FAQs

I’ve pulled together some answers to frequently asked questions about the therapy process, starting therapy with me and more logistical queries. I’m always open to questions so if something isn’t covered or quite clear below, please feel free to contact me.

  • Send me an email at will@willhardytherapy.com, with your contact details and brief reasons for wanting therapy, or you can drop me a message in the contact form on the ‘Contact’ page.

    We’ll then arrange an initial 20 minute free telephone or video call to discuss things further and get to know each other a bit more. Should you wish to progress with a session, we’ll then arrange to either meet in-person or online and take it from there. If you decide to continue, I will send over a client agreement and some forms for you to complete.

  • There’s no set answer for this. It’s for us to work out together and ultimately for you to decide.

    I offer short-term (6-20), long-term (20+) and open ended (no set amount) therapy. Sessions last 50 minutes and take place at the same time and date on a weekly basis. Initially, I propose to collaboratively work together for 6-8 weekly sessions. This should give us enough time to get to know each other and start exploring why you have come to therapy. After this, we can then review our work and decide how we want to move forward.

    Our session arrangement can look like working together on a weekly basis within an open-ended agreement or on a weekly basis within a specific agreed amount of sessions.

  • The first session can sometimes be daunting and feel a bit odd to express how you’re feeling to a complete stranger. With that said, our first session will be a mix of establishing and agreeing our therapeutic framework, understanding your reasons for therapy and an opportunity for you to see if I may be a right therapeutic fit.

    After our first session, we can then either agree to focus on specific topics, create the context of your life or see what comes up when we meet. We can figure it out together. I won’t tell you what to discuss, however, I can help you get there if you need.

  • As a standard approach, I do not offer fortnightly sessions. There are a few reasons for this, which I'll explain:

    Requests for fortnightly sessions are uncommon, meaning I do not have many fortnightly slots. To ensure I can efficiently run my private practice, I can't have empty slots, which a fortnightly frequency can create. For this to work, I would need multiple clients working fortnightly and sharing their slot (on alternating weeks), which isn't always possible logistically for everyone involved. Practically, it can be challenging and impactful to my availability and practice.

    If either of us miss a session, this can create a month gap between seeing each other. This can be impactful for the therapeutic process and can overall be difficult to build consistency and engagement between us. Sometimes this can happen a few times throughout the year, which then creates frequent breaks in our work. Although therapy can absolutely be flexible and fluid, it needs to be underpinned with consistency. 

    I work ethically and to ensure I provide safety and my capacity for our work, I have to be mindful of my caseload (how many clients I am actively working with). If I work with too many people fortnightly, I will need to take on more clients to create income for any empty slots, to ensure my practice is running efficiently. Working with too many clients can be impactful for my work and capacity to provide you with the services, skills and space that I endeavour to therapeutically provide you with. 

    However, there are a few possibilities I'm able to offer:

    A fortnightly frequency is something that can be discussed and worked towards after significant work together i.e., after at least 12-24 months of weekly therapy. This is to allow us a sufficient period of time where we have been able to establish our relationship and both have an understanding of your therapeutic needs.

    Fortnightly sessions will incur a 25% increase on your agreed session fee. This is to limit impact on the sustainability of my practice.

    A monthly frequency is also possible. This can be discussed after working fortnightly together for a number of months. 

  • Committing to therapy with me is agreeing to working within a regular and consistent weekly basis. As such, you’re committing and agreeing to pay for your session slot weekly, whether you attend or do not attend. Therefore, I do not offer cancellations. I appreciate this does not offer flexibility for where life can take us i.e., illness, unforeseen circumstances or duties and responsibilities we have. However, this approach is to ensure my practice remains financially sustainable and for our therapeutic relationship to have a consistent structure. See more under the Fortnightly FAQ and Practice Costs on the Pricing page.

    Where possible, I will aim to offer to reschedule a session, if requested with appropriate notice. I encourage you to always check with me if you need to reschedule, as I will offer suggested rescheduled session times for that day/week, if I am able to. My approach and work ethic is to be as flexible as possible, however, there will be times where this is not possible within my schedule. If I’m unable to offer a rescheduled session, if my suggested rescheduled times do not work for you or you’re unable to reschedule due to holiday/being away, session payment is still required. 

    Regular non-attendance or rescheduling of sessions will be discussed to understand your commitment to your counselling sessions and therapeutic process. Anything longer than 2 consecutive weeks of missed sessions may be considered a break and for us to review and discuss. See more below under Breaks FAQ.

    I commit to give you as much notice as possible for my planned holidays or time off from our scheduled sessions. As a standard approach, I give at least 1-2 months notice of any planned leave I may have. 

    With transparency, I take between 5-8 weeks of leave per calendar year, meaning approximately 5-8 sessions per year that I will be unavailable. This will be discussed beforehand and should you require sessions around my leave to be rescheduled, this may be possible at times. 

    If I have annual leave, cancel or I am unable to attend a session, you do not pay for your session slot.

  • Of course. Sometimes you may want to take some time away from the process. This can be discussed and planned together and I’m happy to support in taking breaks. In order to do this, I offer the following approaches:

    If you wish to take a break from therapy, and would like for me to keep your slot available for you, I request that 50% of your session fee is paid for each session that you're away. A break is usually considered as requesting 3 or more sessions off in a row, if we're working on a weekly basis. For fortnightly, this would be 2 sessions in a row. 

    If you wish to take a break from sessions and do not pay a 50% retainer fee, I will make your session slot available to others. When you wish to return to therapy, as soon as another slot becomes available, I will be happy to offer this to you and resume our work together. However, please note that within this approach, I can't guarantee or provide guidance as to when a new slot would become available again. 

    Paying a 50% retainer fee secures your session slot, until you're ready to resume your sessions.

    Regular requests for breaks i.e., 2 or more within a year, will be reviewed and discussed to understand how the therapeutic process is working for you.

    Undertaking regular and consistent therapy is a commitment between us that involves clear boundaries and a framework for us to work within. These boundaries are set to build consistency within our process and a dedicated space that is safe for you.

    Before committing to weekly therapy, I encourage you to be fairly sure you’re able to do this and want to do this.

  • Yes - we will have a client agreement. This document outlines my policies, fees, logistics, processes and finer details that provide us with boundaries in a contractual relationship. It is an agreement designed to honour the commitment and respect we will have towards each other, within the therapeutic process. Additionally, it is helpful to refer back to, if any questions arise throughout the process.

    I will also supply you with my privacy policy and an assessment form to capture some of your personal data for emergency and therapeutic processing reasons.

  • Fees are £80 per 50 minute session.

    One of my key motivators and values in training as a counsellor is to make therapy more accessible. Therefore, I operate a sliding scale within my fee structure to offer part of my practice at lower rates. However, running a solo private practice is expensive - so I have limited availability for low cost sessions. Please see more on the ‘Pricing’ page.

  • My availability is open and flexible, however, this depends on which method of therapy you’re interested in.

    Mondays and Thursdays, I work online between 10am and 6pm. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I work in-person throughout the afternoon and early evening in-person. I have some availability for online sessions on Friday mornings.

    I currently do not see clients on the weekends or evenings (6pm onwards, excluding Tuesdays).

    If my proposed availability doesn’t quite work with your schedule, please still reach out to me as we may be able to find a solution or alternative time. Please note, the above hours may differ and I run a session waiting list.

  • I hire private, safe and confidential therapy rooms in Peckham, South London and Liverpool Street, East London.

    I also offer online sessions, meaning we can work together wherever you’re based in the UK. For more details, please see the ‘Locations’ page.

  • In our sessions, you can talk about anything you’re comfortable with disclosing and potentially exploring. A standard foundation of all therapy is that our sessions are strictly confidential. I am bound to the BACP Ethical Framework, where I uphold confidentiality and safety with incredible priority within my practice.

    However, as a duty of care and support, there are some limitations to our agreed confidentiality. This involves if I have any concerns around your safety or others, if a serious crime is disclosed, in the event of an emergency or as part of the regular supervision I undertake (a professional opportunity that all counsellors in practice engage within). I have provided further clarity on these points within my client and privacy agreements.

    If you ever have concerns with this, or wish to discuss something and are unsure as to how it may impact my confidentiality - talk to me and we may be able to figure something out.

  • I am trained and qualified to offer in-person and online (video) therapy. I offer online sessions to those based in the UK. However, if you’re located outside of the UK, please contact me to discuss further as I am able to practice online in some territories. At this present time, I do not offer sessions via telephone, email, IM or outside walking together. 

    I practice with an integrative approach to counselling and psychotherapy. This means I work within different modalities of therapeutic thinking. My theoretical and practical approaches include GSRD, humanistic, psychodynamic, relational, phenomenological, existential and pluralistic approaches. This is all fostered within a queer and sex positive, kink affirming and non-judgemental and open mindset. If you want a more jargon free description of this (I don’t blame you!) - please see the ‘About Therapy’ page.

  • The truth is - there’s a possibility that I won’t be, and that’s OK. That’s part of therapy. As with any relationship, sometimes it might not be what you need and are looking for, or it may not quite be the connection that feels right for you.

    My commitment to you is to offer a safe, non-judgemental, confidential, respectful, consistent and holding space. If at any point I feel I may not be the right therapist for you due to my competency or any personal conflicts, I will endeavour to inform you and collaboratively work out how we move forward. Additionally, if for any reason something isn’t quite working for you - I hope you’re able to share this with me in our space to explore and discuss together.

    Therapy is an ongoing process.

Woman in a scarf. Image credit to Trendify & Sketchify via Canva. Will Hardy Therapy.
Man in a patterned shirt and hat. Image credit to Trendify & Sketchify via Canva. Will Hardy Therapy.
Non binary person smiling. Image credit to Trendify & Sketchify via Canva. Will Hardy Therapy.