Tel: 0161 881 1677
Text/WhatsApp: 07498 210342
Email: enquiries@hypnomanchester.co.uk

Shaun Brookhouse - MA PGCert(ClinSup) CertEd ADHP(NC) DPC

Terms and Conditions

Practice Guidelines

Code of ethics

Shaun Brookhouse is a fully accredited member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy. He subscribes to their code of ethics as well as the code of ethics of the National Society of Talking Therapies

Data Management and Retention Policy

Brookhouse Hypnotherapy Manchester is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner and adheres to all requirements of this body and the Data Protection Act 1998.

This means that we promise to:

• value the personal information entrusted to us and go further than just the letter of the law when it comes to handling personal information by adopting high practice standards
• consider and address privacy/confidentiality issues at every stage of our contact with clients
• be open with clients about the extent of confidentiality (see below) and its exceptions
• keep personal information to the minimum necessary and delete it when it is no longer needed

Specifically this means:

• any financial information (eg credit card information) is shredded as soon as processed
• client notes are kept in handwritten form and are kept in a locked filing cabinet
• a coding system enables the therapist to know whose notes are whose but a stranger seeing the notes would not be able to identify who they referred to
• little is written about the client but instead a record is kept of the interventions and progress
• emails are kept on a password protected computer for as long as the client/therapist relationship is active and permanently deleted thereafter
• any therapy conducted by email will be by way of a password protected word document, not within the email body itself
• clients are encouraged to use text or facebook messaging to discuss appointment times etc, not for communication of therapeutic material
• see also our social media policy

Confidentiality 

It’s important that you know that the law may forbid our normal confidentiality in the following circumstances:

• If I become aware, or have good reason to suspect, that you have knowledge of:
• A past or future incident/situation that may be dangerous or harmful to a child, you or another adult, and that is not known to the relevant authorities.
• Future or past criminal activity that has not been resolved in law. This means any criminal activity, of which the relevant authorities are either unaware or a case they know about which they consider not to be closed (provided you do not present information in therapy which would reasonably re-open the case). This does not include parking or traffic offences unless there is intent, by you or anyone else, to cause danger to yourself or others, or that it is deemed to be a “serious offence”. For our purposes a serious offence is something for which you could be imprisoned and for which the sentence (not necessarily imprisonment) hasn’t yet been served.

In these circumstances I will work with you to see if we can work together to make appropriate disclosures.

It is also compulsory to report terrorism, potential radicalisation, money laundering and female genital mutilation to the appropriate authorities.

With the global pandemic Covid 19, I may have to give your contact details to comply with NHS Track and Trace

Other than as required by law, I will routinely discuss your case with my supervisor (in order to ensure that you get the best service), my supervisor will have access to your details if I am suddenly unavailable (to contact you and offer you ongoing care) and I may talk or write to your GP (but I will not give any personal details beyond what you are working on).

Also note that I reserve the right to record sessions where it is deemed appropriate

Anti-discrimination policy

Brookhouse Hypnotherapy and Shaun Brookhouse are strongly committed to anti-discrimination. I value difference and diversity and do not discriminate on the grounds of age, gender and gender identity, sexual preference or orientation, marital/partnership status, religion, race, colour, national origin, disability, heritage or political belief.

Cancellation and missed session policy

If for any reason you are unable to attend your appointment please let me know as soon as possible. The required notice for cancellation is forty eight hours. Where there is less notice of cancellation or if you do not attend your appointment you will be charged the full fee. In certain circumstances, the charging of the full fee can be waived at the discretion of Shaun Brookhouse. With adequate advanced notice, where possible, you will be offered an alternative appointment.

You will be given as much advance notice as possible in terms of the holidays or needing to cancel your appointment for any other reason, by Shaun Brookhouse.

Social media policy

This is the policy of Brookhouse Hypnotherapy Manchester & Shaun Brookhouse with regard to the use of social media. If you, as a client, have questions about any aspect please do ask. As the world of social media is constantly changing this policy is likely to be updated regularly and the latest version will always be available in my terms and conditions.

Friending

I do not accept friend or contact requests from former or current clients on my personal Facebook page as this can not only compromise your confidentiality (eg if another of my friends saw that you were a friend they may wonder how we know each other) but would also blur the boundary of the therapeutic relationship.I do have a practice Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/brookhouse.hypnotherapy/ which you can sign up to to read my daily blog.

Following

I tweet on a daily basis as a business. If you are interested in my posts on therapeutic subjects feel free to follow me. I will not follow you on Twitter as this can cause confusion around the purpose of this: would it be part of your therapy or would I just be being curious?

Interacting

Please do not use public ways of contact (eg @replies or tagging) again because of the potential for this to compromise your confidentiality. You may use Facebook messager or text to discuss appointment times or other logistics but not therapeutic issues.

Use of search engines

I do not Google my clients as a matter of course, but may very occasionally in a time of crisis. For example, if you had failed to attend a session and I was concerned for your safety I may try to find out about you this way. If I did so, I would tell you about it the next time we met.

Business review sites

You may find my name on business review sites but I have not asked to be on these. Businesses do not get a choice! Clients are free to post whatever they choose and due to confidentiality I cannot comment on anything that is posted. Indeed anyone (including a competitor) can post anything so it is advisable to be aware that reviews (good or bad) may not be representative of the views of real clients.

It is considered unethical by my professional bodies (the National Society for Hypnosis, Psychotherapy & Mindfulness and the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy) to publish testimonials and so you will not find any testimonials coming from me although it is always nice to receive private messages from clients who have completed their therapy.

Location-based services

If you use location-based services on your phone you should be aware that others may surmise that you are a therapy client if you are seen as “checking in” at my address.

Email

It is preferable to use email only for logistical contact (eg to get a reminder of an appointment time) due to the potential insecurity of email. If you wish to engage in “email therapy” then please use a password protected word document to contain what you wish to say. I can set this up for you if you need it.

Phone

As above texting may be used for contact about appointment times. This is preferable to making a phone call as it is easier to respond as I cannot answer the phone if I am with another client. (Texts from my practice are from a dedicated text line which does not accept incoming calls)

Death or incapacity of a therapist

If a psychotherapist dies suddenly leaving potentially vulnerable clients then it is necessary to liaise with and inform outstanding clients of the therapist’s demise.

Therefore, I have arrangements in place so that an experienced psychotherapist (currently my clinical supervisor) will have access to my contact details etc. and will make contact with outstanding clients and offer the appropriate support and advice.

It will be necessary for the nominated person to have access to the contact details of my active clients and for them to speak directly with the clients. This person would not need access to my confidential client notes.