Initial consultation
All psychotherapy starts with some initial consultation sessions in which we discuss your current problem and broader situation in detail and your reasons for thinking about starting therapy. Relationships, social, work situations and past experiences will be explored. You will be able to find out more about my approach to therapy and how it might help you through having these initial consultation sessions with me. There is no commitment to on-going work during this initial consultation period.The initial three sessions represent a time for enquiry. We can use these sessions to explore the reasons for wanting to come for therapy and what would like to be achieved, with perhaps more questions than normal in order to get a sense of your childhood background and formative experiences. Ideally, these sessions would be scheduled weekly for three weeks in order to get a 'feel' if therapy is right for you.
There is no commitment during this period of meeting. If for whatever reason it feels that therapy will not be right, we can consider different options or other possible referrals if that is more appropriate.
Starting therapy
If we do decide to continue together, then we would agree upon a regular session times on a weekly or twice weekly on-going basis. The establishment of the regularity of your session times is an important element within the therapy as it assists in creating a secure and containing structure, which is fundamental to the overall psychotherapeutic process.Payment
The initial consultation sessions are paid for at the end of each session via cheque, cash or bank transfer. Subsequently, sessions are paid for on a monthly basis at the end of the month and payment is made by bank transfer.
Terms
Once the initial consultation period is completed, then we agree on a therapeutic contract of our work together. My contract for working includes the following:- Once we have agreed on session time during the week, this is 'your' session times. If for some reason you cannot make that particular session time during the week, I will do my best to accommodate another session time during the same week if it is possible (ideally with a minimum of a week's notice given), but if that is not possible, you will be charged for the missed session.
- Obviously, I do not charge when I am away/not working. My standard breaks are the following: two weeks at Christmas/New Year, two weeks at Easter, four weeks in August and one week for each half-term in February, May and October. There may be the occasional day when I am not working due to a professional development commitments and for which I will endeavour to give as much notice as possible.
- I charge for sessions missed due to client's holidays when I am working.
- Therapy can be brought to a close at any time. However, I do ideally ask for us to work towards an agreed ending in order to allow time to think through and prepare for the ending in order to have the most optimum experience possible.
- These terms (e.g. charging for missed/cancelled sessions when I am working) are standard in the psychotherapy profession
Contact details
My practice is centrally located in Cambridge between Mill Road and the train station.To arrange an appointment, please email me via the contact page on this website, email me (louise.martin17@btinternet.com) or call 07753 966091. If you would like to talk to me before booking an appointment, you are welcome to contact me to arrange for a mutually convenient time for us to have a brief conversation.