Informed Consent & Crisis Protocol
What online psychotherapy involves, the limits of confidentiality and what to do in a crisis. Please read before your first session.
1. Purpose of this document
This document explains what online psychotherapy with the Provider involves, so you can give informed consent before your first Session. Please read it carefully and ask any questions before you confirm.
2. What the Services are, and are not
Psychotherapy and counseling are a collaborative process aimed at supporting your wellbeing, understanding and change. It is delivered online, or in person where agreed.
It is not a medical or psychiatric emergency service, not a diagnostic or prescribing service, and not a substitute for medical care. Therapy and counseling can bring benefits, and it can also raise difficult emotions along the way. Outcomes vary from person to person and cannot be guaranteed.
3. Suitability of online work
Remote therapy and counseling suits many people and situations, but not all. It may not be appropriate where there is acute risk, severe or unstable symptoms, or a need for in-person or higher-intensity care. The Provider will discuss suitability with you and may recommend a different or additional level of care where that is in your interest.
4. Confidentiality and its limits
What you share is confidential and protected as described in Part I clause 9 and Part II. There are limited situations where the Provider may need to act or disclose information, namely:
- a serious and imminent risk to your life or safety;
- a serious and imminent risk to another identifiable person;
- a concern for the safety or welfare of a child or vulnerable adult;
- a requirement imposed by a court or by law.
Wherever it is safe and possible, the Provider will talk this through with you before taking any step, and will act in the least intrusive way consistent with keeping people safe.
You should also know that the Provider takes their own casework to regular professional supervision as a standard part of good practice. Your work may therefore be discussed, in anonymised form, with the Provider’s supervisor, purely to keep your care safe and effective. The supervisor is bound by professional confidentiality. This is a routine safeguard, and by beginning therapy you acknowledge that your care is supported in this way.
5. Emergency contact and safety information
Because online Sessions are remote and scheduled, the Provider cannot offer immediate help between Sessions and cannot respond to crises in real time. To keep you safe, before therapy begins, and in particular for online work, we will agree:
- an emergency contact person you nominate;
- for online Sessions, your location during the Session, so that in an emergency the correct local services can be reached;
- your GP or local health service, where relevant.
6. Crisis Protocol
If you are in immediate danger, or you are thinking about harming yourself or someone else, do not wait for a Session. Get help now using the options below.
If you are in Bulgaria
- Emergency services: call 112 (single European emergency number).
If you are outside Bulgaria
- Call your local emergency number (112 across the EU) or go to your nearest emergency department.
- Contact a local crisis or suicide-prevention helpline in your country.
Between sessions
E-mail and messages to the Provider are not monitored continuously and must not be used for emergencies. If you contact the Provider about a crisis, you may not receive an immediate reply, so please use the emergency options above first.
7. Your responsibilities
- For online Sessions, take part from a private, safe space with a stable connection.
- Give accurate information about your health and circumstances, including any risk to your safety.
- Follow any safety plan agreed with the Provider.
- Tell the Provider if you move to a different country or location, as this can affect safety planning and the suitability of remote work.
8. Recording
Sessions are not recorded unless you and the Provider expressly agree in advance and in writing. You are equally asked not to record Sessions without the Provider’s agreement, to protect the confidentiality of the work.
9. Consent
By confirming acceptance before your first Session, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this document, that you have had the chance to ask questions, that you understand the limits of online therapy and of confidentiality, and that you agree to the safety arrangements described above.