Our aim at The West Dorset Practice is to deliver quality psychological assessments and evidence-based therapies with the client at the centre of our practice.
We aim to offer psychological therapies, consultation, training and supervision to children, adolescent, adults and families at a reasonable cost.
We hope this statement about our professional services is helpful to you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
When working in a professional capacity, we abide by the following stance:
- The interests of the client are fundamental to our clinical practice.
- We abide by a strict confidentiality protocol.
- Although we can offer a wide range of clinical expertise, we equally recognise that the client knows themselves well and in the majority of cases is able to represent themselves and make decisions about what treatment will be helpful for them. In each case, we will discuss the assessment and treatment options clearly and comprehensively to provide a clear understanding for the client. A decision about treatment can then be reached collaboratively and owned by the client.
- In circumstances where the clinician feels unable to offer an assessment or treatment e.g. it is not within their expertise, there is a conflict of interest or they do not have capacity, this will be made clear to the client in the initial contact period.
- Where requested and/or if required a comprehensive psychological assessment will be completed with the client that will inform and guide the following treatment. This will be completed prior to any treatment commencing.
- Where requested and/or if required, the assessment phase will be extended to form a 3-session guided formulation where the therapist and client will work together to reach a shared understanding of the psychological difficulties. A systemic approach may be beneficial in this particular assessment. In such cases, the formulation will become central in establishing understanding of the difficulties, where change may feel too difficult, or overwhelming.
- Clinicians will be clear about the number of meetings likely to be necessary to help you to budget. For extended treatment, a clinical review will be held at regular intervals and will be agreed with the client.
- Clinicians will advise clients of alternative relevant services such as the NHS if they might be available. If the client opts to engage with another service, the clinician will offer support where helpful.
- If the client has been referred by a service outside of The West Dorset Practice, or they are being funded by someone other than themselves, information can only be shared with the permission of the client. This can be discussed with the clinician and client before a formal agreement is reached with the individual concerning what information they are happy to be shared.
Who we are:
- All of the associates within The West Dorset Practice are qualified and experienced clinicians. Each member of the practice is trained in evidence based psychological interventions and registered with the Healthcare Professions Council (HCPC).
- Further details about individual clinicians is available. If you would like to know more, for example, their qualifications, experience, etc, please do ask when you attend for your appointment or by contacting us.
EMERGENCIES and CRISIS
The West Dorset Practice operates within specific working hours only. We are unable to offer an ‘emergency service’. This means that if you require urgent help, you will need to contact your GP or the emergency services on 999 for emergencies or 111 for urgent assistance.
PAYMENT METHODS
We accept payment in cash, or by direct bank transfer or cheque.
CANCELLED APPOINTMENTS
If you need to cancel an appointment or are running late please contact our office (by phone or email). We will always let you know that we have received your message regarding cancellation.
Please note that if appointments are cancelled less than 24 hours before the scheduled appointment then we will expect payment for the missed appointment and will invoice accordingly. Any cancellations made less than 24 hours in advance, or appointments not attended for assessments of Autism, ADHD or Dyslexia will incur a charge of £100.
Please note that we respectfully request that you pay our fees within 7 days of the date of invoice. Where payment is not received, we shall contact you. If we still fail to receive payment then formal proceedings will commence. We do wish to avoid this circumstance and trust that you respect this policy.
LATE PAYMENTS
If payment is not received within 10 days of the invoice, a late payment charge of 10% will be added.
HEALTHCARE INSURANCE
We are registered with the following healthcare providers:
CIGNA
WPA
AXA PPP
If you are expecting an insurance or health care company to pay for your sessions, please make sure that they have agreed to pay for you to attend and how many sessions they are prepared to fund. Since this information is private to you, our therapists will not know your arrangement with your health care provider and so therefore, if they stop funding, you will be responsible for paying for your on-going treatment and any outstanding invoices.
Please be aware that recently, in some circumstances, insurance companies have changed their terms and conditions and often their fee agreements and they no longer match our own. If you are hoping to use insurance to cover the cost of your sessions, your associate will need to agree. Please check with us first to avoid any unexpected fees.
INSURANCE COVER
The West Dorset Practice and each associate within the practice hold their own individual professional indemnity and personal liability insurance. The West Dorset Practice, the business, also holds professional indemnity and personal liability insurance. If you require further details regards this please do ask.
DATA PROTECTION
The data protection act requires us to advise you that we write down and keep information you give us about you for the sole purpose of carrying out our work with you and improving our services. Your clinician will store information about you. We look after information with great care and in accordance with the law and professional guidelines. We are required to ask you to consent to us storing this information.
You can read our Privacy Policy, and other relevant policies here on our website. You are entitled to ask to see all of the information we have about you. Please contact us.
COMPLAINTS
Our aim is to offer you an efficient and effective service at all times. We hope that you will be pleased with your interactions with us. However if you do have some concerns, please raise it in the first instance with the therapist you have been seeing if possible. If your therapist has not been able to resolve your queries or concerns, you can escalate your concerns through the Healthcare Professions Council (HCPC).