Code of Practice and Boundaries

ACCREDITATION AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS All our practitioners are qualified and accredited with professional bodies such as the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC), National Counselling Society (NCS), The International Coaching Federation (ICF)

BOUNDARIES
Boundaries are an important part of a mental health support service
Using Solas Mind means you agree to our Code of Practice as well as our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service

ABOUT US
Solas Mind is not a crisis service
Our services  are aimed at adults over the age of 18 years. We are supportive but are not a crisis service, medical service, nor a helpline and so do not have practitioners (providers) on call. We reserve the right to decline online services or to suggest alternative support if we feel that we cannot support you, either due to the nature of your problem or if we feel you need emergency face to face support. Your wellbeing is of paramount importance to us, and we will endeavour to help you and signpost you elsewhere if we feel we cannot offer the support needed. We are unable to help with acute suicidal or mental health crises.If you feel it is an emergency and you feel unsafe, please contact the emergency services in your country. In the UK call 999 , the Samaritans on 116 123, or go straight to A&E.

A mental health emergency means you activate an emergency response

Solas Mind is not a medical centre
Our practitioners (providers) will work with you to support your mental wellbeing and enhance your self-care. However, if you need more support than we can offer, we will help to signpost you to alternative providers including your GP/Physician.

Solas Mind is not an advisory service
Practitioners (providers) do not give advice or tell you what to do. Solas is about supporting you to find your own way through challenging times. We believe our clients have the answers and know what hurts and where to go.
We believe a good relationship is the key to success; it is is an equal relationship based on congruence and mutual respect.
If you ever feel that the boundaries are blurred or are concerned with your provider please contact us.

CONFIDENTIALITY
Solas is confidential within legal and ethical limits
All accrediting bodies require that practitioners (providers) offer confidentiality to respect the client and create a safe professional relationship that is founded on trust.
In exceptional circumstances, the practitioner may take the decision to break confidentiality, with or without the client’s consent if they feel there is an imminent risk of harm to the client or to another person.  

UK law states practitioners (providers) must contact the emergency services if they believe you may hurt yourself or someone else or if you mention terrorism or money laundering. If a UK court, ask us to share any information we have on you we may legally have to agree. In such circumstances the practitioner will, if possible, always seek to obtain the client's consent prior to any disclosure

DATA PROTECTION
Our team are required to ensure that client information is stored securely and separate from personal data forms. We have Data Protection Procedures in place and all team members are registered with the ICO or their countries requisite service.

Social Media
Practitioners (providers) do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site to protect your confidentiality and to keep the boundaries of the professional relationship

SOLAS SUPPORT SESSIONS

Supervision and Compliance
All of our providers abide by the BACP Ethical Framework or the framework of their requisite accrediting body and must have regular supervision of their work. All client details will be kept anonymous. This ensures  practitioners (providers) review their work with another experienced practitioner and helps to check they are practicing ethically and how they may better support you.

Client Records and Sensitive Personal Data
Providers will be responsible for their own client process notes, if they keep any at all, the majority of our practitioners keep no notes and will ensure complete confidentiality of these. The team complies with all the legal obligations of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR 2018) and HIPAA compliance in the USA.

Solas Mind strives to provide a brilliant service
We pride ourselves on being an accessible and inclusive company. Our role is to link you up to our hand-picked team of independent, wellbeing providers. We expect our team to work to support you with your best interests always uppermost. If we make a mistake we will take accountability and seek to rectify. We monitor the quality of the service provided by our practitioners (providers) and ensure that they abide by the Ethical Framework of their accrediting body
All the team have their own professional indemnity insurance and work under the jurisdiction of their own Country. Any legal action against a Provider will need to be raised in the Country where they are located.
We are a UK based company and any contractual disputes and legal action against us would have to be raised in the courts of England and Wales.

Cancellations
We understand the nature of film/tv production and creative industries and that plans change all the time with little notice. However, we ask that you cancel with twenty-four hour’s notice. Otherwise, a session is lost both for our Provider and another potential client. You can reschedule using the link available in your confirmation email if it is before the cut off (24 hours). In the unlikely event the providers does not attend please hello@solasmind.com
If you give 24 hours’ notice you will be able to reschedule your session for another time. If you cancel after the 24 hour cut-off,we count that as a session as we always pay our team for booked sessions.
If you arrive late for your appointment, it will still end at the agreed time.
If you need to contact your Provider please respond directly to your booking reminder email.

Payment of Fees
Payment is required when booking unless a discount has been agreed or you are receiving Solas support via a workplace scheme.

Sessions
The sessions are 50 minutes long and bookable online via solasmind.com or your private booking link.
Ensure that you have a private and quiet location where you can speak freely without the fear you will be overheard or disturbed. These sessions are for you - a space to explore and share what is going on - it will be much more helpful if you feel relaxed and secure.
Please check you have a good internet connection as a glitchy session makes it hard to develop rapport and means the work will be less effective. Our Providers always have a backup such as FaceTime or WhatsApp if Zoom fails at their end so please be prepared to use another online platform to access your session if there is a connection emergency.

Booking Details
Please ensure that you give the correct details and contact information at the time of booking. For sessions that do not take place due to the incorrect information being provided the session will be counted and if self-funding no refunds will be given.​

Privacy Policy
In order to get the maximum benefit from the sessions, it is important that you have read our privacy policy, and terms of service

Conduct
While Solas support sessions provide the space for clients to work through difficult feelings and emotions, Practitioners (providers) will not accept threatening or abusive behaviour. Such behaviour may result in the session ending and the client being liable for the full session fee. Future sessions may be cancelled.
We ask that you do not attend sessions under the influence of alcohol or drugs​.

COMPLIMENTS, SUGGESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS
A copy of our Procedure for making a complaint is available upon request.  While we do not expect to receive any complaints we encourage clients to approach us to discuss any concerns they might have. We want to make the service the best it can be and we value your input. If you have any questions or feedback please do get in touch hello@solasmind.com.