Earth Wisdom Ecotherapy Community Interest Company

Counsellor Service Agreement

At Earth Wisdom Ecotherapy CIC (EWECIC), our counsellors play an essential role in providing accessible, inclusive, nature-based therapy.

Purpose

This agreement outlines the arrangements for counsellors working with EWECIC. It sets clear expectations to ensure a professional, ethical, and supportive environment for counsellors, clients, and the organisation.

Terms

A counsellor is a student and/or qualified counsellor or psychotherapist who has provided evidence of their certification and meets the professional standards required to practice. Counsellors must hold a qualification recognised by a UK professional body (e.g. NCPS, BACP, UKCP) and maintain current registration or accreditation with that body.

This agreement should be read alongside the Qualified Counsellor Job Description and Person Specification, which outlines the scope of the role, expectations, and remuneration arrangements. Together, these documents form the basis of the professional relationship between the counsellor and EWECIC.

Where questions arise, the Service Agreement takes precedence in matters of governance, ethics, and organisational structure.

Roles and Responsibilities

As a counsellor within EWECIC, you are primarily responsible for delivering therapy that respects each client’s values, autonomy, and personal resources, while adhering to EWECIC’s ethical framework and values.

Expectations

• Client Sessions: We recommend a commitment of at least 12 sessions per client to foster continuity, unless alternative arrangements are agreed upon.

• Punctuality: Practitioners are expected to manage their time in a way that supports preparedness, calm transitions into client sessions, and high-quality care.

• Session Management: Sessions should end at the allocated 50-minute mark. Late arrivals should not extend the session beyond the scheduled end time.

• Commitment Duration: We invite you to support EWECIC for at least 12 months. You may withdraw with a minimum of 4 weeks’ notice.

• Supervision: Attend appropriate supervision monthly and adhere to your supervisor contract. Associated costs are your responsibility.

• Holiday Notification: Inform EWECIC and your clients well in advance of any planned holidays.

• Secure Communication: Practitioners are responsible for monitoring EWECIC communications relevant to their client work in a timely manner.

• Professional Development: Participate in EWECIC CPD sessions where relevant to safeguarding, ethical practice, or service delivery expectations.

• Confidentiality: Treat all personal information about clients, peers, and volunteers as confidential in line with EWECIC’s Confidentiality Policy.

• Policy Adherence: Follow all EWECIC policies and procedures, particularly regarding health and safety, data protection, confidentiality, lone working, and safeguarding.

• Emergency Contact: Provide next-of-kin details for emergency purposes.

• Administrative Tasks: Complete required documentation after sessions, including client communications, cancellations, and CORE-10 forms for outcome monitoring.  EWECIC provides templates, systems, and tools to support safe practice; responsibility for accurate and timely completion of records remains with the counsellor.

Ethical Standards

Counsellors are expected to uphold the ethical standards of EWECIC by:

• Adhering to Ethical Guidelines: Follow BACP, NCPS, or UKCP ethical standards.

• Engaging in Supervision and Peer Supervision: Participate in peer supervision and team meetings to foster professional development and support.

• Maintaining Confidentiality: Protect client information; share only with explicit consent or where legally required (e.g., safeguarding).

• Secure Document Management: Store documents securely, using client reference numbers rather than personal identifiers.

• Disclosing Conflicts of Interest: Be transparent about relationships or circumstances that could impact professional work.

• Self-Care Responsibility: Monitor your wellbeing and take breaks if emotional resources are depleted.

• Fostering a Respectful Environment: Interact with clients, colleagues, and volunteers with care, equity, and respect.

Respectful Communication and Professional Integrity

EWECIC values openness, honesty, and mutual respect. All team members, including therapists, volunteers, and staff, are expected to maintain a culture of professionalism and kindness. Therapists should avoid actions or comments - in person, online, or elsewhere - that may reasonably be considered unprofessional or damaging to the reputation of EWECIC, its directors, or team members. Feedback, questions, and constructive dialogue are welcome, but these should be conducted privately and respectfully through supervision, management discussion, or formal feedback processes.

Administration and Operations:

• Availability: Share availability for EWECIC client work with the EWECIC team to support referral coordination and continuity of care.

• Assessment Sessions: Conduct assessments at the start of therapy. Complete CORE-10 forms at the beginning, every 6th session, and at the end of therapy.

• Record-Keeping: Complete all administrative tasks post-session. EWECIC provides forms and resources.

• Payment: Counsellors are compensated per session. Submit invoices monthly; payments processed within 5–7 working days of submission.

Confidential and Proprietary Information

All client information, referral details, contact lists, and communication data (including emails, phone numbers, and other identifiers) remains under EWECIC governance. These materials are provided solely for fulfilling your role within EWECIC and may not be copied, retained, used, or shared for personal, professional, or external purposes. This includes soliciting clients or generating private work outside EWECIC. All documents, correspondence, and resources created, shared, or received through EWECIC must be returned or deleted upon request or at the end of this agreement.

Data Protection Compliance:

All counsellors must comply with the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR when handling client data. This includes ensuring that personal data is processed lawfully, stored securely, used only for its intended purpose, and not shared without explicit consent. Any data breaches or accidental disclosures must be reported to EWECIC immediately.

Referrals and Client Allocation

All referrals and client enquiries via EWECIC’s infrastructure - including website, email systems, advertising, directories, or administrative processes - are EWECIC referrals, regardless of any prior relationship between the client and a therapist. Therapists may not redirect, transfer, or convert EWECIC referrals into private work without explicit written consent. Allocation of clients will follow EWECIC policies, availability, and funding structures.

CIC Contribution and Community Outreach

At the heart of EWECIC is a collegial culture of shared responsibility, reciprocity and collective growth. Practitioners who work with Earth Wisdom are joining a professional community, rather than solely accessing a source of client referrals.

Community outreach is an important part of how Earth Wisdom builds relationships, develops partnerships, raises awareness of accessible mental health support and connects people within our communities to our services.

Practitioners are therefore expected to make a reasonable contribution to community outreach activity alongside their therapeutic work with EWECIC. This may include attending community events, wellbeing days, fairs, partner events or other outreach opportunities where Earth Wisdom is represented.

We recognise that practitioners will have different availability, caring responsibilities, health needs and other commitments, and no individual will be expected to attend every event. However, practitioners should be willing to support outreach periodically where reasonably able and should understand that contributing to the wider visibility and sustainability of Earth Wisdom forms part of being a member of the EWECIC team.

Where an outreach activity involves substantial time, specialist delivery or responsibilities beyond reasonable collegial participation, payment may be agreed separately in advance.

Withdrawing your services

If you intend to withdraw from providing services through EWECIC, you must provide a minimum of four (4) weeks’ written notice. The notice period is intended to support ethical, planned endings and continuity of care for clients.

The notice period must include meaningful availability to clients. Periods of leave, holidays, or non-availability do not count toward the notice period unless agreed in writing by EWECIC.

Counsellors are expected to participate in planned endings, termination sessions, and/or facilitated transfer of care in line with EWECIC’s Ending with Clients Policy.

Upon resignation or termination of services, counsellors are required to participate in an exit interview with EWECIC. This forms part of the organisation’s governance and quality assurance processes and supports safe and reflective service development.

Client wellbeing remains the priority throughout.

Non-Compete and Client Non-Solicitation Clause

Counsellors must not transfer or continue therapeutic work with EWECIC-referred clients into private practice without prior written agreement from EWECIC, in order to maintain clear professional boundaries, avoid conflicts of interest, and protect client wellbeing.

All client transitions or post-service arrangements must be discussed and approved in writing.

Partner Organisations

All referrals from partner organisations remain under EWECIC governance. Counsellors may not enter into any direct professional, contractual, or financial arrangement with partner organisations introduced by EWECIC without prior written consent. This includes private work, consultancy, or employment opportunities. This restriction applies for 12 months following the last referral from the partner organisation. EWECIC handles all invoicing and payments for services provided through partners.

Breach & Remedies

EWECIC reserves the right to take appropriate action in response to breaches of this agreement, including recovery of reasonable costs where applicable.

Intellectual Property

All content, session structures, training materials, therapeutic models, and branding created for EWECIC remain the property of the CIC. These may not be reproduced, adapted, distributed, or used externally without written consent.

This includes any resources or materials created collaboratively or at the request of EWECIC for organisational, training, service development, or partnership purposes.

Review Period

New counsellors undertake a 3-month review period. EWECIC reserves the right to end this agreement immediately in cases of serious breach of policy, safeguarding concerns, or ethical misconduct.

Legal Status

This agreement outlines the collaborative relationship between EWECIC and independent counsellors. It is not an employment contract. Counsellors are self-employed and responsible for their own tax and national insurance contributions.

EWECIC is not obliged to offer a minimum number of sessions or referrals, and counsellors are not obliged to accept referrals or assignments. Each engagement is agreed on a case-by-case basis.

Acknowledgement

By engaging in any therapeutic work, group delivery, or related activity with EWECIC, counsellors are deemed to have accepted the terms of this service agreement in full.

Thank you for your valuable contribution as a qualified counsellor. We deeply appreciate your expertise and dedication, and we look forward to collaborating with you in supporting our clients' journeys.