The type of policies and procedures you require if you are a sole-trader is for the most part your decision however under BACP guidelines it is best and ethical practice to have a written contract and if you store clients personal details (which counsellors do) you are legally required to be registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) and have a privacy policy.
Writing policies and procedures can be a time-consuming and exhausting process. I have written policies and procedures for 3 of my own services as well as when contracted to do so for other organisations and spent months researching, trialing, testing and reviewing my policies. That is why I have provided you with the option to buy my counselling templates listed below.
- A counselling contract: This gives an overview of all the information clients will need for attending counselling with you.
- A referral form.
- A cancelation policy: This goes more in-depth to your cancelation procedure.
- A confidentiality policy: This explains what confidentiality is and the limits of your confidentiality.
- A safeguarding policy: This explains your safeguarding procedure, when you may break confidentiality and to whom, as well as the option to list relevant safeguarding numbers.
- A counselling risk assessment: This is not for risk assessing client material in session but your risk assessment to undertake the task of counselling.
- An information/notes pack: this pack provides information on why I have written the policies the way I have, guidance surrounding the law and best practice as well as some potential options on what you may want your specific policy to be. You’ll also notice I haven’t included a privacy policy, this is because the BACP have provided an excellent resource for writing a privacy policy and the ICO have developed a privacy policy generator. Your privacy policy is very unique to you so I advise spending the time writing this using ICO resources. However, I know how difficult that can be and the tension in not having clear guidance, therefore in my information pack I have included information on privacy policies.
All my policies are copyrighted and once you purchase the templates I do not accept any responsibility of the templates. After purchase they are yours to be maintained, updates and ensure you are working within your membership bodies ethical framework and within the law.
