About Online Support
If you would like to start online support with us, we will ask you to read and agree to the agreement below. It explains exactly what you can expect from us and what we will ask of you. You can also check the “What is Online Support” and “FAQ” pages.
Feel free to ask your worker any questions about it too.
Choosing Online Support
When you register for online support, we ask you to confirm that you want support and that you’re not being pressured into doing so by anyone else.
It’s also really important to have a look at our confidentiality policy which tells you what we do with anything you share with us.
Confidentiality:
This means that the details of your sessions will not be shared with others, outside of the 42nd Street team, excpet under he circumstances below. We may share general issues and themes from sessions within our team and supervision sessions so that we can improve our service.
When confidentiality must be broken:
This will happen if we have concerns of severe risk or harm to yourself or another person. Then we would have to talk to the right professionals to discuss the best possible support and help for you. Where we can, we will try and talk to you about what we are doing and who we are discussing your situation with.
You can read more about confidentiality HERE
Your worker
Every practitioner employed in our service has undergone suitable professional training and holds relevant qualifications.
We do have some trainee therapists/counsellors as well as social work students completing their placements in our service. We ensure that any trainees receive appropriate levels of supervision and support throughout their placement with us.
If you are offered sessions with a trainee counsellor or therapist they'll inform you that they are currently on placement when you begin sessions with them.
Struggling in between sessions
Your worker is only available to work with you once each week at a time you both agree. If you message in between this time, your worker may not see it and will probably not respond until your next session or the time agreed before hand.
If you ever feel you are in crisis, feeling suicidal or having thoughts of self-harm in between your sessions, you can find services who can support you HERE. It's important to know that we are not a crisis service ourselves and would recommend contacting these other services if you needed more immediate help.
There are a few things other young people have said have helped them in between sessions
- go for a walk after sessions
- go somewhere quiet to reflect
- meet someone who you trust to talk things through during the week
- keep a journal or put your thoughts into a note on your phone
- pursue a hobby that feels like it boosts your mood and self-esteem
- draw in a sketchpad or listen to music
- pursue a learning that keeps you involved
- try some exercise
You can also find a host of grounding techniques that might help if you're struggling HERE
Number of messages/sessions
We can offer a range of sessions, typically between 6 and 12 sessions. At points during these sessions, you and your worker will review how your support is going.
These reviews give you the opportunity to check what's working and what's not. They can also help you decide if you need to have slightly less or more sessions than originally agreed (if this would be helpful and useful).
If you ever feel like ending your support please talk to your worker about this so that we can think about the best way for you to end.
Missed Sessions
Your support will be most helpful if it is regular and we'd always encourage to log-in, even you may not be feeling like it at the time.
If you cannot attend your next sessions, or reply to a message if having support via weekly messages, please send your worker a message as soon as you know this. If there's something that might come up frequently then it's a good idea to chat about this with your worker when beginning support.
If you miss 2 sessions without getting in touch, or if we don't hear from you for 14 days we will assume no longer wish to continue support at this time and will end your support.
If you don't feel it's the right time for support you can always let us know and re-refer yourself at a better point, up to your 26th birthday.
Wellbeing Forms
We will ask you to complete a short form, called a "CORE" form when your worker gets in touch. Your worker can explain a little more about them.
You’ll be sent this each week and it should only take a couple of minutes to complete. It's an important part of the process, and ensure support is working properly for you. Please give yourself time to complete them.
Written Notes / Information
We will keep weekly notes of the main issues and themes that we discuss. You have the right to see these notes under the Data Protection Act 1998. You can ask to do this by speaking with your worker. You can also read more about data HERE.
If any of your contact information changes, please update us as soon as you're able.
Alcohol / Drugs
We ask you not to exchange messages under the influence of drugs / alcohol as this will affect your use of support.
Seeing Your Worker Online outside your session time
If you log onto the site outside of your agreed session time and see that your worker is online, it may be tempting to message them to ask them to speak to you now.
However, your worker will not be able to do this as they will be working with other young people and will need to give them the same focus and concentration they will give you during your sessions.
Seeing your worker outside of this website
Your worker will only be able to communicate with you via the site, so please don’t try to contact your counsellor via other websites or social networking sites.
Your worker will not accept a ‘friend request’ or start to chat to you. This is because it’s important to have boundaries with a counselling relationship.
Technical Issues
From time to time there may be problems with computer or internet connections.
If we’re having a technical issue we will normally contact you via email or phone, using the details you give us when you register.
If you are having technical issue please try to let us know via onlineteam@42ndstreet.org.uk or using the contact box on our homepage.
We know it can be annoying and even upsetting if technical problems get in the way of your support, however briefly.
It might help to be prepared for the possibility (maybe speak to your worker in advance if you think this will stress you out a lot, so you can come up with a plan to manage it together) and remember that we will be keen to keep working with you as soon as we can.
Feedback and Complaints
Feedback is very important to us and we want to hear about your experience of using our services, whether it’s good or bad. To give feedback, please use the button on our homepage 'I want to give feedback'.
If you are ever unhappy about anything to do with support or any other service from 42nd Street please talk to us about this. If this doesn’t sort things out then you can ask to speak to one of the Head of Services to resolve this.
Please take a moment to check you have read and understood this agreement as well as the Privacy Notice fully. If you have any questions, please get in touch – usually your worker is the best start. If you don’t have one yet you can e-mail onlineteam@42ndstreet.org.uk.
All the workers at 42nd Street follow the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), Ethical Framework and Guidelines to ensure that you get a professional and quality service.