Consultation includes a one-page A4 recommendations letter. Psychotherapy Assessment includes a brief parent feedback call and a one-page A4 summary letter. More comprehensive letters or reports, and longer feedback, are available on request where clinically appropriate. We agree the scope and cost in advance, at £360 per hour, pro rata for the time used. I do not undertake court or medico-legal work.
Online work
Parent Consultations take place online. Assessment and psychotherapy appointments may take place in person, online or through an agreed combination where clinically appropriate.
Online sessions require a private, quiet space and a reliable internet connection. For children and young people, the suitability of online work will depend on age, presentation, risk, privacy and clinical need.
Contact between sessions
Email may be used for practical communication, such as appointments, payment, forms or agreed liaison.
Email is not suitable for urgent clinical matters or crisis support.
I may not be able to respond immediately between sessions. If there is urgent risk, please use emergency, GP, crisis or safeguarding services.
Ending work
Psychotherapy endings are clinically important and are planned carefully wherever possible.
Appointments during an ending period are used to help the young person understand the decision, reflect on the work and prepare for what will happen next.
To end psychotherapy, please give four term-time weeks’ written notice. School holidays and planned practice breaks do not count towards this period. Reserved appointments remain payable up to the agreed end date. The detailed terms are below.
Complaints and concerns
If you have concerns about the service, I encourage you to raise them with me directly where possible, so that we can think about them carefully.
If you remain concerned, you may contact the Association of Child Psychotherapists regarding professional standards or complaints processes.
For data protection concerns, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Changes to this policy
This Practice Policy may be updated from time to time. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated.
Billing, Attendance and Ending Policy
These terms explain payment, attendance, appointment changes and ending treatment. The relevant agreement is provided before assessment or psychotherapy begins.
Parent Consultation is £200 for 40 minutes online, paid in full when booked. Please give at least 48 hours’ notice to cancel or request a change of time, subject to a suitable alternative. Contact me directly about cancellation because Square does not allow clients to cancel prepaid appointments themselves. The terms shown when you book apply. If I cancel, you may choose a mutually suitable replacement or a refund for the affected appointment. Statutory rights are unaffected. Clinical appointments are £300 per 50-minute appointment. The Psychotherapy Assessment costs £900 for three appointments and is paid for before the first appointment. It includes a brief parent feedback telephone call followed by a one-page A4 summary letter. If you cancel the assessment at least seven days before the first appointment, I will refund the assessment fee in full. You may request a change to an individual appointment with at least 48 hours' notice without a change fee. I will arrange a clinically suitable alternative where possible; if I cannot offer a suitable alternative, I will refund that appointment's allocation. You can decide not to continue after assessment has begun. For refunds, the fee is allocated at £300 per child appointment. I will refund appointments that have not taken place, less any applicable late-cancellation amount. A late cancellation does not automatically mean losing the whole assessment fee. If an appointment is cancelled with less than seven days' notice, changed with less than 48 hours' notice, or missed, I may retain an amount reflecting the reasonable unavoidable loss from the reserved appointment, up to £300. I will reduce or waive this where the appointment is filled or the loss is otherwise reduced. If I conclude that assessment should stop or another service would be more appropriate, the unused part of the assessment fee will be refunded without a late-cancellation charge for that decision. Serious illness, bereavement and comparable emergencies will be considered individually. If I cancel, you may choose a mutually suitable replacement or a refund for the affected appointment. If I cannot complete the assessment, I will refund the unused balance. Nothing in this policy limits your statutory rights.
Psychotherapy is £300 per 50-minute session. Your weekly term-time appointment is reserved for your child. Scheduled sessions for each month are billed in advance on the first day of that month. The amount depends on the number of scheduled sessions. Planned practice breaks are not charged as sessions. If treatment starts part-way through a month, the first bill covers the scheduled sessions from your agreed start date. The treatment agreement and payment arrangements are confirmed before treatment begins.
Weekly term-time psychotherapy appointments are reserved exclusively for your child and cannot be cancelled for a fee reduction. The £300 session fee remains payable if your child or family misses or cancels an appointment. Repeated absences may prompt a review of whether the arrangement is still helpful. The exceptions below continue to apply.
Please ask as early as possible if you need to change an appointment. I will try to offer a clinically suitable alternative within the same treatment week, subject to availability. An alternative cannot be guaranteed or normally carried into a later week. If no alternative is available, the session remains payable. An online appointment may be possible where clinically appropriate.
Parent work forms part of treatment with children and adolescents. We agree its focus and frequency together, taking account of your child’s needs. It is charged at £360 per hour, pro rata for the time used. The scope, cost and appointment arrangements are agreed before the work begins.
Additional work may include parent meetings, contact with schools or healthcare professionals, reports, letters or longer feedback. We agree what is needed and its cost in advance. It is charged at £360 per hour, pro rata for the time used. Routine scheduling, invoices, receipts and appointment links are not charged separately. Work already included in an agreed fee is not charged again. I do not undertake court or medico-legal work.
If you take a break outside the planned practice calendar, reserved term-time psychotherapy sessions remain payable while the appointment is held for you. You can retain the appointment and pay for those sessions, or end treatment with four term-time weeks’ written notice. Once the appointment is released, a future place cannot be guaranteed.
Where I cannot provide a scheduled psychotherapy or parent appointment, I may first offer a mutually suitable replacement. The parent or carer is not required to accept an alternative that is unsuitable or inconvenient. Where no mutually suitable replacement is agreed, the parent or carer may choose a credit or refund reflecting the value of the affected appointment. A technical failure attributable to the Practice is treated in the same way as a cancellation by the Child Psychotherapist.
Rare and serious circumstances outside a family’s reasonable control will be considered individually. These may include hospitalisation or a serious medical emergency, bereavement involving an immediate family member, a serious safeguarding concern, a significant and unexpected family crisis, or another comparably serious event. Depending on the circumstances, an alternative arrangement may be agreed at the Practice’s discretion. This does not affect the family’s right to a replacement, credit or refund where I cancel.
Payment must remain current for the regular treatment place to be retained. If a payment fails or remains outstanding, the responsible parent or carer will be asked to update the payment method and settle the balance promptly. Treatment may be paused while fees remain unpaid. If the balance remains unresolved, the Practice may end the arrangement and release the reserved appointment after written notice and appropriate consideration of the young person’s clinical and safeguarding needs.
Please give at least four term-time weeks’ written notice to end psychotherapy. School holidays and planned practice breaks do not count towards this period. Reserved sessions remain payable up to the agreed end date. If you have paid for sessions after that date, those session fees will be refunded within five working days after treatment ends. The final bill reflects the scheduled sessions up to the agreed end date. Where possible, we use the notice period to help your child prepare for the ending. A longer ending may be recommended, but creates an additional payment obligation only if you expressly agree.
Fees are reviewed annually. Any change normally takes effect at the start of a new treatment year in September. Families receive written notice before a change takes effect.
Nothing in this policy excludes or limits statutory consumer rights that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited. The relevant signed agreement contains the complete contractual terms.
Frequently asked questions
For Parent Consultation, give at least 48 hours’ notice to cancel or request a change of time. Contact me directly about a prepaid cancellation. For assessment, seven days before the first appointment gives a full refund and individual time changes need at least 48 hours. Alternatives depend on clinical suitability and availability. The detailed assessment terms explain proportionate late deductions and refunds for unused appointments.
Yes. Weekly term-time psychotherapy appointments remain reserved for your child, so the £300 session fee remains payable. Please see the terms above for appointment changes, exceptional circumstances and cancellations by me.
Give at least four term-time weeks’ written notice. School holidays and planned practice breaks do not count. Reserved sessions remain payable until the agreed end date.