Terms and conditions.

Who you are working with.

I am Amy Hutson, an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, member number 374395. I work to the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions and I am accountable to BACP for how I practise.

These terms are between you and me. They apply from the point you book a first session. I practise as a sole trader, and I hold professional indemnity and public liability insurance.

Booking and the first call.

Everything starts with a free fifteen-minute telephone call. We talk about what is going on and decide together whether to meet. There is no charge for that call and no obligation to book anything afterwards.

If we go ahead, I will offer you a regular slot. Counselling works best with some rhythm to it, so sessions are usually weekly and at the same time each week.

Sessions.

• Sessions are fifty minutes.
• We can meet in person in Brighton, Hove or Lewes, or online. You can change between them if your circumstances change, as long as I have a room free.
• There is no minimum number of sessions and no contract term. Some people come for a few weeks, some for a couple of years.
• I will not record sessions, and I ask that you do not either.

Fees and payment.

Counselling is £80 for a fifty-minute session. Fees are payable a week in advance, by bank transfer. I send you the details after the free telephone call.

The fee changed on 7 September 2026, from £70 to £80. It applies straight away to anyone booking a first session from that date. If you are already working with me, your sessions stay at £70 until 7 October 2026, which is the month's notice set out below.

If my fee changes I will tell you at least one month before it does, and we can talk about what that means for you. If money becomes the reason you would have to stop, please say so early. I would rather have that conversation than lose the work.

Cancelling or missing a session.

Give me twenty-four hours' notice and we move the session rather than lose it, subject to a slot being free that week. With less than twenty-four hours' notice, the session is charged.

This is not about the money. A held slot is a slot nobody else can use, and a predictable boundary around time is part of what makes the work safe. If something genuinely unavoidable happens, let me know and we will sort it out.

If I have to cancel, you are not charged, and I will offer you another time as soon as I can.

Confidentiality, and its limits.

What you bring stays between us. I will not discuss you with anyone, confirm to anyone that you are a client, or acknowledge you first if we meet in the street, which is about protecting your privacy rather than being unfriendly.

There are four situations where that changes, and it is better that you know them now than find out at the worst moment.

• Supervision. Every ethical counsellor takes their work to a supervisor. I discuss the work, not your identity, and my supervisor is bound by the same confidentiality I am. This is a requirement of the BACP Ethical Framework and it exists to keep the work good.
• Serious risk to you or someone else. If I believe there is a risk to your life or someone else's, I may need to tell someone who can help, usually your GP. Wherever it is possible and safe, I will talk to you about it first.
• A child or an adult at risk. If something you tell me suggests a child or a vulnerable adult is being harmed, I have a safeguarding responsibility that sits above confidentiality.
• The law requires it. A court order, or legislation covering terrorism or the proceeds of crime, can require disclosure. This is rare.

Outside those four, nothing leaves the room. If you would like me to write to or speak with your GP, an employer or anyone else, that happens only with your written agreement, and you can withdraw it.

Records.

I keep brief written notes so I can hold the thread of our work between sessions. They are factual and short, they do not contain more than they need to, and they are stored securely. You have the right to ask for a copy of what I hold about you. How I look after them, how long I keep them and how to ask for a copy are all in the privacy and cookie policy.

What counselling is not.

Being clear about this early saves disappointment later.

• I do not assess or diagnose. I do not carry out ADHD or autism assessments and I cannot write a diagnostic report.
• I do not comment on whether a diagnosis you already have is correct.
• I do not advise on medication, HRT or hormone testing. Those belong with your GP or a specialist, and I will say so in a session as well as here.
• I am not a crisis service. I work by appointment and I do not monitor my phone or email out of hours.
• Counselling does not come with a guaranteed outcome. I will work with you as well as I can, and I will tell you honestly if I think you need something I cannot offer.

If you need help urgently.

Endings.

You can stop at any time and you do not have to explain why. What I would ask is that we use one last session to finish properly, because endings in counselling tend to matter more than people expect.

I may suggest ending if I think you have got what you came for, or if I think another kind of support would serve you better. If that happens I will say so directly and help you find it. If we have not had contact for a month and you have not been in touch, I will assume the work has ended and free the slot.

Between sessions.

You are welcome to email or text about practical things: moving a session, running late, a change of contact details. I reply during working hours. Please do not use email or text for anything urgent or for the substance of the work, because I may not see it for some time and it is not a secure way to send something private. Bring it to the session.

Online sessions.

Online works well for a lot of people and it is what makes it possible for me to work with clients across the UK. What it needs from you is a private space where you will not be overheard, a reasonable connection, and a device with a camera if you would like to use one.

If the connection fails, I will call you on the number you have given me and we will carry on by phone. If we lose more than half the session to technology, I will not charge for it.

Sessions run on Google Meet. I send you a link before the session and you join it from your browser.

Supervision clients.

Everything above applies to clinical supervision too, with two differences. Supervision is £80 for forty-five minutes fortnightly or ninety minutes monthly, and the confidentiality that matters is your clients', which we both hold. Organisational supervision is arranged and invoiced separately, so it is worth asking about that directly.

If something goes wrong.

Please tell me first. Most things can be sorted out in the room, and it is genuinely useful to me to hear when something has not worked.

If you would rather not, or if raising it with me has not resolved it, you can complain to BACP. They hold me to the Ethical Framework and they run a published professional conduct procedure. Their guide is at how to complain about a BACP member, and you will need my membership number, 374395. BACP asks for complaints within three years of what you are complaining about, unless there is good reason it has taken longer.

If you would like to talk it through before deciding, BACP runs a free and confidential service for exactly that, called Get help with counselling concerns. You do not have to have decided anything to use it.

Using this website.

Everything written here, including the articles, is general information. It is not therapy, it is not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for talking to someone who knows your situation. Reading it does not make you my client.

The words and images on this site are mine unless stated otherwise, and I ask that you do not reproduce them elsewhere without asking. Where I link to another organisation I do so because I think it is useful, but I am not responsible for what is on their site or what they do with your data.

I try to keep the site accurate and available, and I cannot promise it will never be wrong or never be down.

Which law applies.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. Nothing here limits any right you have as a consumer that cannot be limited by law.

I may update these terms. If I do, I will tell current clients about anything that affects them rather than expecting you to notice the date at the top of the page change.

Last updated 7 September 2026.