Questions clients ask

Thirty minutes, no obligation. You tell me something about where you are and what you are looking for. I ask a few questions and mostly listen. By the end we will have a clearer sense of whether this is right.

If I think you would be better served by a different kind of help, I will say so, and we will think together about what to do.

There is nothing to prepare. Most people begin with some version of "I'm not sure where to start", which is a perfectly good place to start.

Both, and you do not have to choose.

Some of the work looks more like coaching: decisions, transitions, patterns, and how you want to inhabit your life. Some looks more like counselling: older material, the places where something became knotted, feelings that arrive as an image before they arrive as words.

I blend the two where it serves the work. At the same time, I am careful about the frame we are working within. If it becomes clear that you would benefit from a more focused therapeutic process, or if we are working in a specific counselling or coaching context, I will name that explicitly. We will check in together, agree the approach, and, where needed, recontract so that we are both clear about the purpose, boundaries, and expectations of the work.

The approach is always led by what is most helpful for you, rather than by rigid categories.

We agree on the rhythm together. Individual sessions are weekly for 50 minutes or fortnightly for 90 minutes. Relational sessions are weekly for 60 minutes or fortnightly for 90 minutes.

I ask for an initial commitment of eight weeks. This gives us time to establish a trusting relationship and allows the work to deepen before deciding together what comes next.

At the end of those first eight weeks, we will review how the process is unfolding and whether the current rhythm and format still feel right. After that, I suggest a review every six to eight sessions for individual work, and every four to six sessions for relational work. Either of us can ask for a review at any point if something important arises.

Following the initial eight-week commitment, you can choose to end the work at any time.Where possible, I ask for one session's notice so that we have the opportunity to bring the work to a thoughtful close rather than ending abruptly. Endings, in this work, are part of the work.

Yes, with limits, and it is better you know them now than discover them later.

In line with the NCPS Code of Ethical Practice and the EMCC Global Code of Ethics, confidentiality may need to be set aside if:

• There is a serious risk of harm to you or to another identifiable person, including a child or vulnerable adult
• Something is disclosed relating to acts of terrorism, money laundering, or other matters I am legally required to report
• A court of competent jurisdiction requires me by order to disclose

Wherever possible I will try to speak with you first, and I will share only what is necessary.

I discuss my work in regular professional supervision, as both my professional bodies require. My supervisor is bound by the same confidentiality. Supervision is a protection for the work, and for you.

After each session I keep brief factual notes: date, length, and a short professional record of the work. I do not keep verbatim transcripts or recordings.

I am the data controller for your information and am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office. Notes are held securely on password-protected, encrypted devices, retained for seven years after our work ends, and then securely destroyed unless a longer period is required by law or by my professional bodies.

You have the right to ask what I hold, request a copy, ask for inaccuracies to be corrected, and, within the limits of my record-keeping obligations, request deletion. If you are ever concerned about how I handle your data, raise it with me first. If we cannot resolve it, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Because of the confidentiality limits above. I ask for them at intake, and I would only use them where there is serious risk to your life or safety, or to someone else's. You consent to that specifically when you complete the intake form, and I would try to speak with you first.

In relational work the relationship itself is my client, not either of you separately. I will not take sides, and I cannot be enlisted as an ally by one of you against the other. If I feel that pull in the room, I will name it.

I work to a no-secrets policy. If I meet one of you individually, which is occasional rather than routine, I will not withhold from the other anything I judge material to the work. I will not take on secrets and I will not carry messages. If there is something you feel you cannot say to the other person, this is not the right space for it, and I will tell you so.

That policy is what makes joint work safe. It means neither of you can be quietly disadvantaged by what the other has told me privately.

Two consequences are worth knowing.

If one of you ends the relational work and the other wishes to continue, I cannot simply continue with one person individually, because my work has been with the relationship and the relational system between you.

If, after the relational work has ended, one of you would like to explore individual work with me, we can discuss whether that feels appropriate. I would usually suggest a period of separation before beginning individual work (for example, four weeks), so that there is clarity about the change in the therapeutic frame and enough space to consider what is in everyone’s best interests.

If one of you becomes an individual client, I would not be able to return to working with you as a couple in the future, as this would create a different kind of therapeutic relationship and boundary.

Where ongoing individual work with me is not appropriate, I will support you with an onward referral.

Because my notes may refer to both of you, if one of you requests access I may need to redact material relating to the other, to protect their rights.

33A James Street West, Bath BA1 2BT. I work on the first floor and We have a room on the ground floor as well, with a waiting area.

The layout of the building does not allow wheelchair access. I would rather tell you that here than have you arrive and find out. If you use a wheelchair, or if getting to Bath is difficult for any other reason, we can work online instead, and the work is not diminished by it.

There is no parking at the building itself, but both free and paid parking are within walking distance, and the location is central enough to reach on foot from the station.

 If you have any other access need, tell me at the first conversation and I will be straightforward with you about what is and is not possible.

Online Sessions take place online via Google Meet, in English or Italian. The meeting link is included in your appointment confirmation email and remains the same for the duration of our work together.

I ask only that you find a private space where you feel able to speak openly, and I do the same at my end.

In my experience, online and in-person work can both provide a meaningful space for reflection and change. Some people find the presence of a screen creates a helpful sense of distance, making certain things easier to say rather than harder. Others value the familiarity and flexibility of working online. What matters most is creating a space where the work can happen with privacy, attention, and trust.

Email and short texts are welcome for practical things: scheduling, confirming, rearranging. They are not a channel for the work itself.

Please do not use email, text or WhatsApp for material that needs the space of a session.
I usually reply within two working days, Monday to Friday. I do not reply in the evenings, at weekends, or while I am on leave.

English or Italian, and you can move between them. Many people need one language for some material and the other for the rest. That is useful information rather than a problem.

Then we will say so. Sometimes it becomes clear in the first conversation, and sometimes only after we have begun working together. I will be honest about whether I think this is the right kind of support for you, and I hope you will also trust your own sense of whether the work feels like a good fit. Where I can, I will suggest other places to look or routes of support.

My work is relational and developmental. It is not a service for acute mental health crises, severe addiction, active suicidality, or psychiatric conditions requiring medical care. For relational work, it is also not suited to situations involving active abuse, undisclosed ongoing infidelity, or untreated addiction.

If you are currently receiving other psychological or psychiatric care, please tell me. It does not necessarily rule anything out, but it changes what would be appropriate and how we would need to work.

• To arrive on time. Sessions begin and end at the agreed time, so lateness shortens the session.
• To come sober and not under the influence of anything that would prevent us working.
• To tell me if you are receiving other psychological or psychiatric care.
• To tell me, as honestly as you can, if something in the work is not landing. The work depends on it. 

In relational work I also ask that you speak for yourself and about your own experience, rather than diagnosing or speaking for the other person.

I am an Accredited Registrant of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society, MNCPS (Acc.), a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. I hold EMCC Global Individual Accreditation at Senior Practitioner level.

I work to the NCPS Code of Ethical Practice and the EMCC Global Code of Ethics. Both are published in full and you are welcome to read them. 

I receive regular professional supervision and hold current professional indemnity and public liability insurance, as both bodies require.

Bring it to me first. Much of what matters can be worked with directly, and I would rather hear it.

If that does not resolve it, you are entitled to take the matter further through either professional body. Both have formal complaints processes for their registered members and both are independent of me.

I hold a clinical will, as NCPS and EMCC guidance advises. If I became suddenly unable to continue our work through illness, incapacity or death, a named professional colleague would contact you, hold any records securely, and where appropriate help you find suitable onward support. Your confidentiality is maintained throughout.

No. Our relationship is a professional one, and I will not enter a personal, social, business or sexual relationship with you while we are working together. I am careful about contact after the work ends too. Both of my professional codes require this, and it exists to protect the integrity of the work.

If we meet in public I will follow your lead and will not acknowledge our connection unless you do.