Terms & Conditions

Please read these terms carefully before you book an appointment for the Services with us. These terms tell you who we are, how we will provide Services to you, how you and we may change or end the contract, what to do if there is a problem and other important information. If you think that there is a mistake in these terms, please contact us to discuss.

Fees – for self-funded individuals (I do not offer couples or family therapy)

Initial Assessment Consultation (50 minutes) £110

Psychological therapy sessions (50 minutes) £110

Terms of operation

Drannamaciak.com is not a service for people in crisis, and therefore, it is not possible to contact the psychologist outside of appointment times. If you are contemplating suicide or believe you are at risk of harming yourself or others, please go to Accident & Emergency or contact your local emergency services.

Who we are and the standards we operate to

Your Counselling Psychologist, Dr Anna Maciak, has experience working with people with physical or mental health difficulties in NHS mental health services. For more information, please see Dr Anna Maciak’s therapies and approaches in (About Me on our website [https://www.drannamaciak.com/home]). We reserve the right to use other psychologists to deliver the Services if appropriate, but once we’ve started a therapeutic relationship with you, we will not change the psychologist providing the Services without your permission.

Dr Anna Maciak is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (Registration No. PYL043472) (http://www.hpc-uk.org) and must comply with a range of standards of conduct, performance, and ethics to maintain her practising registration.

Dr Anna Maciak is chartered by the British Psychological Society (Registration No. 424156) (https://www.bps.org.uk/lists/cpsychol) and abides by their Code of Ethics (https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/bps-code-ethics-and-conduct) which focuses on four primary

ethical principles:

Respect
Competence
Responsibility
Integrity

Online therapy sessions

The medium through which the therapy sessions are to take place is online with Zoom (www.zoom.us). You can learn more about how Zoom protects your personal information by reading Zoom’s privacy policy (https://zoom.us/privacy).

The contact details you provide must be correct, and you agree to notify us of any changes to them promptly.

When you have a verified booking for an appointment for a therapy session, you will receive an email within 48 hours (working days). In this email, you receive confirmation of your booking on the agreed day and time, with a personal Zoom invitation via a link and instructions on how to join the session. You are responsible for saving this email and link. If you are still waiting to receive an email about the confirmation within 48 hours (working days), please check your junk mail/spam folder. If you are unable to find the link in your junk mail/spam folder, please get in touch with us.

To use Zoom properly, you must have the necessary hardware, software and reliable internet access. You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have (i) downloaded and have access to Zoom and (ii) ensure your internet connection will allow you to access Zoom and is sufficiently reliable for the duration of the session. We will not be responsible for delays in commencing sessions or interruptions to sessions caused by problems with Zoom. We will not extend a therapy session due to problems with your internet connection or hardware, which affect your ability to connect to Zoom.

You are responsible for being on time for your therapy session. We recommend that you connect to Zoom via the link you received in your confirmation email and check the image and sound at least 5-10 minutes before the session is due to commence. We will not extend a therapy session if you are late joining it.

At times, the session may be interrupted by technical glitches that are beyond the control of either you or us. If the session drops out, the Counselling Psychologist will try to reconnect it for the next 10 minutes. If they are unable to do so due to technical glitches, the session will continue by telephone.

Fees

Currently, self-funded clients can be seen by the service. Payments must be paid in advance no later than 24 hours (working day) prior to the appointment. Appointments will only be attended by the psychologist

where payment has been made.

Cancellations

If you are unable to attend your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible via email to maciak.anna@outlook.com. 48 hours' notice is required for cancellation. No refund will be given for non-attended appointments or those cancelled with less than 48 hours’ notice, as the psychologist incurs the same costs as if the appointment had taken place and is unable to offer the slot to another client at that late stage.

The psychologist will endeavour to give you as much advance notice as possible of any need to cancel or reschedule a future appointment, for instance, due to illness. Any appointments that need to be rescheduled by the psychologist do not incur a cost to the client – the appointment fee can be refunded or applied to the next appointment.

Confidentiality

The service will need to hold GP’s contact information in case a safety issue arises. The psychologist will be unable to see any client who cannot provide GP contact details.

Your Counselling Psychologist respects the boundaries of confidentiality and will not disclose information to a third party unless you have given your permission to do so. In rare cases, your information may be shared without your permission if there is a concern about your safety or someone else's safety, including a child or a vulnerable adult.

Information may also be shared without your permission if it is in the public interest, such as if it is necessary to protect public safety or prevent harm to others. In such cases, the standards of the Health and Care Professions Council and the practice guidelines of the British Psychological Society will be followed (https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-conduct-performance-and-ethics/; https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/practice-guidelines).

We comply with all relevant data protection legislation (including the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)). We are DPA and GDPR-compliant. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about how we protect your data.

What you say during online therapy is confidential. You also have your own responsibility to ensure confidentiality. The counselling psychologist will ensure that the physical room used for the online sessions is confidential and that the sessions cannot be overheard by anyone else. You are responsible for ensuring that the physical place you access Zoom is confidential. You are also responsible for the confidentiality of your computer and any other electronic equipment that you use.

You are not permitted to live stream or, record or distribute any audio and visual images from the sessions without our agreement. We are not permitted to livestream, record or distribute any audio and visual images from the sessions without your agreement. If either party wish to record sessions, then (i) both parties must have agreed to this in advance of the session, and (ii) such agreement must be recorded in writing.

Notes taken by the Counselling Psychologist during sessions will be written by hand and stored in a locked filing cabinet. All typewritten letters and reports will be written on a password-protected computer. If sent by email, files will be password-protected.

Your psychological notes will be kept for 7 years and then confidentially destroyed. You have the right to access your notes at any time, provided that you make a request in writing to us prior to their destruction. If you have any questions about our Terms and Conditions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Before your initial appointment

Before your first appointment we may send you a questionnaire to complete to help us more fully understand the background to your current concerns. This is a detailed document about your situation or that of your family, and we ask that it is completed and either (a) scanned and returned by email or (b) returned by post before your first appointment.

Anti-Discrimination Policy

Your Counselling Psychologist respects difference and diversity. Differences include sexuality, sexual preference or orientation, religion, political beliefs, ethnicity, disability, gender expression or age.

Health and Safety

Your Counselling Psychologist will take the utmost care and due diligence when working with you as a client and will adhere to all the health and safety regulations within the framework appropriate for online therapy.

Complaints

We hope you will never have to complain about our service, but if you do have a concern please put it in writing to your Counselling Psychologist, Dr Anna Maciak. Alternatively, you can make a complaint via the Health and Care Professions Council.

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