How the Online Bereavement Counselling Service works

Please note that, from time to time, we may temporarily pause new registrations for our counselling service.

This happens during really busy periods, which causes our waiting list to grow. We occasionally take the decision to pause registrations, to ensure we can work through our waiting list ,so people who need support do not wait too long to receive it.

In these instances, we will always list alternative forms of grief support available from Sue Ryder.

Our bereavement support is funded entirely by our supporters. It is only with your support that we can continue to provide free-to-access online bereavement counselling to more people in the future.

We need your support now more than ever, and we thank you. Make a donation online.

• All of our communications with you will be via email for administration purposes (online.counselling@sueryder.org), and video link via our site, for both assessments and counselling sessions.
• We will only speak to you by phone if there are technical difficulties in making contact for your session; please note that your initial assessment cannot be done by phone. 
• Once you have registered, we will contact you if we aren’t able to offer you counselling – meaning you are not eligible, as stated above. 
• If staff experience behaviour that is offensive, threatening, intimidating or abusive towards them, they will advise you that it should cease and if it does not, they will end the contact.

• If our service is suitable for you, we will ask you to book an initial assessment to discuss your current situation.
• In the assessment, the counsellor will ask you specific questions and seek to understand your situation, so we can assess whether our service can meet your needs.
• They will also ask you for details of your GP and an emergency contact, which are necessary for the session to go ahead.
• Our counsellors will be in a quiet location where their conversation with you cannot be overheard and will ask you to do the same. If your counsellor does not think that your space is suitable for confidential counselling, they may not go ahead with the session.
• After the assessment, if we think we can help with your grief in a counselling format, we will offer you up to six 50-minute sessions.
• If we are not able to offer you counselling at this time, we will tell you the reasons why; and if we can, we will signpost you to other services that may be able to help you.

• In exceptional circumstances, we may need to cancel a session. If this happens, we will try to give you as much notice as possible, and invite you to rebook for another suitable time. We cannot accept any further liability for a session missed in this way.
• If we do not have counsellors available to offer you an assessment or ongoing appointments straight away, you will be put on a waiting list and we’ll advise you when someone is available. We’ll do our best to tell you how long the wait could be, and update you when necessary. We will also suggest other forms of bereavement support we feel you could benefit from using. 
• If you do not book appointments on a weekly basis, we will assume that you do not wish to continue, and will discharge you from the service.
• Our counsellors will be in a quiet location where their conversation with you cannot be overheard and will ask you to do the same. If your counsellor does not think that your space is suitable for confidential counselling, they may not go ahead with the session.
• All of your sessions will be with the same counsellor, although that may not be with the same person who did the assessment.
• If there are IT difficulties with having the sessions via video link that cannot be resolved, the counsellor will offer to continue that session by telephone.
• Our usual administration hours are between 9.00am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday. We aim to attend to all queries as soon as practically possible.
• Six months or more after ending your counselling you may re-apply for the service, if you feel that you need counselling again at that point. You will be offered another assessment to determine your needs at that time. If that counselling goes ahead, it may not be with the counsellor you saw previously.
• At intervals we will ask for your feedback to evaluate the online service. Your comments are very important to the service to ensure its continuous improvement. We will ask for feedback after your assessment and after your final counselling session - there may also be other opportunities along the way to share your thoughts with us.

• You will refer yourself to the service, as we cannot accept referrals from a third party; although someone may assist you if required.
• You will have a device and internet connection that enables you to connect to our service and work online. Your personal email address will be required in order to register.
• You will attend weekly sessions, as commitment and consistency of both you and your counsellor is part of what helps your sessions work.
• When you have been given the details of your ongoing counsellor, you will book your first session with them within 7 days. 
• You will book subsequent appointments on a weekly basis, and only cancel or reschedule if completely unavoidable. Sessions are in high demand, and when cancelled or rescheduled are usually not used and ‘wasted’.
• If more than one appointment is missed, cancelled or rescheduled, they will be lost, and recorded as if it had been used.
• If you miss, cancel or reschedule more than two appointments, your counselling will end, and you will be discharged from the service.
• You will attend on time - please understand that if you are more than 15 minutes late, the session will not go ahead and be counted as missed. If you are less than 15 minutes late, the session will still end 50 minutes after the appointed start time.
• If your counsellor does not appear online when expected, or you are experiencing technical difficulties, you can contact us via email at online.counselling@sueryder.org and we can help to get you connected.
• When you come for counselling you will be in a safe, secure and private location where your conversation cannot be overheard, and where you will not be interrupted. 
• When you come for counselling you will not be under the influence of alcohol or any other substances. Your counsellor will not continue the session if they believe that you are.
• You will be respectful in your interactions with our staff, as we will be with you. If you behave in ways that are experienced as offensive, threatening, intimidating or abusive towards us, contact will not continue after a warning has been given. 
• You should not attempt to have direct contact with your counsellor outside of the booked sessions, and you will contact online.counselling@sueryder.org by email with any necessary communication.
• You will provide us with your address, telephone number, date of birth, an emergency contact and GP details. This information is essential for your safety, and the assessment and any subsequent counselling cannot go ahead if these are not provided.
• We will only contact your GP or emergency contact in circumstances where it would be necessary to ensure your safety and, where possible, we will advise you that we are doing so. Your emergency contact should be someone who could come to you should you need immediate help or support.
• You should tell your counsellor if you are currently seeing another counsellor/psychological therapist or if you plan to, as we cannot provide counselling when you are in another therapeutic relationship.
• If you are unable to start your counselling as soon as we have a counsellor available, or find that it is necessary to stop counselling part way through, you will make your counsellor, assessor or the service aware as soon as you possibly can.
• You will not record the counselling sessions or share any information about them, your counsellor, our staff or Sue Ryder on social, broadcast or news media.

Please be sure that you are able to make the commitments above so we can offer you the best professional service. If you are not able to, we may have to decline or withdraw the service.

• Anything that you tell us will be kept securely online and can only be accessed by service personnel. You can find out more about how we manage your information in our privacy policy.  
• We will use the personal data you provide for the purposes of providing you with the service, and as set out in these terms of service. Your data may be used for auditing and service improvements, as well as research into bereavement-related issues. Please be assured that any such data will be anonymised. For further information, please see our privacy policy.
• All staff within the Online Bereavement Counselling Service will abide by our confidentiality policy not to disclose anything that you tell us to anyone else, other than for administering your contact with us and safe service practice.
• There are however the following limits to this policy:
  
  • If your counsellor judges that serious harm may occur, either to you or another person, then they may share that information to ensure the safety of all.
  • If you disclose to us any information that could lead to an act of terrorism, breach of national security, money laundering, drug/human trafficking or a child protection issue then the counsellor will manage this information in a way that meets their professional, legal, organisational and statutory obligations.
  • Our counsellors have regular mandatory clinical supervision for their counselling work, to ensure their practice is safe and professional and may discuss their work with you whilst maintaining your anonymity and their supervisor will also treat that confidentially.
  • Courts have the authority to subpoena/issue a court order for notes for use in legal proceedings. 
• Counsellors record brief notes after all sessions; all notes will be stored securely online and will be destroyed seven years after your last contact with the service. 
• Should you wish to have a copy of your notes you can request them in writing to online.counselling@sueryder.org. If  you do that, we will ask you to prove who you are in order to keep those notes confidential.
• The content of counselling sessions is confidential and must not be recorded, broadcast or shared in any way by the client. Counsellors will not record or broadcast sessions and content will only be shared within the bounds of confidentiality laid out in this agreement. 
• Details of the counselling or any Sue Ryder employees must not be shared by the client on social media or in any other way.

The way we run our service is guided by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)’s Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions (EFCP).

The BACP is an organisation that works to make sure counselling and psychotherapy is done to a high standard in the UK.

The EFCP sets the standard for how counsellors should work with clients to make sure both are kept safe during therapy.

This framework sets out things like:

• How we communicate with the people we support
• Who we offer support to
• How our counsellors work together
• What training we give our counsellors
• How we look after your private information

We can ask the BACP for advice if we’re require more guidance about how best to help someone.

To become part of our team, our counsellors must have significant experience working with people who have been bereaved, completed after their qualification.

All of our counsellors have had specialist training in online counselling.

All our counsellors must be registered with a professional body such as the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) or UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). These organisations make sure counsellors and psychotherapists are doing good work and are treating their clients ethically.

Our counsellors are given time during their working day to learn and improve their skills from our large resource library.

By offering our counselling online, we reach more people. Including some who are physically not able to travel to in-person services or do not have access to transport. Our clients are also able to fit their sessions around their jobs, caring responsibilities, and the rest of their daily lives. They can join sessions from wherever they feel is most comfortable and convenient.

Our counsellors have all had significant training in online therapy to make sure they have all the different skills and knowledge they need to help people the best they can.

• If you are dissatisfied with the Sue Ryder Online Bereavement Counselling Service, please submit your feedback or complaint to us at online.counselling@sueryder.org. We will respond to you within three working days, and will give you information about what will happen next.
• If you are still unhappy after receiving our informal communication, please contact us again for details of our formal complaints procedure.
• The service complies with the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions.

All of our counsellors are members of either the BACP or UKCP. If you wish to escalate your complaint to your counsellors' professional body, we can advise you of their professional membership, so you can contact the relevant organisation about their complaints procedure.