FAQ’s

Lots of talking!

Generally in a session we will ask you about what has brought you to see us, what might be leading to your difficulties, and your goals for change.  Sometimes this can be hard to talk about so we can use activities such as drawing, painting, writing or computer games to help us to talk.

We will then work with you to form a better understanding of your difficulties and gently challenge and encourage you to make changes that might help.  Sometimes therapy can feel uncomfortable as it challenges what you think you know and encourages you to use different strategies to cope than the ones you have been using.  You need to feel ready to face whatever is troubling you and decide to take ownership to make changes.  As such, we wouldn’t recommend therapy for anyone who is in an unstable situation as you need to feel safe and contained to be able to access therapy.

No, nothing specific.  We would always encourage you to bring anything you would like to share with your therapist.  If you are attending for an Autism Assessment or other Cognitive Assessment, you may be asked to bring some previous school reports or copies of assessments that have already been completed to add to the assessment information gathered and give a fuller view.

No. You can make a decision to access services yourself and contact us directly.  If you would like information to be shared with other professionals such as your GP, you can ask us to do this.

Yes.  We are registered with some of the major Insurance companies and we can issue you with our individual insurance provider number if you contact us. However, it is the policy of Enhancing Futures Ltd. to charge the client for their sessions in full, and it is the clients responsibility to claim reimbursement of this directly from their insurance company. Should there be any extra reports required by insurance companies, these will be charged for, at our usual hourly rate.

This is for you to decide with your therapist.  All interventions are guided by National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance which give a recommended number of sessions for some types of difficulties.  Essentially, your therapist should always discuss your needs openly with you and together decide how many sessions you might like and the timing of those sessions.  They will guide your decision with their clinical expertise and take into account factors such as costs, availability, etc to make the best use of the resources.

This again is entirely up to you.  We would always suggest you speak to your therapist in the first instance as it is always helpful to have an ‘ending’ session to enable you to reflect on your progress and how you might continue this outside of your appointments and enable you both to say goodbye.  Therapy should not be a ‘never-ending journey’ as you will lose sight of what brought you there in the first place.  The best therapies are always goal orientated and skill you up to feel OK on your own again.

Generally only the people you want to know.  Your therapist will ask you if you would like them to let your GP or any other professional know that you are accessing therapy but it is not essential that you do.  The only time a therapist may go against this is if they are concerned about you harming yourself or others, when it becomes their duty-of-care to let other professionals know that can help keep you and others safe.  This should always be discussed with you in the first instance.

If we are seeing a young person and their parent or carer is paying for their sessions, please be advised that everything discussed with the young person is confidential to them and information will not  routinely be shared with parents aside from what the young person would like to tell them.  We can facilitate supportive conversations between young people and their parents/carers to share what they have been doing in sessions and how the family may support them to progress outside of sessions.

All sessions at Enhancing Futures are confidential and information is only shared with those you consent to it being shared with.  The only exception to this is if your therapist is concerned about you harming yourself or others, when it becomes their duty-of-care to let other professionals know that can help keep you and others safe.  This should always be discussed with you in the first instance.

We hear this from a lot of parents who are worried about their child being diagnosed with a mental health condition affecting their future prospects.  We do not seek to diagnose people with mental health conditions but rather work to help them better understand their mental health and how it impact on their daily life and functioning, and develop strategies to better manage their mental health going forward.  As such we do not routinely let anyone outside of Enhancing Futures know about your difficulties, unless you want us to.