When you inquire about sessions I will ask you to tell me a little bit about what brings you to counselling. When we start working together, I will ask you for some further details and for some information such as the following:
Your full name
Date of Birth
Your Address
Contact details (email, phone) including whether or not it is okay to leave a message
Emergency contact
GP details and consent to contact (this would only be in the case of an emergency)
Medication
Any history of mental health issues
Any relevant history of medical conditions
Some self reporting questionnaires
It is common practice for therapists to use a range of these questionnaires as they can be a useful way of taking a snapshot of how you are doing at the present time. These are optional, so you can choose whether or not to use them. Here are some of the typical forms used:
-
CORE 10 is a series of ten questions Please scroll down the page for the pdf
-
CORE OM is a longer more comprehensive questionnaire of 34 questions. Please scroll down the page for the pdf (CORE stands for Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation)
-
Various questionnaires relating to compassion https://www.compassionatemind.co.uk/resource/scales
-
You may have come across scales such as GAD7 in the NHS and copies are available from https://www.phqscreeners.com/select-screener.
Agreement form
It is helpful to we agree about our expectations of our sessions together. This includes the timing of counselling communications and a back-up plan for if the technology goes wrong plus confidentiality issues. As part of our first session I will ask you to provide your consent by signing an agreement form.