Therapy Terms
Sentient Psychology’s Therapy Terms
Sentient Psychology Therapy Terms
These Therapy Terms are our standard terms which apply to the services we provide to you (known as the “Services”), by us, Sentient Psychology (trading name of CJS Psychology Ltd) whose business address is The Old Dairy, Farm Weston Rd, Failand, Bristol, BS8 3US (known as the “Practice”, also referred to as us/we/our).
At the end of this document, you will find some consents that we are required by UK data protection laws to obtain from you. These consents explain how we collect, use, and protect your personal information during therapy.
Please read through the entire document carefully before signing to indicate your acknowledgement and acceptance. If you have any questions on any part of this document, please do not hesitate to ask before signing.
Professional Information:
Dr Charlotte Swift is registered with the United Kingdom’s Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
All Clinical Psychologists practising within the UK must be registered with the Health Care and Professions Council (HCPC) and may also be registered with the British Psychological Society (BPS). In order to maintain their practising registration, all Clinical Psychologists must continue to demonstrate compliance with a range of HCPC minimum standards of conduct, performance and ethics.
We may engage associate clinical psychologists to carry out some of the work involved in providing our Services. These associates are qualified professionals who adhere to the same professional standards and confidentiality obligations as our in-house clinical psychologists. Rest assured that all associates are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and are bound by the British Psychological Society's code of ethics and conduct. By engaging with our Services, you consent to the potential involvement of associate clinical psychologists in your care. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please feel free to discuss them with us.
Where appropriate, we may refer clients to independent professionals. In some cases, a referral fee may be received. This fee does not impact the cost to the client. All referrals are made transparently and with the client’s consent.
Services
The Services we provide include individual therapy and psychological assessment. We do not provide crisis intervention, psychiatric medication management or disability assessments.
The duration of therapy varies depending on individual needs and therapeutic goals. We will regularly review progress and discuss treatment plans with you.
Either party may end the therapeutic relationship at any time. We recommend providing two weeks' notice where possible to allow for appropriate closure.
We may end therapy if we determine it is no longer beneficial, if there are clinical or ethical concerns, or if professional boundaries cannot be maintained. In such circumstances, any advance payments will be refunded for any Services not provided.
Following the end of therapy, we cannot provide ongoing personal or professional support outside of the therapeutic relationship. We can provide referrals to other professionals if appropriate
A contract is formed between us when: (i) you sign these Therapy Terms; (ii) we confirm your first appointment; and (iii) where applicable, payment is received.
Consultations:
Consultations shall be by appointment only. Details of the consultation timings, length and fees shall be made available to you in advance of the consultation.
Initial consultations can be made by emailing or telephoning the practice.
Subsequent appointments can be made during your consultation with us, by telephone or by email.
If you know you are going to be late for an appointment, you should contact us to tell us. If you arrive later than 15 minutes after an appointment time, we will try to provide the Services you have booked but if we decide that we cannot, the appointment will be treated as cancelled without notice by you and you may be charged (See Cancellations below). This is the case no matter whether the appointment is for a face-to-face, online, or telephone session.
Online Sessions:
Sessions may be provided online via a pre-agreed livestream service (for example Zoom, Teams, WhatsApp).
When using a third-party supplier for online sessions your personal and special category data will be treated in accordance with our Privacy Policy, and may be subject to the privacy policy of the third-party supplier. We will not be liable to you for any costs or losses incurred by you as a result of using any third-party online provider for the purposes of attending a session virtually with us. You should make yourself familiar with such provider’s own terms and conditions and privacy policy.
If we provide any of our Services as a livestream, we will use all reasonable endeavours to start at the time scheduled. If the start is delayed by circumstances beyond our control, we will not be liable for any such delay.
In some limited circumstances, we may need to suspend the provision of an online session for one or more of the following reasons: (i) to fix technical problems or to make necessary technical changes; or (ii) in the event of illness or other circumstances beyond our control.
In the event of any of the circumstances listed above occurring, then we will use reasonable endeavours to give as much notice as possible to you.
Ahead of your online session, we ask you to plan where in your location you will sit for the meeting. It is important that the connection to the internet is as strong as possible.
It is important that you ensure the space is private and that you cannot be interrupted or overheard. You are strongly encouraged to make any necessary arrangements with anyone you may normally share the location with to ensure that your protected space can be achieved.
Recording of sessions:
To maintain our high-level professional accreditations, we are required to audio or video record some therapy sessions to be discussed within our clinical supervision. It is important to note that there is no expectation or requirement for you to agree to this, but please let us know if you would feel happy for your session to be recorded for this purpose.
We are occasionally asked by clients if they can record our session to listen again in their own time. In most circumstances this will be fine, but please note that you must gain our written consent in advance. Clients are not permitted to record sessions without receiving our written consent. This applies to any form of recording device including phones and live Zoom/WhatsApp/Teams etc.
You must not record the session without discussing and agreeing this with us first. It is not permitted, under any circumstances, that any agreed recording is shared with others or in any social media platform.
Cancellations:
You have a 14-day cooling-off period from booking online appointments, during which you can cancel without penalty. However, if your appointment is scheduled to begin within this 14-day period your right to cancel will not apply.
For cancellations made with fewer than 48 hours' notice, a full session charge will apply. This policy applies to face-to-face, online, or telephone sessions.
If, due to exceptional circumstances you cancel an appointment without giving at least 48 hours in working days prior notice we will consider the circumstances and, in our discretion, decide whether to waive any charges.
We will always try to arrange for another client to attend to avoid you having to pay the cancellation fee. However, it is not usually possible to book another patient at such short notice. If you cannot attend in person, an online or telephone consultation will be offered instead.
Cancellations with fewer than 48 hours’ notice, or failures to attend are likely to be counted as one of your designated appointments, where funding is via a health insurance company, your employer, the local authority and/or is provided as part of a legal process. You should check with your health insurance policy or the fee payer to ensure you know when they will and will not cover your costs.
We may cancel an appointment booked by you at any time before the time and date of that appointment in the following circumstances: (i) the required personnel and/or required materials necessary for the provision of the Services are not available; or (ii) an event outside of our reasonable control occurs. If we cancel an appointment in such circumstances, we will refund to you in full any advance payment that you have made to us for that appointment.
We will use all reasonable endeavours to start appointments at the time you have booked, but the start may be delayed by the overrun of a previous appointment or by other circumstances. If the start is delayed by 30 minutes or more, you may cancel the appointment and we will refund you in full any deposit or other advance payment that you have made to us for that appointment.
If we are prevented from or delayed in performing our obligations by your act or omission or by any circumstance outside our control, we will not be liable to you for any costs, charges or losses sustained or incurred by you that arise directly or indirectly from such prevention or delay.
Third-party venues
If consultations are held in person at a third-party venue, you agree to comply at all times with that venue’s policies and rules about that venue (particularly fire safety and health and safety rules).
You are responsible for your own belongings that you take to any consultations. We will not be liable for any loss, damage, theft or destruction of any of your belongings.
Fees & Payment:
We will let you know in advance what our fees are. These will either be in accordance with our current price list or as otherwise notified to you.
Payment of our fees will be due or invoiced either before or at the end of a consultation. We will let you know when you make the appointment when the fee for that session will be due and payable.
Due to high demand and in order to most effectively manage our waiting list we are unable to hold an appointment slot without payment. Payment of the initial consultation must be made in advance in order to secure your appointment.
You may pay us for Services (and for any deposit or other advance payment on account of that payment) using any of the following methods:
By BACS transfer to the following account:
Name: CJS Psychology Ltd
Bank: Santander Bank
Sort Code: 09-01-29
Account Number: 38036930
By cash or PayPal
Clients are requested to use the reference number on the invoice, so that the payment can be easily identified.
All prices of Services shown in the price list are exclusive of VAT (which is not chargeable unless we notify you otherwise).
We may alter our prices without prior notice. Increases made between the time when you book an appointment and the date of the appointment will not apply to your appointment on that date.
Chasing unpaid invoices attracts an administration and interest charge of 8% above the Bank of England base rate from the due date until the final settlement date. We may suspend the provision of our Services to you in the event that any due fees remain unpaid.
Medico-Legal Funding
For clients attending therapy as a result of a personal injury or medical negligence claims process, funding will normally be provided via their legal representative. We will invoice and collect payment from the legal representative unless otherwise agreed.
We will invoice for missed or late-cancelled (fewer than 24 hours’ notice) appointments unless under exceptional circumstances. Payment for cancelled appointments or for any failure to attend without prior notice may be the client’s own responsibility. We advise Medico-Legal clients to check with their legal representative what the arrangements for payment are in the event of missed or late-cancelled sessions.
Funding via Employer
For clients attending therapy through a direct arrangement with their employer or the employer’s representative, we normally invoice and collect payment from the employer or the representative unless otherwise agreed.
Invoices are sent monthly to the employer or representative. Payment for cancelled appointments or for any failure to attend without prior notice may be the client’s own responsibility. We advise clients to check with their employer or their representative what the arrangements for payment are in the event of missed or late-cancelled sessions.
Funding via local authority
For clients attending therapy through a direct arrangement with a local authority, we normally invoice and collect payment from the local authority unless otherwise agreed.
Invoices are sent monthly to the local authority. Payment for cancelled appointments or for any failure to attend without prior notice may be the client’s own responsibility. We advise clients to check with the local authority what the arrangements for payment are in the event of missed or late-cancelled sessions. Where three sessions in a row are missed or there is a regular pattern of missed appointments, sessions may be placed on hold pending a review with the local authority and subsequently terminated following the outcome of the review.
Private healthcare funding
Our Clinical Psychologists are registered as clinical practitioners with a number of healthcare providers including BUPA, Aviva, AXA, Vitality Health, Healix and WPA. Each provider and every healthcare plan has different rules and regulations of engagement. As the insurance policy holder, you are responsible for checking with the insurer how many sessions will be funded and whether you have the responsibility to part-pay the fee.
If the Services are being covered by your private healthcare insurance (e.g. AXA, Aviva, BUPA, etc.) please provide us with the name of the insurance company, your policy number and authorisation code.
We are not party to any contract between you and your insurance provider.
Please note that some insurance companies will not pay for any missed/cancelled appointments, and in such circumstances, you will be fully liable to pay the full costs to us (see above). You should check your health insurance policy to ensure you know when they will and will not cover your costs.
If you are obliged to pay any excess or part payments as part of your health insurance policy, then these will be paid by you directly to us as per the terms set out above.
In cases where your treatment is being covered in full by a health insurance company then payment of our charges will be made by your health insurance company and the payment terms in this section will not apply to you except for missed treatments (see above).
Pro Bono Services Clause
Sentient Psychology is committed to providing access to psychological services for individuals who may not have the means to afford them. As part of our commitment to the community and social responsibility, we offer a limited number of pro bono services each year to eligible clients. These services are subject to availability and certain criteria to ensure that we can assist those most in need.
Eligibility and Application: To apply for pro bono services, individuals must submit an application detailing their circumstances, financial situation, and the nature of the psychological support they are seeking. The Practice reserves the right to request additional documentation or information to verify eligibility. Priority will be given to applicants demonstrating significant need and where the provision of psychological services can have a profound impact.
Selection Process: Applications for pro bono services will be reviewed by a committee within the Practice on a quarterly basis. Due to limited availability, not all applicants will be guaranteed pro bono services. Applicants will be notified of the committee's decision within [one month] of submission.
Terms of Pro Bono Services: Pro bono services provided by Sentient Psychology are subject to the same professional standards, confidentiality agreements, and quality of care as our fee-based services. Recipients of pro bono services agree to adhere to the Practice's policies, including appointment scheduling and cancellation policies.
Duration and Extent of Services: The duration and extent of pro bono services will be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the individual's needs and the Practice's capacity. The Practice reserves the right to limit the number of pro bono sessions per individual.
Review and Continuation: The need for continuation of pro bono services will be reviewed regularly between the client and their Clinical Psychologist. Decisions regarding the continuation or conclusion of pro bono services will be made based on the client's progress, current needs, and the availability of pro bono services within the Practice.
Confidentiality: All information related to the application for, and provision of, pro bono services will be treated with the same confidentiality as all client information in accordance with our Privacy Policy and professional standards. By applying for pro bono services, applicants consent to the use of their anonymised data for the purpose of evaluating and improving the Practice’s pro bono services.
Confidentiality:
The information discussed in our consultations with you is of a confidential nature. We provide a safe place in which you can share your feelings and thoughts with us.
Our commitment to client confidentiality is not affected by who pays for the service provided by us.
We will ensure that any confidential information you disclose to us shall not be disclosed to any person except as permitted in this section.
We may disclose confidential information relating to you (i) to our employees, advisers, other healthcare professionals or social agencies who need to know such information for the purposes of carrying out our Services to you; (ii) as may be required by law, a court of competent jurisdiction or any governmental or regulatory authority; and/or (iii) if we believe that you are at risk of harming yourself or others, in which case we are entitled to report this to the relevant organisation. Where possible any breach of confidentiality related to risk of harm will be discussed with you first.
We shall not use your confidential information for any purpose other than to perform our obligations under these Therapy Terms.
We shall ensure that any person to whom we disclose your confidential information to in this section also complies with these confidentiality obligations.
It is a requirement for all Clinical Psychologists to have regular Clinical Supervision sessions in which they discuss their work in a safe and confidential space with an equally or more experienced colleague. All work that is discussed in these sessions is completely anonymised. Supervisors are bound by the same professional and ethical regulations as our practitioners and do not discuss clinical material outside of the supervisory context.
Safeguarding:
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our clients, particularly children, young people, and vulnerable adults. We have a comprehensive Safeguarding Policy in place which all our practitioners adhere to, and which is regularly reviewed and updated in line with current legislation and best practice guidelines.
Our safeguarding procedures are designed to ensure that all clients receive our services in a safe environment, free from abuse, neglect, or harm. We maintain a duty of care to protect clients from physical, emotional, sexual, financial abuse, and neglect.
All our Clinical Psychologists receive regular safeguarding training and are aware of their responsibilities under relevant legislation including the Care Act 2014, Children Act 1989/2004, and Mental Capacity Act 2005.
If we have concerns about your safety or the safety of others (including children or vulnerable adults), we have a professional and legal duty to take appropriate action. This may include sharing information with relevant agencies such as social services, the police, or other healthcare professionals, even if this means breaching confidentiality. Where possible, we will discuss our concerns with you first unless doing so would place you or others at greater risk.
If you have any concerns about safeguarding matters, please discuss these with your therapist.
How We Use Your/the Patient’s Personal Information (Data Protection)
We will only use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy on our website at www.sententientpsychology.co.uk. If you do not have access to the internet we can provide you with a printed version of our Privacy Policy.
We are registered as Data Controllers with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
In certain circumstances, we may be required to share your personal and sensitive data for medico-legal purposes. This includes instances where your therapy is part of a legal process, such as personal injury or medical negligence claims, or if required by a court order. In such cases, consent may not be necessary. We will ensure that any data shared for these purposes will be done in accordance with applicable data protection laws and only to the extent necessary for the medico-legal purposes.
We retain all therapy records for 7 years following the end of treatment, or until age 25 for clients who were under 18 (whichever is longer), in accordance with professional guidelines.
Records are securely destroyed after the retention period using certified document destruction services, secure shredding and secure digital deletion.
In the event the practice closes, you will be notified in advance about arrangements in relation to your records, including options for transfer to another practitioner or secure destruction.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI): We integrate artificial intelligence (AI) tools and technologies into our service offerings to enhance efficiency, productivity, and the quality of our services. These AI tools may assist with a variety of our business tasks.
We ensure that the use of AI is transparent, and that clients are informed about the extent to which AI tools are used in the course of delivering our services. The tools we are using are set out in the table below. Where the tool is provided by a third party provider, they will be acting as a data processor for us, and so we have included a link to their privacy policy which you should read to check you are comfortable with their use of your data.
Any data processed by AI tools will be handled in compliance with applicable data protection legislation. Please see our Privacy Policy here www.sentientpsychology.co.uk for further information about the data we are collecting and processing when using these AI systems. We will ensure that all AI tools used are configured to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of client data. Please be assured that we implement security safeguards to protect any data input into these AI systems.
You have the right to request further details regarding our use of AI in your particular case and you may ask us to review how your personal data is processed by AI tools and request corrections if necessary. Please contact us at info@drcharlotteswift.co.uk if you would like to exercise any of the above rights.
Note-keeping
Brief notes are made after each session in order to recall information and support our work together. Notes are kept securely, according to the Data Protection Act (2018). Notes are not kept on a computer.
These will be kept as electronic password-protected documents on a password-protected computer.
We retain ownership of notes but we are happy to discuss their contents with you and you also have a right to access them formally. Should you wish to do this, please contact us in accordance with the Your Rights section of our Privacy Policy.
It is possible for the courts to access notes should they need to in relation to a matter of public interest. In this unlikely event, you will be informed before the notes are released.
If we need to send emails that contain detailed information about your therapy (for example to yourself or to your GP), we will attach the information as a password protected word document, with the password sent separately. We encourage you to do the same if you need to email us detailed information.
Limitation of Liability:
We will provide our therapy services with reasonable care and skill in accordance with professional standards.
We will be responsible for any loss or damage you suffer that is a reasonably foreseeable result of our breach of these terms or our negligence.
We will not be responsible for:
Loss or damage that could not reasonably have been expected when we agreed to provide services to you; nor for
Any loss caused by factors outside our reasonable control.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our responsibility for:
Death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
Any other liability that cannot be excluded under law
Therapy is a collaborative process, and outcomes can vary between individuals. While we cannot guarantee specific results nor promise to provide a diagnosis, we are committed to providing professional, ethical care in accordance with established clinical standards.
Your consumer rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and other consumer protection legislation are not affected by these terms.
Changes to these Therapy Terms:
We may from time to time change these Therapy Terms without giving you notice, but we will use our reasonable endeavours to inform you as soon as is reasonably possible of any such change.
Complaints and Standards:
We are committed to providing as helpful and compassionate a service as possible to meet the needs of all our clients.
We always welcome feedback from our clients and, whilst we shall use all reasonable endeavours to provide a high standard of service, care and treatment to all clients and patients, we nevertheless want to hear from you if you have any cause for complaint. If you have any complaint about our Services or any other complaint about us, please raise the matter with Dr Charlotte Swift, Clinical Psychologist, who can be contacted at info@drcharlotteswift.co.uk or 07376 311290.
You may wish to raise your concern directly with the Health and Care Professions Council, should you feel you have encountered an issue of fitness to practise. This can be done at www.hcpc-uk.org/concerns/raising-concerns/
Crisis management and emergencies
The type of psychological work offered is not suited to managing emergencies or crisis.
We do not provide any out-of-hours emergency support. We are not available for therapeutic support outside normal working hours Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm. We cannot respond to emergency calls, texts, or emails outside these hours
If you require urgent help between appointments then please contact your GP, use the NHS 111 service for advice, phone 999 or attend A&E. You can also contact the Samaritans’ anonymous helpline on 116 123 or Childline on 0800 1111 (for those under 19 years).
Therapeutic Boundaries
18.1 Physical contact is generally not part of our therapeutic approach. Any physical contact (such as a handshake) will only occur with your explicit consent and for therapeutic purposes.
18.2 We cannot accept gifts from clients. This helps maintain appropriate professional boundaries.
18.3 We cannot provide therapy to individuals with whom we have other significant personal, professional, or business relationships.
18.4 We do not engage in social relationships with clients during or after therapy. This includes social media connections and social events outside of therapy. We do not connect with clients on social media platforms and ask that you do not send friend requests or contact us through social media channels.
General
We insist that we do not meet you face to face if you are experiencing symptoms of an infectious illness, e.g. Covid, influenza or chest infection. Online or telephone sessions can be arranged instead, should you be well enough.
Appointment times or other queries can be clarified by contacting Dr Charlotte Swift on 07376 311290 or info@drcharlotteswift.co.uk.
During planned absences (holidays, training), we will provide you with 2 weeks’ advance notice where possible. Emergency cover arrangements can be discussed if needed.
If you need to contact us between appointments please do so by email or telephone. We do not provide therapeutic support outside of therapy sessions. Our working hours are Monday – Friday 9am-6pm. We aim to respond to emails/voicemails within 24 hours.
If we are unable to continue providing services due to long-term illness, retirement, or other circumstances, we will assist with appropriate referrals and transfer of care arrangements where clinically appropriate
If you have any questions regarding these Therapy Terms, please do not hesitate to discuss with us, either in a session or by contacting us.
If we do not enforce a right straight away, that doesn’t mean we have waived it. If any part of these terms is found invalid, the rest still apply.
If a court or regulator decides that any part of these terms is invalid or unenforceable, the rest of the terms will still apply.
Governing law and jurisdiction
These Therapy Terms are subject to the laws of England & Wales and the jurisdiction of the English Courts.
As a consumer, you will benefit from any mandatory provisions of the law in your country of residency.
