Informed Consent
About Online Counselling:
Online counselling offers the same professionalism, safety and security as a counsellors office but with the added convenience of flexibility of time and place.
The best results occur when online appointments are regularly scheduled and kept.
Online counselling is not helpful if:-
- If you have a psychiatric condition or suffer from psychosis.
- If you are intoxicated from the use of alcohol and/or drugs substances with a heavy dependence on drugs and/or alcohol
- If you are in an emergency situation and need urgent and immediate assistance.
- If you are suicidal and at risk of harming yourself or others.
Show symptoms of other serious mental illnesses that require more intense support
please contact the 24-hour crisis counselling service in Australia called LifeLine on 131 114
My Commitment to You:
- I will be upfront about my fees and open to negotiate in hardship situations.
- I offer a 10% discount for 6 sessions booked in advance and pre-paid. You may choose this at the end of the initial consultation or at anytime in our work together.
- I work with honesty and integrity and under the ethical guidelines of my professional registration bodies. I will be open to your feedback and adjusting my approach in our work together.
- A paid receipt will be sent on request
Your Commitment to Me:
- You will give me a minimum of 24 hours notice if you need to change your online ZOOM appointment.
- You understand that if you are late to the call, give less than 24 hours notice or forget your appointment, you will still be charged the usual fee due to this time having been set aside for you.
- You will be aware of time zone changes if you are calling from another part of Australia or overseas and adjust accordingly. I will be using Australia EST.
- You will pay your account before each session via electronic funds bank transfer. Please transfer the funds at least 2 days before the scheduled session. I will be unable to proceed with the session if I cannot confirm payment of the session.
- As part of my duty of care, I may contact you to follow up your progress and inquire as to your well-being up to three months after the cessation of counselling.
Confidentiality:
I take your privacy seriously. All information disclosed within your online counselling sessions remains strictly confidential unless:-
- you give me written permission to speak to another health professional
- I am required to disclose by the law
- I believe that you are at risk of harming yourself or others.
I attend regular supervision where I may discuss your case with my supervisor, however I will always maintain your anonymity.
I attend regular professional development so that you may get the best possible help.
I will keep encrypted case notes of your session on a secure password protected computer and will delete these after 7 years.
Email is not 100% securely confidential. Please only use email for making or changing appointments and avoid disclosing any information that you would not want publicly known.
Dual Relationships:
I will not acknowledge working therapeutically with anyone without his/her written permission. In some instances, even with permission, I will preserve the integrity of our working relationship.
To preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our relationship I will not accept any invitations via social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, nor will I respond to blogs written by clients or accept comments on my blog from clients.
√ I have read and understand all of the terms and conditions stated above regarding my online counselling and agree to all the terms and conditions described in this contract the. Booking an online Zoom appointment is confirmation that I agree to the conditions in this informed consent.
Katinka Pal-Zimny
Registered Psychologist
Couple and Family Therapist
BSc, MSc (Clin Psych), MAPS PACFA AAFT
Registration No: 0001118543
ABN 60071276217