Why come and see a Clinical Psychologist?

As Clinical Psychologists, we are trained to work with people of all ages and ability, and can use a wide-range of assessments and evidence-based treatments.

Where will I be seen?

Appointments usually take place in our office, based at The Whitehouse at the Southampton Outdoor Sports Centre, which is in Bassett, Southampton.  We also offer appointments remotely via apps such as Zoom and Skype.

Will I have to wait to be seen?

We do currently have a waiting list for our therapeutic services.  You can contact us to find out the current waiting time.

We do not hold waiting lists between assessment appointments and any subsequent treatment sessions in our therapeutic service: Once you have had an initial assessment, if we all agree that further sessions with us would be likely to be helpful, there would be no further wait for those sessions – you would meet with the same Psychologist you saw during the initial assessment; and these sessions would start as soon after the initial session as you can both schedule (usually the following week).

Our Autism Assessment Service waiting time is currently approximately a couple of months. You can contact us to find exact waiting times.

Are sessions confidential?

Yes. We are bound by confidentiality. The only people who would need to receive information routinely would be a referring professional such as a Doctor or Social Worker (this does not apply if you self-refer).  If we think it would be helpful for others to know some information, for example a child’s school, we would discuss this fully with the you and your child, and obtain permission to share the information. We do not divulge any information to anyone, including referrers, without prior permission.  Any reports we write are shared with the family first and only sent to others with permission.

As with all professionals, the only exception is in the rare circumstance when we are told that a child or person is at risk to themselves or others; or if we are told that a child is being harmed. Should this happen, we would inform you/your child that we would need to share some information, be clear about what information needs to be shared, and explain our reasons why.

Do you offer home visits?

To enable us to see as many families as possible, home visits are not offered routinely but can sometimes be offered under exceptional circumstances.

Can you work with my child’s school or other professionals?

Yes. We are very happy to work with a child’s school or other professionals involved in their life, where families would like us to. We would always discuss the scope of work with the school and any costs that would be incurred prior to starting.

Can you work with parents / carers whose children are reluctant to attend?

Yes. We sometimes find that children and young people are reluctant to meet with a professional. We can work with families where their children are not present, and we also think about how we can help your child to see that working with us could be helpful to them, and find ways to encourage them to come along.

Can we see you out of school hours?

Yes. We have a number of appointments that fall outside of school hours. As you may imagine, these are very popular and offered on a first-come-first-served basis, so cannot be guaranteed. We actively try to minimise disruption to school and do our best to find times that are convenient for the families who come to work with us.

Can I see you in school holidays?

Yes. We often have some appointments available during school holidays.

Do you provide reports?

Yes. We can provide reports for parents, school and others. Please contact us if you would like more details of the reports we offer.

Can you work with families who cannot travel to your office?

Yes. When appropriate, we can offer consultations by telephone, Skype or email.

How much does it cost?

As we provide a bespoke service that is designed to meet the needs of families who work with us, our charges vary depending on the nature of the assessment and any subsequent treatment. We are always happy to discuss costs with families and are committed to try to make Clinical Psychology as accessible as possible. Please get in touch with us if you would like to find out more.

How do I make payment?

Payment can be made by cash, cheque, BACS (electronic transfer) or debit card.

Are you registered with my Health Insurance Provider?

We are registered providers with all of the major Health Insurance Providers. You can see the providers on our Home page. If your Provider is not listed, please get in touch with us. Please note that Health Insurers often require their members to obtain authorisation from them prior to commencing any assessments or treatment, and excess charges may be incurred depending upon your policy. Please check with your Health Insurance Provider for more details.

How are you accredited?

We are Registered Practitioner Psychologists with the HCPC. The HCPC acts as the governing body for all Practitioner Psychologists, including Clinical Psychologists. The HCPC sets standards for training, qualifications and post-qualification development that must be adhered to in order to be registered. We are also Chartered as Clinical Psychologists with the British Psychological Society, who have an additional set of mandatory standards and requirements.

Do I need a referral from my G.P. or Psychiatrist to make an appointment?

No, you don’t need a referral for your child to make an appointment with us.  Please note that some Health Insurance Providers may require your child to see their G.P. or a Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist to authorise funding for sessions with us.  Health Insurers will be happy to tell you if this is the case for your child.

Can you provide Assessments of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC / ASD)?

Yes.  Members of our team have many years of experience in conducting specialist assessments of Autism Spectrum Conditions.  You can find out more about this service here.

How do you handle personal data? (How we conform to Data Protection/GDPR regulations)

We take protection of your personal information seriously.

We will only ever use your details to contact you to arrange appointments or to communicate with you or another person involved in your child’s care.  We will never contact you for any other purpose.

We will never pass your information on to another party without your permission – and these parties would only ever be those involved in the care of your child/family (e.g. Health Insurance Providers; your child’s Consultant Psychiatrist; other agencies). The only exception to this is if you tell us that someone has been harmed, or is at risk of being harmed (your child or another person), or if a crime has been committed.  Under these circumstances, we are required by law to pass all relevant information on to Children’s Services (Social Services) and/or the Police.

Information about you  and your family will be kept securely in both electronic and paper formats.  The Data Protection Act requires us to tell you that your details will be stored on a database.   Whilst this is cloud-based, it is encrypted and only accessible by our administrator and the Forward Thinking Team.

We keep notes of our sessions a file, which is locked in a filing cabinet.  If you would like to see your file at any time, please do ask about this.  Should you request access to your child’s records, we will provide this within one calendar month of the request being received by your clinician.  We may need permission from your child to share certain information with you due to the confines of confidentiality.

You can request that we erase your family’s physical or electronic data from our records at any time, although we may have to keep some information about the service we have provided to your child on record for a certain amount of time due to our professional guidelines.  Please ask us if you want to know more about this policy.

Email: Families often request that we communicate via email.  Emails are non-secure way of transferring information, although they are rapidly becoming the first choice of communicating. As such, we will not put any of your personal details in an email without your prior consent. If you do not wish to be contacted by email please let us know and we will find an alternate form of communication.

You can see our Privacy Policies here: http://www.forwardthinkinguk.com/gdpr/

Please ask us if you want to know more about any of our data protection policies.

Are you open whilst physical distancing is in place?

We are open as usual, however at the time of writing (June 2021), we are only offering a limited number of face-to-face appointments for therapy in order to keep you and your family safe.  To try to reduce waiting times, we are also able to offer therapy “remotely” by using apps such as Skype & Zoom.  Whilst it is a different way of working, our team all have experience of providing therapy in this way, and we are confident that we can continue to provide a high-quality, effective service during this time.

Is my information confidential when I contact you via the website or by email?

We keep all information you provide via email/the contact form confidential.  The only exception to this is if you tell us that someone (e.g. your child; another child or adult) has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed, or that a crime has been committed.  Under these circumstances, we are required by law to pass your the relavent information to Children’s Services (Social Services) and/or the Police. 

Do you provide assessments for AD/HD?

Yes we do.  We have a Specialist in the team who can provide assessments/diagnosis for AD/HD.  Please contact us for more information.