Terms & Conditions
Client Terms and Conditions
Lighter Minds Ltd – Counselling and Therapy Agreement
For adult and young people individual counselling clients | Updated August 2026
1. About the counselling service
Counselling provides a confidential, supportive space to explore thoughts, feelings, experiences and patterns. I work collaboratively and will tailor our work to your needs, preferences and agreed goals. Counselling cannot guarantee a particular outcome, and you remain responsible for the decisions and choices you make in your life.
I work within my professional competence. If I believe another practitioner or service would be more appropriate for your needs, I will discuss this with you and, where appropriate, support a referral.
2. Professional standards
I am a BACP registered counsellor and work in accordance with the current BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions. I maintain appropriate professional indemnity insurance and undertake regular clinical supervision.
BACP membership/registration number: 00853641
3. Sessions
- Standard session length: 50 mins
- Frequency: To be decided by you.
- Sessions may be offered face-to-face, by walk-and-talk, Zoom/video or telephone, as agreed.
- Counselling may be open-ended or for an agreed number of sessions. We will review our work periodically.
Please arrive or connect at the agreed time. If you arrive late, the session will normally still finish at the originally agreed time.
4. Fees and payment
Standard counselling fee: £100 per session.
Concessionary fee, where agreed: £70
Payment is due within 24 hours of the session and can be made by BACS to
Lighter Minds Ltd
Monzo
Sort code 04 00 03
Account No 85124781
Any proposed change to the session fee will be communicated in advance and discussed with you before it takes effect.
5. Cancellations and missed appointments
If you need to cancel or rearrange a session, please give at least 48 hours notice.
Sessions cancelled with less than the agreed notice may be charged at full price except where I decide that exceptional circumstances make this inappropriate.
If I need to cancel a session, you will not be charged and I will offer another appointment where possible.
If you repeatedly miss sessions or do not make contact, I may contact you to clarify whether you wish to continue. I will not assume that silence means consent to ongoing contact beyond what we have agreed.
6. Confidentiality
What you share in counselling will be treated as confidential. However, confidentiality is not absolute. At the start of our work I will explain the foreseeable limits of confidentiality so that you can make an informed decision about counselling.
I may need to consider sharing relevant information where:
- there is a serious concern about your safety or the safety of another person;
- there is a safeguarding concern involving a child or an adult at risk;
- disclosure is required or authorised by law, a court or another lawful authority;
- disclosure is otherwise legally and ethically justified.
Where it is safe and appropriate to do so, I would normally try to discuss a disclosure with you first. Any disclosure will be limited to information that is relevant and necessary in the circumstances.
7. Clinical supervision
I undertake regular clinical supervision, as required for safe and ethical practice. I may discuss aspects of our work with my supervisor. Wherever reasonably possible, information is anonymised or minimised. My supervisor is also bound by confidentiality.
8. Records, privacy and data protection
I keep appropriate records of my work. Records will be factual, adequate and relevant to the counselling service and will be stored securely in accordance with applicable UK data protection requirements.
My separate Privacy Notice explains what personal information I collect, why I use it, the lawful basis for processing it, who may have access to it, how it is protected, your data protection rights and how long records are retained.
Client counselling records will normally be retained securely for 6 years after our work ends, unless there is a legal, safeguarding, insurance or other justified reason to retain particular information for longer.
Privacy Notice location/link: www.lighterminds.co.uk
9. Contact between sessions
Our normal contact outside sessions is for practical matters such as arranging, confirming or changing appointments, unless we have specifically agreed another form of therapeutic support.
You may contact me by: email, text or phone.
Please be aware that ordinary email, text messaging and messaging platforms cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure. Please avoid sending highly sensitive information through these channels unless we have agreed an appropriate method.
I do not provide a 24-hour crisis or emergency service and may not be able to respond immediately to messages.
10. Emergencies and crisis support
If you believe that you or somebody else is in immediate danger, counselling contact should not be used as a substitute for emergency help. Please contact the appropriate emergency or urgent healthcare service.
If significant risk arises during our work, we will discuss an appropriate safety plan and other sources of support where possible.
11. Online and telephone sessions
For remote sessions, please use a private space where you feel able to speak freely. I will also take reasonable steps to protect privacy at my end.
Technology can occasionally fail. If a video or telephone connection is lost, we will use the following agreed backup arrangement: for example, I will telephone you if we lose the Zoom connection.
Sessions will not be recorded by me unless this has been specifically discussed and appropriate consent has been obtained. You must not record a session without my prior agreement.
12. Walk-and-talk and face-to-face work
Where we agree to work outdoors, we will discuss the practical limits of privacy because we may encounter other people. We will also consider weather, accessibility and physical safety. Either of us may request an alternative format where appropriate.
Face-to-face location(s):
Clock Chambers Therapy Rooms, Space To Breathe, 6 Hotel Street, Leicester, LE1 5AW
BWB Collective, King Street, Whetstone, Leicestershire LE8 6LS
13. Social media and public encounters
To protect your privacy and the therapeutic relationship, I will not normally acknowledge you first if we meet unexpectedly in public. You are free to acknowledge me if you wish.
I do not normally connect with current clients through personal social media accounts. Any professional social media pages are public spaces and should not be used for confidential therapeutic communication.
14. Letters, reports and contact with third parties
I will not normally contact your GP, employer, family members or other professionals without your consent unless there is a legal, safeguarding or serious-risk justification for doing so.
Requests for letters, reports, forms, court-related documents or other work outside normal counselling sessions must be agreed in advance. An additional fee of £100 may apply.
15. Ending counselling
You are free to end counselling. Where possible, I encourage us to discuss ending rather than stopping abruptly, as an ending session can be a useful opportunity to review progress and consider future support.
Requested notice for planned endings: one week
I may recommend pausing or ending our work if counselling is no longer appropriate, is outside my competence, is not therapeutically beneficial, or if boundaries or safety cannot be maintained. Wherever possible, I will discuss this with you and consider appropriate alternatives or referrals.
16. Therapist absence or incapacity
If I am unexpectedly unable to work, I will make reasonable efforts to inform you and rearrange appointments. My professional arrangements for prolonged incapacity or inability to contact clients will be decided between us if appropaite.
17. Complaints and concerns
I welcome you raising concerns about our work directly with me wherever you feel able to do so. I will take concerns seriously and aim to respond openly and respectfully.
As a BACP member/registrant, I am accountable to BACP’s professional standards. Information about BACP’s professional conduct and complaints procedures is available from BACP.
Practice complaints contact/procedure:
Email – professional_conduct@bacp.co.uk
You can also contact BACP Customer Services on 01455 883300 if you would prefer.
18. Changes to this agreement
Sometimes our arrangements may need to change, for example the session time, fee, method of working or frequency. Any significant changes will be discussed with you and agreed rather than imposed without appropriate notice.
19. Agreement
Please ask about anything in this agreement that is unclear. By signing below, we confirm that we have discussed the main terms of counselling, including confidentiality and its limits, fees, cancellations, communication, records and privacy, and that you have had an opportunity to ask questions.
Client name
Client signature
Date
Counsellor name: Lainy Wills
Counsellor signature
Date:
Documents to provide alongside this agreement: Lighter Minds Ltd Privacy Notice and, where relevant, any separate online-working, safeguarding or service-specific information.
Drafting basis: Prepared with reference to the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions (2026), BACP guidance on contracting, confidentiality and private-practice contracts, and ICO guidance on special-category personal data. This is a practice template, not a guarantee of legal compliance; it should be checked against your actual procedures, insurance requirements and any client groups you work with.