28+ Sample Counselling Contract

What is a Counselling Contract?

A counselling contract is a legal document between a client and a counselor to have counseling sessions for a particular time. The counselor may be a professional therapist or psychotherapist that is skilled in talking with people and helping them recover from their problems. The contract may also be called a therapeutic contract. It is a confidentiality agreement professing that whatever they will discuss in the counseling sessions will be private and will never be disclosed to anyone. Confidentiality is one important factor in the agreement because in sessions, the clients may divulge sensitive matters that need to be kept secret. The basic element of the contract is the number of sessions and the type of therapeutic service. The client may choose the way how he or she will deal with the counselor. Most times, the clients’ behavior needs to have some supervision from the therapist. It is involved in the counselor’s private practice to take care of the clients to ensure that they will do well. Counselors need to be ethical in dealing with clients. They have to treat clients with whole respect and they should know how they should value their clients. They might be the supervisor of the problems of the clients, but they should know how they can keep boundaries so that they will not intrude on the privacy of clients. A counselling agreement contract ensures that everything between the clients and counselors will be professional. The counseling boundaries and contracts ascertain that everything will be safe. So, if you plan to hire a counselor, you must engage in a counselor client contract, whether it will be a group therapy contract, online therapy contract, or telephone counselling contract. You can be sure that all of your personal information will be private.

Elements of a Counselling Contract

Have you filled up a counselling agreement form or a counseling contract form? Have you noticed the contract that goes with it? Do you see that it has some important elements? Well, you should know that a counseling contract has important components that should compose it. Read the following and learn some of its elements:

Place of Sessions

There should be a special location where you will have the counseling sessions. The place should be something private where no one can overhear your session. You should decide on a location where you and the counselor can talk. It can be the therapist’s office or some special place that you know you can talk to privately.

Duration of Sessions

The length of each session should be specified. If you will not have specific durations of sessions, the clients may tend to speak out longer and it will not be right. If there is a specific length for the session, the clients will know the length of time when they are free to discuss their problems. Be specific for the length of the session. Remember that the therapists are sometimes paid by the hour so measure the length of the session.

Frequency of Sessions

You have to decide how many sessions you will have with the counselor. This dictates the duration of the agreement. You should also tell the frequency of every appointment. Will you do it weekly? Or monthly? Or bimonthly? It is up to the clients to decide how often they want to have sessions. The counselors should also contribute to the decision because they have to set the sessions on the time that they are free.

Contact Information

The contact details of the psychotherapist are important. There can be a time when the client will want to contact the therapist. The counselor has to ensure that he or she can be reached at the time of emergency. The counselors should provide their contact information to let the clients see that they can be a friend whom they can trust.

Boundaries of Contact

The clients can reach the counselors at an unexpected time but there should be also some boundaries. The clients cannot expect that the counselors will be at their service any time. Some rules are to be set in the dealing. The counselors should state the time when they can be available to be reached and when they are not. The counselors also have private time of their own. They cannot attend to the clients’ needs all the time.

Rescheduling and Cancellation

This is important when sickness comes along the way that the session will be canceled. You should know the limitation of canceling a session and how you can get a refund. If you have to give for therapist of notice of cancellation because of some reason, you should agree on how you can do this. You should agree with the consequence if ever the therapist should cancel the session. You should know how you can make rescheduling work.

Financial Information

The cost for each session must be definite. Both of you should agree with the price. You should also agree with the payment schedule method. You should also know how to make refunds in times of cancellation. You should be clear when talking about this matter. It will build a good relationship between the two of you.

Confidentiality

You should agree on how you can record your sessions. All personal information should be protected. The therapist should not have a breach of your privacy. Set boundaries for this. If the therapist has to share some information about you, he or she has to ensure that he or she will not disclose anything sensitive and private.

Termination

You should agree on how you will end the therapy. Will you stop if you are okay enough to handle your problems? Will it last for just a specific time? If ever you want to terminate the contract ahead of the agreed duration, you should agree on terms about it. You should set some ethical boundaries that can cause termination.

Benefits of Counselling Contract

Maybe you are wondering what a counselling contract is for? Seeing a counselling contract template or a counseling contract template, you may want to know why people engage in having it. A therapy contract has some benefits. Consider the following and know some of them:

Leads to Self-Discovery: Counseling can do any person well by allowing them to make themselves grow by discovering the solutions to the challenges that they are facing. They will become bolder to face their problems. They can assess themselves if they have to do anything to improve themselves. You will discover many things about your personality and values. This will bring you to the realization that you should do something to make your life better.Gaining Support: We seek the help of counselors because we cannot take anymore the problems that we are facing. We need some advice to help us how can we see through our problems. Through counseling sessions, we can gain the support that we cannot have if we face our challenges alone. The counselors can contribute some solutions to the problems that we are having. They can give us some great advice on how we can handle our problems well.Changed Habits: Through counseling, we can defeat ourselves if we ever have some habits that we have to change. The sessions can help us to realize that we can have a better life ahead of us if we will make our behaviors better. We can develop a new hope for our future, knowing that the future can be brighter if we can hold on with good hope. Our bad habits can change with the help of therapists. They can guide us on how we can expect a brighter life.Finding Purpose: Any sample counselling contract can help us to have sessions that can make us be a better person. You can realize many things about your life through the help of therapists. You will know what you need in your life. You can be enlightened with the things that you should do. You can find your purpose because you have talked about things about your life. You can troubleshoot where you are lacking and you can provide solutions to your problems.Effective Skills: You can learn some skills by having counseling sessions. You can learn problem-solving skills. You can learn how you can provide solutions to challenges. You will learn how to be strong and to be confident when trouble arises. You can also learn interpersonal skills while you are dealing with counselors. You will know how to talk with other people about everything.

Tips on Counselling Contract

To have contracts in counselling and psychotherapy is not easy. There are a lot of factors that you have to consider. If there are tips that you can use for it, then you will apply them. Worry no more! We have some tips that you can use for your counselling contract. They are the following:

Search for a Competent Therapist: Before you will enter into any online therapy contract or counsellor client contract, you must be sure that you are going to have it with a skilled therapist. Research the therapist that you want to deal with and know if he or she has the necessary skills that you need. Know the reputation of the therapist that you have in mind. Do not engage with any therapists or you just be wasting your money or risking your private information. Find a good therapist that is kind and willing to help any client.Set Goals: You should have some goals for your counseling sessions. If you need to change your habits, be sure that you are going to listen to the advice of the therapist. You should set some goals so that you can ensure that your sessions will be effective. The goals may not be long-term goals but they can also contribute to your welfare in the long run. Be decisive with your goals so that you can do your best in every session.Be Open to the Therapist: You have to know that you should trust your therapist. Start to build a good relationship with him or her. You should tell yourself that you should tell the therapist whatever you have to say. Be open in communicating with the therapist. They should know what you are going through so that they can help you. You should tell the therapist about your situation. You can rest assured that the therapist will understand. It is a part of their job. They know how they can deal with your problems. So, trust them so that you can get the best out of every session.Good Schedules: You should know that your sessions should be timely. Visual Schedule your sessions in good times. At these times, you are relaxed and you will be on your right mind to talk with the counselors. You can better discuss what you have to say. It is better to share things when you are in a good condition because you can be more open-minded at these times. You do not have to worry that the counselors might judge you because you know that they are there to help you. Good schedules can bring the best out of your counseling sessions. So, give importance to scheduling your sessions.

How to Engage in Therapy

Maybe a therapy contract template or a counselling contract example may be scary to you. You do not have to worry. You should know that counseling sessions can do you good. If you are afraid to take the first step in engaging in a counseling session, we have provided some steps to you that you can use as you engage in therapeutic sessions. They are the following:

  • Step 1: The Counselor Welcome

    You do not have to fret. Therapists are kind. They can give you a warm welcome so that it will be easier for you to talk out your problems to them. You can be sure that they will be very good at dealing with you. They will be warm and friendly so that you can trust them. So, choose a counselor that you know you can get along with.

  • Step 2: Face the Diagnostic Evaluation

    The counselors will ask why you need their help. They validate your concern. They will have questions to have an understanding of your situation. They will ask for your experiences and search for things that can help you with the session. They will know if there are any clinical concerns. Be free and open to sharing what you have to with the therapists. They will surely help you with whatever you are facing.

  • Step 3: Counselor’s Feedback

    After you have told your situation to the counselors, you can have feedback from them. They can provide a solution to whatever you have been experiencing. They will offer some advice that can help you to sort out your challenges. They can also give some suggestions on how you can improve your personality and values. Be open-minded to accept the advice of the therapists. Anyway, you have come to them for that reason.

  • Step 4: Build Connection with the Counselors

    You must build a good relationship with your therapist. They can always support you with every challenge that you can have. If therapists send you a follow-up email, always be ready to answer them. Be open to sharing with them the results of having a counseling session. If something changes in your life for the better, share it with the counselors. Therapists are there to support you until you overcome your challenges.

FAQs

Is Getting a Therapist Advisable?

Yes, it is advisable. You can find the support that you need for the challenges that you have. There are some things that you have to discuss with a professional so that you can sort everything out. And therapists are skilled in helping in this kind of thing.

How Much Does a Therapy Cost?

A counseling session may be costly but it will surely help you. It can cost $65 – $250 per session. But the cost will be worth it because you can avoid mental health problems.

People who are struggling want to have a way out of their challenges. Therapy is the best resort. Find a good psychotherapist and engage in a counselling contract. You will not lose anything, but instead, you will get benefits. Well, are you searching for a template for a counselling contract? This post has 28+ SAMPLE Counselling Contract in PDF. If you will engage in therapy, they might help you. So, do not wait any longer. Download now!