Psychology Appointments
The Avon Practice is accepting new referrals
Both in-person and online therapy appointments are available
In-person appointments take place in the Malmesbury office
(see Contact page to find out where the office is located)
Online appointments are held via Teams, so referrals can be accepted from all parts of the UK
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Initial Contact
After you first email to make an enquiry, you will receive further information about appointments at this practice. Jill will then telephone you and take down brief details about the difficulties you are experiencing, as well as ask you for your basic personal information such as date of birth and address. You will also have a chance to ask any questions you may have. You will be referred elsewhere during this initial conversation if it is deemed that your needs would be better met by a different service. All of the information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential. Assuming both parties wish to proceed, an initial appointment will then be arranged.
Initial Assessment Session
Therapy begins with an initial assessment appointment lasting up to 60 minutes. The key part of this first meeting is for client and therapist to start to build a working relationship. You will be asked a lot of questions that will enable us to understand your current problems and what might have led to the development of these issues, as well as what might be maintaining them. Once sufficient information about you and your difficulties has been gathered, recommendations about the best way forward will be suggested. Treatment plans are individually tailored to your specific needs. Sometimes the outcome is that you will need to be referred elsewhere. This first session provides you with an opportunity to decide if you feel comfortable working with me, as well as for the two of us to develop a shared understanding of your difficulties and how best to work at resolving them.
Therapy Sessions
Therapy sessions are 50 minutes long. The treatment plan that was developed specifically for you in your initial assessment provides the basis for these sessions.
All appointments are strictly confidential. The only limit to confidentiality is when it has been assessed that there is a significant risk to your safety or to the safety of someone else. In such cases, psychologists are legally required to share the information.
Number and frequency of sessions?
This is a question often asked by people new to therapy - and it is a difficult one to answer. Some people benefit from a small number of focused sessions; others require a few months of therapy; and still others benefit from longer term work. Sessions are usually held weekly to begin with, and then as we work together, the time between sessions lengthens, but this is always decided on a case by case basis and is dependent on a range of different factors. We can discuss the number of sessions and frequency of appointments together. I will always aim to see you for the shortest number of sessions you need.