FAQ - Counselling Help

How much do you charge?

You can find out current fees for both individual counselling sessions and also supervision sessions for counsellors over on my fees page.

Are you recognised by any private medical insurers?

Yes, Johanna is accredited with several private medical insurers, these are listed on my fees page.

How long is a counselling session?

Each session is 50 minutes long, unless it is an EMDR session, which may run a little longer.

What is EMDR?

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) was developed in America in the 1980’s and is now used worldwide in the treatment of trauma, by specialist practitioners.

Traumatic events can cause the parts of our brain that process information to go offline. Because of this, we don’t assimilate the event into our memory effectively, so rather than becoming something that happened, that we are now safe from, it stays “live”. This is why we can feel we are reliving the event and associated feelings, in the present. EMDR works on the memories and feelings to reprocess them, and file them in our memory effectively. This means it becomes something that happened, but which no longer affects our present in the same way.

What else can EMDR be used to treat?

Since its original conception, EMDR has been developed further and aspects of it can be helpful in other areas, particularly the treatment of anxiety and addiction. We will talk with you about this if we feel it may be helpful in your treatment.

How many sessions will I need?

It is not possible to say at the outset how many sessions you will need, as it depends on what you want to work on, how you find the therapy, and what else might come up. In general it takes six sessions to know how great the benefit is, and we can review progress at that point.

What if I don't feel that the therapy is working for me?

There is no need to carry on if you don’t feel that therapy is working for you, but if this is the case I would hope we could figure out together why this might be. You might feel your therapist is not the right fit for you and we would be happy for you to find someone you felt more comfortable with.

Do you offer couples/relationship counselling?

Unfortunately we don’t currently offer couples or relationship counselling.

Do you work with children?

No, we work primarily with adults. There are occasions where we might work with 16 or 17-year-olds. Please ask if you have any questions regarding this.

Where are you based?

We are based in Twickenham, Kingston upon Thames and online. You can find out more about locations and transport options on the contact page.

What happens next?

The first step is to have an assessment session with Johanna. In this session we will talk about why you are seeking therapy and what you would like to get from it. Johanna will take a brief history and it is also an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have. After this if you want to proceed we will arrange sessions with your preferred therapist if you have one, or work out together who would be the best fit for you. After this you and your therapist will meet weekly at an agreed time.

What if I can’t attend a session?

If you are unable to attend a session, we will try to offer you an alternative. However this is not always possible, and if the session is missed, we will have to charge you or your insurer for it.

Planned holidays that you take will not be charged but prior notice must be given.

How do I pay?

We will invoice you or your insurer monthly as appropriate. Any excess on your insurance policy must be paid by you and we will issue an invoice for this as necessary

Will my sessions be confidential?

Yes, all sessions are confidential. The only time we might have to break this would be if I was concerned that you were at risk of suicide or of hurting someone else. In this case, we would want to involve you in this decision and would not break confidentiality without talking to you about why we felt this was necessary.

If you have any further questions about anything here, or if you have any other questions about counselling, please don’t hesitate to ask me.