Online and Telephone Sessions

This page explains how online and telephone sessions run, so that nothing about the practical side is a surprise on the day.

The platform

Video sessions run on Microsoft Teams. The link comes in your booking confirmation and again in the reminder.
Microsoft Teams encrypts the sound, video and chat of every session while they travel between you and the therapist, and encrypts what Microsoft stores, which is its standard protection for business accounts.
Nothing needs installing on a computer, and the free Teams app works on a phone or tablet.
Telephone sessions are a call from the practice number, +44 191 249 6127, at the booked time.
A telephone session is an ordinary phone call, so it does not carry the encryption that Teams gives a video session; some people still prefer the phone, and the choice is always yours.
Only Teams and the booking system are used. Sessions are never held over social media messaging or personal accounts.

The therapist works from a private room with the door closed and no one else present.
The therapist’s device is used only for the practice, and its screen is not visible to anyone else.
Please use a room where you will not be overheard, wear headphones if that helps, and allow a few minutes either side of the session.
If privacy is not possible on the day, say so at the start and the session can be moved rather than held somewhere unsafe.

At the first session you are asked for the address you will usually be at during sessions.
You are also asked for the name and number of someone who could be contacted in an emergency.
The therapist cannot see your room on a video call. If you became unwell or unsafe, they would need to know where to send help.
These details are held in your record and used only for that purpose.
If you are joining from somewhere other than usual, say so at the start.

If the video drops, the therapist waits two minutes and tries to reconnect.
If that does not work, the therapist phones the number on your booking and the session continues by phone.
If neither works, the session is rebooked without charge and the time lost is not counted against you.
If you lose the connection, come back to the same link. The therapist stays in the meeting until the booked end time.

Sessions are never recorded or transcribed by the therapist, and you are asked not to record them either.
Brief, factual notes are written afterwards so that the work can carry on from one meeting to the next.
Notes carry no details that would identify you. They are kept as the privacy notice describes and destroyed once the work has ended.

A session does not go ahead if you are in crisis, in danger, or under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time. You are given the emergency and urgent routes instead.
If online work seems not to suit you over time, it is reviewed with you and an in person alternative is offered where possible.

If you are in immediate danger call 999; for urgent support call Samaritans on 116 123 or NHS 111 and choose option 2.

Online and telephone sessions are for clients in the United Kingdom. They are also open to clients living or temporarily abroad, where the practice has first confirmed that it can work with you there.
If you are abroad, get in touch before you book. The practice then confirms that it can work with you there and gives you emergency information that is right for your country.
Sessions run to UK time.

Access needs, adjustments and how to ask for them are on the Access and adjustments page.