Work is governed by the BPS (British Psychological Society) and the BABCP (British Association for Behaviour and Cognitive Psychotherapists) Guidelines on Good Practice.
First, let Dr Kennedy know you are interested in finding out about e mail therapy. She will send you a brief (1 page) form asking some basic questions about the problems you want to work on together. This is free. Visit the Book Therapy page to contact Dr Kennedy
If Dr Kennedy thinks she can help, she will send a longer document asking a lot of questions. Because this takes a good deal of time to read, the charge for this is £30.
Dr Kennedy will then confirm she can help (in a very few cases the second form may show up reasons why she can’t, she will then do her best to direct you to an alternative source of help). She will suggest a number of sessions based on the information you have provided, and send a contract to confirm you agree with the plan and the goals of treatment. You may wish to negotiate these goals at this stage.
If you wish to proceed further, you will agree the contract and sign up for an initial 6 or 10 sessions.
if you are not ready to sign up, you may opt for a 'taster' session, to experience how it feels to participate. Contact Dr Kennedy to find out more.
- You will pay in advance for the agreed number of sessions using PayPal and/or your credit/debit card.
- Once payment has been confirmed, sessions will proceed as normal in any CBT treatment programme: therapist and client will agree a formulation of what’s maintaining the problems and make plans about how to change things towards your desired goals.
- Progress will be measured using your own feedback and opinions and some standard outcome measures of progress in therapy.
- You will of course be free to terminate therapy at the end of any contract period, even if the therapist thinks more are needed. The therapist is bound by ethical principles and will terminate therapy if progress is not being made and they do not see a way of correcting this.
- At the end of therapy an exchange of ‘Goodbye’ e mails occurs, when the client is invited to reflect on their experience and say good bye to the therapist. The therapist will sum up what has occurred in therapy, provide a summary on the work that has been done to prevent the problem recurring, and also say good bye.
- You will receive a feedback request asking for your opinions and advice on the service you received and any suggestions for improvement in the service in future. This will provide a blueprint for future reference, which you can use to prevent problems recurring. It can be thought of as a psychological first aid kit, containing tools and remedies you have already discovered in therapy.