Safeguarding Policy.
Your safety is very important to me. My Safeguarding Policy is below. I ensure counselling clients have understood this and ask them to consent to its implementation before we start working together.
The policy explains what actions I might take to reduce or prevent risk of serious and probable harm to my client or to others / the public.
Before taking any action, I would make every effort to talk with my client about my intentions and what those actions would be. I would seek their consent to take action and would only act without it if I had an ethical or legal reason.
What is ‘risk of serious and probable harm?
By ‘serious’, I mean significantly damaging physical or emotional harm.
By ‘probable’ I mean that I have reason to believe that the harm is likely to happen or to have happened already.
Example - a client in distress may express a wish to end their life, which is ‘serious’, but I would only take action if it is also highly likely or ‘probable’ that a client would end their life.
Legal obligations
Counselling is a confidential activity within limits and I may need to break confidentiality for safeguarding reasons when:
my co-operation is needed to help investigate / protect a child / vulnerable adult
there are legal orders - serious crime has taken place (murder, manslaughter, rape, treason, kidnapping, child/vulnerable adult abuse, threats to public security)
there is a terrorism threat
Actions I might take to reduce or prevent risk of serious and probable harm
If I think my client is at risk of serious harm to themself, some or all of the following actions and / or others might be taken:
contact made with their GP and / or emergency contact to inform them and include their support
a new agreement made between myself and the client about how to best reduce or prevent risk
a ‘Safety Plan’ created together in a session for between-session use
If I think that someone else is at risk of serious harm, some or all of the following actions and / or others might be taken:
further questions asked to get more information
contact made with relevant authorities, such as Safeguarding Services or Police
a pause in counselling and a review of the Counselling Agreement
the ending of the counselling process
I ask clients for details of their GP and where possible an emergency contact: our working together is contingent on one of these being provided.
I make it clear that contact with me between sessions is limited to making practical arrangements only, such as rescheduling appointments. I do not provide a crisis service.