Frequently Asked Questions

All sessions cost £55 per session ​Initial call - FREE  ​​ For counselling to be most effective, we usually begin with weekly or fortnightly sessions  - we can work more flexibly over time. If you have any concerns about finance, please do get in touch to enquire about my limited concessionary rates.​​ ​ Fees are payable in advance prior to the start of the session.

I offer:Counselling from a beautiful hut in woodland in Hadlow Down (near Uckfield, Horam and Crowborough)​Walk and Talk on Ashdown Forest ​Online Counselling - UK WideMaps can be found here.​​​​​

I hold sessions on Mondays and Fridays (9.30am -2.30pm).I also have some evening sessions available during the week.

Yes- there are some situations where another service or therapist may be better placed to support you. These include: 1. Anyone under18 2. Couples therapy 3. Current alcohol or substance misuse, or other addictions 4. Recent psychiatric or psychological diagnoses such as schizophrenia, psychosis, or paranoia 5. A long-term history of involvement with mental health services 6. Family therapy​ needs 7. Disordered eating 8. Active suicidal thoughts or crisis within the last six months If it becomes clear that specialist support would be more helpful, I will always discuss this with you sensitively. If you are not sure, please get in touch and I can help you think through what support you might need. I am not a crisis service and if you need urgent help please contact your GP, 111 or refer to the support services included on this website.

People come to counselling for many different reasons. Some of the most common include:*Emotional distress/ mental health symptoms  - for example anxiety, depression, grief, loneliness, low self-esteem*Relationship or interpersonal difficulties - for example work related issues, family conflicts or relationship difficulties*Life transitions  - becoming a parent, experiencing loss, navigating menopause, life changes *Personal growth and understanding  - wanting to understand yourself better, explore meaning and purpose, or create space for reflection.​And for some people, it’s none of these — they simply want time for themselves and a space to talk with someone who will listen without judgement.​I believe there is a power in putting your experiences into words with someone who will listen with compassion and help you to find clarity, perspective and find a path forward that feels right for you.​You can read more about the areas I support women with here and how I support mums here​​​​​​​​

There’s no set number of sessions — everyone’s needs are different.Some people work with me for a short period (around 4 - 6 sessions) while others choose to work with me for longer.You're welcome to book a block of sessions and then take a break. ​​For counselling to have a positive outcome, it does require a certain amount of commitment, particularly at the start of our time together - I therefore ask that clients commit to weekly  / fortnightly sessions, where possible. We can then review the frequency together as we go.​

You can read about my therapy approach here

Qualifications :Degree in law and criminologyDiploma in Person-Centred CounsellingI am currently working towards BACP accreditation (expected in 2026).I also work as a Counsellor and Support Group Facilitator at Release Counselling for Women in Brighton and I have supported women across East Sussex for a number of years.​I regularly undertake continued personal development and recent examples include training on ecotherapy and breathwork for self-regulation.Professional Registration:I am a registered member of the British Association  for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). I abide by its Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy. I also have full Professional Indemnity Insurance and I am registered with the Information Commissioners Office.

If you need to cancel a session, please send me an email or text me as soon as you can. To keep your regular appointment time reserved, sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice (or missed entirely) will still need to be paid for in full.I'll always try to find an alternative session for you that week if possible, subject to availability.​​

I work part- time (Mon and Fri) and I am not able to provide a crisis intervention.If you feel that you need urgent help, please contact your GP or you can call 111 and select the mental health option / ask to speak to someone from the crisis team or visit your local A&EOther support services include: The Samaritans (Brighton and Hove)01273 772277 / 08457 90 90 90 Samaritans - 116 123 (UK-wide)Sussex Mental Health Line03005 000101 https://www.safespacesussex.org.uk/support-service-providers/sussex-mental-healthline/​​​HopelineUK: 0800 068 4141https://www.uok.org.uk/resource/hopelineuk/​Mind Charityhttps://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/crisis-services-and-planning/how-to-get-help-in-a-mental-health-crisis/​Prevent Suicide ​​​https://stayalive.prevent-suicide.org.uk/find-help-now/urgent-support/Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.If you want to talk to someone but you can't call on the phone, you can:Text SHOUT to 85258 (UK-wide)​You can also download the Stay Alive app - a suicide prevention resource full of useful information and tools to help you stay safe in crisis.For all other support with mental health please visit  www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/your-mental-health which has numerous contact details for protecting your mental health

Yes - this is sent to clients at the outset of us working together. I have also summarised it below.     PRIVACY NOTICE I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, and my registration number is ZB866886.I will never sell your data to any other individual or company for any purpose.I need to hold your personal identification information and special category data to ensure my counselling service runs smoothly. I use the secure, encrypted and password protected practice management platform, Kiku (wearekiku.com) for storage of client notes and personal information.As a requirement of my policy of insurance, I am required to keep your data for at least 7 years following the last contact we have together, whereafter the data will be routinely and securely destroyed.You have a right to ask me to limit how I use your personal information, to make any changes or to stop processing your personal information. You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that I hold about you. You can read more about your rights at www.ico.org.uk/your-data-matters. Privacy Policy Your privacy is very important to me.  I take care to maintain your confidentiality and ensure that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose that it was given to me. I aim to adhere to the current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018.I also aim to follow the guidelines of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP). The guidelines have been set up to protect your confidential material and to ensure that your therapist conducts themselves with professionalism and integrity.This privacy notice tells you what I will do with your personal information from the initial point of contact, through to when your therapy has ended, including: Why I am able to process your informationWhat purpose I am processing it forWhether you have to provide it to meHow long I store it forWhether there are other recipients of your personal informationWhether I intend to transfer it to another countryWhether I automate decision-making or profiling, andYour data protection rights.I am happy to chat though any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me by email - info@hattienichols.com. ‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/ organisation that collects, stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is me- Harriet Nichols. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. 1.   Lawful Basis for holding and using your personal informationThe GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There is different lawful basis for holding your data, depending on the stage at which I am processing your data. I have explained these below.If you have had therapy with me and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information.If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is consent initially.  I will then retain any counselling records in case of the need to reference them in the future (the official legal basis is to defend against potential claims). 2.   How I use your informationInitial contact When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services (e.g. via email, a directory or a submission through my website directly), I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. We may then have an initial call, where I collect some further information to help satisfy your enquiry. This information may include (but is not limited to) your name, telephone, email, the type of counselling you are looking for (online/in person etc), availability for counselling / call, whether you have had therapy before, reasons for seeking therapy and hopes / goals for having counselling.  I may also ask for (but you are not obliged to give) information on how you found my service. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf. If you inform me that you do not intend to proceed, I will ensure all your personal details are deleted within 48 hours of receiving written confirmation. If you do not respond to my emails, I will ensure that I delete the details promptly. While you are accessing counselling Everything you discuss with me is confidential.  However, confidentiality is not absolute, and it may be broken in the circumstances set out in clause 4 below. I need to keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling service run smoothly. I therefore use a secure and protected practice management platform called Kiku (wearekiku.com) to store client data.  Its encrypted, password and 2FA protected platform safely processes and stores your client data. This information is not shared with any other third party. At the point of booking your initial connection session with me, I will send you: 1.      a link via Kiku showing a copy of this privacy notice to sign electronically to confirm that you are happy for your data to be stored on Kiku (and are happy with the terms of this notice).2.     a link via Kiku with a copy of our contract for working together, which contains further details about confidentiality (we will also discuss this in more detail in our first session).3.     A link via Kiku with an intake form – this will ask you for personal contact information, including your name, address, email address and telephone number. This will also include some basic questions around your medical history, medication etc.   In order to be able to fulfil my duty of care to you, this link will also ask you for the contact information for your GP and an elected Emergency Contact person.This information (together with any relevant information given in the initial call) is stored securely in Kiku and will be accessed by me. In order to fulfil my duty of care to you, in your first initial consultation session, I will ask you for some additional details regarding your support network/family history, details of any previous counselling, some questions around the issues you are facing and your hopes for our sessions together. These details will also be stored securely in Kiku. I will then keep written notes of each session which are stored within the Kiku system. These notes are for my use and help to keep track of what is being discussed.  Session notes and pdf downloads are password protected within Kiku for added security. These notes will be kept securely for up to seven years after your therapy comes to an end. Session notes, text and email exchanges and storage of any relevant medical information is kept to a minimum and I will usually only use your email address or telephone number to contact you about your appointments. I may contact you via email in order to share any other information that may be pertinent to your therapeutic process. Everything you discuss with me in sessions is considered confidential, subject to the exceptions that are set out below (paragraph 4) and as are set out in our contract. You can read about Kiku and its privacy policy here- https://www.wearekiku.com/features/gdpr-compliant-clinical-notes-system After counselling has ended: Once counselling has ended, Kiku provides automated archiving to ensure that I only retain the necessary client data. When your records are archived, Kiku will remove your contact, GP and emergency contact details. Your name, appointment history, session notes, Kiku messages and uploaded documents will still be held. In line with industry standards and my policy of insurance, your archived client record will be kept for seven years after the end of your therapy, so that I can respond effectively to any potential requests regarding your clinical notes and sessions and also for insurance purposes. Please note that in order to meet my service and accounting needs any personal information held in email threads will be held for up to 7 years after your therapy has come to an end.I will never pass on your contact details to any third-party organisations for the purposes of sales, marketing or research and will never use your personal data for any purposes other than the administration of the counselling service I am providing to you i.e. to arrange, cancel and rearrange appointments and collect payment for sessions. 3.   Data Security and how long I will hold data after the counselling has ended personal identification information – I will hold the personal identification information and special category data on Kiku  (as set out above) to ensure the counselling service runs smoothly.Session notes – I keep brief written session notes which are recorded and stored within a password protected file within the secure Kiku platform.Payment information – I ask that clients pay using a BACS transfer so that there will be a record of payment for tax purposes.Communication Data - For security reasons, I ask client’s not to contact me by text unless it is urgent (or in the case of walking therapy to confirm arrangements on the day e.g. if late/bad weather). I do not keep text messages, and these are deleted as soon as possible after each counselling session. If there is relevant information contained in a text message, I will copy this and store it as part of the session notes. If an email contains important information, I will copy it and keep it as part of my session notes. 4.   Disclosure of your personal data/third party recipientsAs mentioned, information that I hold about you is considered sensitive and so is kept to a minimum.On a rare occasion, I may have to share your personal data with a third party for legal or safety reasons, acting within my professional boundaries.  I will always try to speak to you about this first and we will discuss this in more detail during our first connection session together.The circumstances I envisage where I may need to share your data include:•              Supervision: Counsellors are required to have regular and on-going supervision. In line with my membership of the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) code of ethics, I personally undertake supervision each month. In line with ethical guidelines, anonymised data may be shared with clinical supervisors or other therapists in supervision for my own professional development and for the wellbeing of my clients and to ensure the quality of services provided. I may discuss some personal details in these supervision consultations, but you will never be identified by your full name. My supervisors are bound by the same professional rules of confidentiality, code of ethics and rules of GDPR.    Clinical will: I have set up a clinical will with my supervisor, which means in the event of my sudden death or a serious accident or illness, my supervisor will be able to access your contact details and the information stored in Kiku so they can notify clients and take the necessary steps to protect their data. ·         Emergency Situations/Safeguarding: If I have reason to believe that you intend to harm another person (such as a child) or there is an immediate risk of harm to you), I will need to contact relevant authorities such as the emergency services and/or your GP and I may also need to disclose information given to me on the Intake Form, if requested by them.  If circumstances allow, I will aim to discuss any action with you first and seek to gain your co-operation. Please note that I might have to approach your GP and/or emergency services without prior discussion if circumstances dictate. Please note that in an emergency situation, I will also telephone your emergency contact, explaining who I am, that you have been having counseling and that I am worried about the risk of harm to yourself/others.•              Legal Obligations : The law may require that I am to inform an authority without seeking your permission in some situations and/or that I share your personal information without your knowledge, for example if I am compelled to do so by a court of law/ court order. I would always endeavour to discuss this with you in advance if possible or appropriate. The law may also order the release of clinical notes without your permission, and I would be bound by law to release them. •              Prevention of Crime : I am bound by law to break confidentiality and make a disclosure if you disclose information about terrorism, drug trafficking, abuse of a child or vulnerable adult, money laundering or unreported traffic accidents. •         I may also need to disclose financial information, such as payments for sessions for accounting purposes (e.g. HMRC, accountants) I will always seek to inform you if there is a need to share any of your personal information where appropriate/possible. Confidentiality will be discussed in your first connection session and is also set out in the counselling contract. 5.   Your rightsI try to be as open as I can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. You have a right to ask me to delete your personal information, to rectify your records, to limit how I use your personal data or to erase or stop processing your personal information.  You also have the right to ask for a copy of any information I hold about you and to object to the use of your personal data in some circumstances. Please note that I won’t be able to comply with an erasure request until I have liaised with my insurers. In addition, I may not be able to comply if I need the data to continue offering my services, the data is required by a court of law or to defend myself against a legal claim. You can withdraw your consent from data processing and storage, but if you ask me to stop processing your information while actively receiving psychological services, the counselling services will have to end, and earlier records may be subject to data retention periods. You can read more about your rights at www.ico.org.uk/your-data-matters. If I do hold information about you, I will: ·         Give you a description of it and where it came from·         Tell you why I am holding it, how long I will store your data and how I made this decision·         Tell you who it could be disclosed to·         Let you have a copy in an intelligible form.You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information that I hold about you. To make a request regarding your data, please put the request in writing, addressing it to info@hattienichols.com.I will not make a charge for this service unless it is “manifestly unfounded, excessive or repetitive”.If you have a complaint about how I handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by writing or emailing to the contact details above. I always welcome suggestions for improving my data protection procedures. 6.   Keeping your data up to dateI have a duty to keep your personal data up to date and accurate, so from time to time I may contact you to ask you to confirm that your personal data is still accurate.  I ask that if there are any changes to your personal data (such as a change of address) to please let me know as soon as possible. 7.   Visitors to my website / emails / online sessionsWhen someone visits my website, I use Wix as my site provider / as a third-party service. Wix may collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. This helps with finding out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. The website uses cookies to help the site work efficiently.  I do not make attempts to find out the identities of those visiting my website. I use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information when you visit my website. If you fill in an enquiry form on my website, the data will be stored on the web host before being sent to me- I am also notified of the enquiry via email. I use Wix so that I can continually improve my service to you. You can read a copy of their privacy policy at https://www.wix.com/about/privacy.  My email account is with a secure provider (Gmail). During remote working, I use Zoom and Google Meet, and I ensure that I am conducting online sessions in a quiet, private and confidential setting.  However, I cannot be held responsible for any breaches in confidentiality caused by failures in any of the software or platforms utilised, or for the security of your own email provider, which you may wish to consider when you choose to email me. Any known data breaches will be reported to the ICO as soon as reasonably practicable.  8.   Complaints I am committed to protecting your personal data, but if for some reason you are not happy with any aspect of how I collect and use your data then please do email me. If you feel this has not resolved your concerns effectively and you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information, you can contact the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint I may change this Privacy Notice from time to time and shall notify you of any significant changes via email or during your sessions.  GPDR consent form When you book in a session with me, you will be asked to provide a digital signature and to tick a checkbox to confirm that you consent to the storage and processing of your data for the purposes of providing therapeutic services and also to confirm that you have read and understood this privacy notice and are happy to proceed.