What is counselling?
Counselling happens when someone hires a trained professional to work with them on either (1) promoting safety or (2) facilitating change.
My work is focused on empowerment, and my aim is to make an impact in your life that is lasting and positive.
Client Rights
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You are my boss.
I welcome to you to accept, reject, modify or challenge any of my recommendations or interventions.
I strongly assert your right to be “all done” within the context of one meeting or our larger work with only a moment’s notice. You have the right to rescind consent and terminate my services without fear or judgment.
If I provide services to your adolescent or child, I assert their right to see me for one or two ‘goodbye’ sessions to promote continuity of care and healthy conclusions.
You have a right to an apology if I make a mistake.
If I make a mistake, I would sincerely value the opportunity to provide one of the best apologies you have ever received. If you are nervous to tell me about my mistake, I would be appreciate of the opportunity to provide access to a senior psychologist who could act as a neutral mediator so you could be supported and we could resolve how I can apologize or even make restitution for my mistake.
You have a right to initiate a professional complaint against me with the College of Alberta Psychologists.
I aim to honour all of your client rights.
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You have a right to know what is confidential and what is not confidential.
As a general rule, I will only share information about you if I am legally required to do so (for example: subpoena or child protection laws), or if I am extremely worried about your safety or the safety of someone else.
I will take steps to protect a child or a vulnerable person from danger, including sharing information.
If I must share information to protect the welfare of an animal, I will do that.
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There are limits to confidentiality, which include the following:
You are at imminent risk of harming yourself or others.
There is reasonable cause to suspect abuse or neglect of a child or vulnerable adult (e.g. senior, person with disability, dependant adult).
if a court of law is requesting information for legal reasons.
If you request disclosure of your information.
if you file a complaint or claim professional liability by a counsellor in a lawsuit, your information may be subject for disclosure.
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You have a right to individualized care, and to be educated about alternatives.
This means I will offer alternative modalities of general assessment/treatment for your consideration if we decide to work on creating change together.
My CV is available to you. I update it annually or more frequently.
My CV lists my trainings. Generally speaking, I am a counselling professional whose work is grounded in biologically-informed attachment theories, complemented by EMDR, TA, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. I aim to emulate the work of Carl Rogers and Garry Landreth. When working with children, young people, and families, I aim to use activities. My work is influenced by training with the Rocky Mountain Play Therapy Institute.
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You have a right to contact me. You are not alone.
Because I work part-time, it can take me up to 5 business days to return client communication. When you call the office, you will likely reach voicemail. The number 780.779.1552 is a general reception line.
Text messages are only for confirming appointments. Your privacy is too important to send information through text message.
I may reach out after your meeting to check in. Follow-up communication to show that we care is a recommended intervention in the promotion of safety (Jobes, 2022).
We have the ability to automate appointment reminders via email or text message.
All communication with a third party requires a consent process and a completed “Release of Information” form.
Personal privacy is important for both me and you. If I am in public with my family, you are not permitted to approach me or them to discuss our therapeutic alliance or our work. I would be happy to set up a future meeting time with you.
I engage in quality assurance processes, and value the opportunity to follow-up on files to ask clients questions regarding whether they felt heard and respected.
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You have a right to a quality service. There are probable benefits and potential risks to receiving psychological services and we will talk about them.
Therapy has been shown to have significant benefits just from talking about what is going on with someone who thinks highly of you.
We will not go too deep in the first meetings. We are still strangers, and that could feel uncomfortable.
Our work will proceed at your pace, and honest feedback is important in the facilitation of your services.
Cost
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The Psychologists Association of Alberta sets the fee for a hour of counselling therapy at $235 for 50 minutes + 10 minutes of note taking.
I practice something called open notes, which means that you get to see what is written about you. I integrate that 10 minutes, and we work together for 60 minutes.
You have the right to longer or shorter appointments, but we must decide beforehand. Fees are prorated to match the duration.
More information on fees is available upon request. There is further information for matters pertaining to: children, separation and divorce files, disability files, legal matters, subpeonas, and release of information requests.
I aim to reduce barriers to access. Some sliding scale sessions are available; I do limit these, and they are not always available.
If your circumstances change unexpectedly during our work together, and this change of circumstances would prevent you from continuing with me, I warmly welcome you to tell me. It is important to me that your care be continuous.
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My office may be available to support you with direct billing, depending on the insurer or third party. Psychologists generally cannot direct bill Sunlife.
Please note that payment in full is required prior to attending any subsequent meetings.
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If you do not attend, and you do not warn us, you may be charged the full session fee. We will not be able to submit that to benefits for you.
Additionally, if you arrive late to a session, the session will still terminate at the scheduled time, and the session rate will still be required.
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If you cancel with 3 hours notice, you will not be billed. Within 3 hours, you will be charged 50% of your fee. We will not be able to submit that to benefits.
If you do not warn me with a cancellation call or email, and you do not attend your meeting, you will be charged the amount for the full hour because that time was set aside for you and made unavailable to others.
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Please cancel if you fall ill. There will be no charge.
Benefits, Alternatives & Risks of Action and Non-Action
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You have a right to a quality service. There are probable benefits and potential risks to receiving psychological services and we will talk about them.
Therapy has been shown to have significant benefits just from talking about what is going on with someone who thinks highly of you.
Therapy can lead to a significant reduction in stress, improved relationships, enhanced coping and problem solving abilities, development of new skills, a change in unwanted behaviours, improved self-esteem, improved acceptance of oneself, and/or their situation and greater insight into personal goals and values.
Additional benefits include:
changes in mood
improved relationships
increased self-awareness
better communication and boundaries
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There can be risks. Counselling can bring up uncomfortable sensations, emotions, and thoughts. I may challenge your thoughts, values, and behaviours, and you may not like that.
Additional risks include:
discussing uncomfortable topics
feeling worse before feeling better
limits to privacy and confidentiality (see section on Client Rights)
technology failure (online therapy)
risk of misunderstanding due to absence of visual cues (online therapy)
Additionally, there are other risks associated with working with a psychologist. If you (or anyone connected to you) does initiate a complaint or any legal action against me, most unfortunately, my lawyers and I may exercise the right to use whatever information I know about you to defend me and my practice. This is a risk of working with a Registered Psychologist.
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You have a right to know that non-action may have consequences.
For example, stopping therapy abruptly, in a way that interrupts a longer-term therapy (like EMDR), may have negative side effects.
If, in therapy, you learn that there is a change you could make, and you then exercise your right to not do that thing, the consequences will be yours to live with. I firmly believe in your liberty, inner wisdom, and self-governance, and I will let you experience the consequences of your actions and non-actions.
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There are many alternatives to talk therapy, EMDR, expressive/arts, and play-based therapies. Clients may find relief using practices such as, but not limited to: self help materials, peer support, time in nature, hobbies, sports, teams, groups, and/or medication.
If I cannot offer the interventions or modality that would best serve you (ie. intensive DBT, couples therapy, dually-facilitated group work), I will refer you to another professional for that goal.
There is wisdom in the choices you make. We will honour your choices as they occur.
If I cannot help you, I may offer a list of names of other professionals in the province whose skills match your aims.
Documentation
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Some of your information may be stored on an encrypted electronic system called Jane App. Both are legally compliant professional systems used by psychologists.
Physical items of written information will be stored in a locked compartment in a locked room. If your file or a session document is transported outside the office to my other office, it will be in a locked container.
Please note that I am required to document all professional contact we have. This includes any interactions within our community (grocery store, rec centre, etc.).
If you ask me to share information about you with a third party, I will ask that we sit down and complete a consent process for that release of information during which time I will want to discuss the potential benefits and risks of sharing private information.
I work as part of a team. This includes my accountant, a bookkeeper and an administrative support person. Your name will typically not be provided to the accountant. My bookkeeper and receptionist are front line staff for me, and so they may learn your name, and about our financial transactions. Session material is unavailable to them. I have consultants. They generally won’t learn your name, but I may discuss our work with them. Notes are only available to me.
In order to protect you, if I were to suddenly die or become permanently hospitalized, there is a plan in place for another psychologist and/or lawyer to assume a custodial responsibility for your sensitive information.
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I aim to be transparent with my clients. I appreciate the opportunity to review notes at the end of every session with you.
To release your file, I require advanced notice, and then we would sit down to review your file. It can take up to 30 days notice for me to prepare to review a file with you. There are significant potential risks to releasing a counselling file, and I will aim to educate you about the significant potential risks. There may be a cost to prepare a file.
I will only keep some information hidden from you if I am seriously worried about your safety.
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All communication with a third party requires a consent process and a completed “Release of Information” form.
Boundaries
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I have a responsibility to offer ethical psychological services to you, to promote safety and to facilitate change.
You have a responsibility to be honest with me, and to communicate what is working and what is not working.
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I do not offer formal assessment services at this time. I do not gather information for a diagnosis in my records. My notes document the promotion of safety and the facilitation of change.
I am not a forensic psychologist, and I am unable to provide expert testimony in court on your behalf (I can only be called as a fact witness who retrieves file information).
If the context of our work dramatically shifts outside of the scope of our current goals (for example: you become involved with a third party disability insurer like WCB), I may not have the time or ability to continue our work.
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I am required to document all professional contact we have. If we run into each other in the community and there is discussion of our working alliance or our work together, I will document our interaction. I frequently visit exercise facilities, grocery stores, schools, and playgrounds for the people in my own life.
If I am in public with my family, you are not permitted to approach me or them to discuss our therapeutic alliance or our work. If you greet me, even from afar, and the situation arises that my child asks me how you know me, I will typically state something vague like “I know them from town.”
Your Intuitions & Right to Say “No”
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To help you understand your right to informed consent, remember the B.R.A.I.N. acronym for therapy.
B. Benefits. A counsellor's job is to promote change and create safety. Understand the benefits associated with counselling (see above section on benefits).
R. Risks. Engaging in counselling does come with risks (see above section on Risks of Action).
A. Alternatives. it is important to understand that there are alternatives to counselling (see above section on Alternatives).
I. Intuition. Trust your gut. Use your intuition to determine whether counselling is right for you.
N. No. You are in charge, and you have the right to say no during your counselling session.
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Use your intuition to determine whether counselling is right for you.
Ask yourself the following questions:
How do I feel about this counsellor?
Can I see myself working with this person?
Is now a good time to be in counselling?
Am I ready to make changes?
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You have the right to say "No".
Unless there are safety concerns, you have the right to say:
No
Yes
Pass
Maybe, or
I don't know
