Hospitals, dentists, even the GP surgery can be scary places for children and young people. There are a lot of unknowns, often things hurt and they usually don’t get much choice in what happens to them. If children and young people feel prepared, feel confident and feel empowered then they are much more likely to have a positive experience and this will reduce the chance of any medical related trauma. Most people will need some sort of medical intervention in their life, often this happens in childhood. If we can ensure that children and young people have positive medical experiences this will reduce the anxiety and fear of healthcare going into adulthood.

Unfortunately, no. There is no formula for supporting a child or young person with their medical experiences. Every child is different, every experience is personal and every session I deliver will be unique. What I can guarantee is that I will use all my knowledge and experience to support you and your family to the best of my ability.

It can be a big decision to seek support and you may questions. I offer everyone a 15minute free, no obligation, phone call. This gives you an opportunity to ask any questions you may have, hear more about what I can offer, and get to know me. I'd be very happy to arrange a call with you, you can contact me using the contact form found at the bottom of this website or via email at hello@theconfidentpatientproject.co.uk or via text/WhatsApp on 07377 250 290.

If you are interested in having a session with me, please contact me using the contact form found at the bottom of this website or via email at hello@theconfidentpatientproject.co.uk or via text/WhatsApp on 07377 250 290.

Once we confirm a date, I will send you a form via email. This is an important form as it gives me all the information, background and context I need to prepare for the session and support your family to the best of my ability. This form will need to be completed at least 1 week before the session. At the mutually agreed date and time, we will meet, and after our session I will send you a session summary. This will outline what was discussed and any practical hints and tips that were shared. This will be yours to keep and can be helpful to look back on at a later date. You have the opportunity to comment and amend the summary, please read the terms and conditions for more information.

When I work with children and young people, I am constantly observing them, watching for their subtle reactions to things being said, looking at their body language and other non-verbal cues and communications. I respond and adjust what I am saying or doing as a result of that. When you only see a child or young person through a computer screen you miss a lot of that and it is harder to gauge their emotions. If a child were to feel worried or anxious about something that has come up in our session it is very difficult to contain that online. But what I can do is support you. I can give you all the information and tools you need to support your own child, in your own time, in your own way.

I don’t have my own therapeutic space and to rent one would mean that I would have to significantly increase the price of my support. It is really important to me that the services I offer are as accessible as possible and so I try to keep my prices as low as I can. We could meet in a café, or a library, but it is not appropriate to discuss confidential information in public and talking about scary things can feel vulnerable. I hope that their home is a safe space where children and young people feel at their most relaxed and least threatened and so it is a perfect setting. I am very privileged to be invited into families' homes and it’s one of the things I love most about my job.

I do have terms and conditions, which I send to everyone with their appointment confirmation email. This gives you a chance to read them and the opportunity to discuss any points you may wish to discuss before your appointment.

Please find my terms and conditions below:

General:

* The information, advice and support provided by The Confident Patient Project are designed to support your child and family with their experience and understanding of specific healthcare procedures. These skills have been learned and honed over many years of experience working successfully with hundreds of different families however it does not guarantee that your child’s future healthcare experiences will be challenge free.

Data protection:

* Your email address and phone number, along with any documentation you send me will be kept for a period of 2 years unless it is mutually agreed that it would be beneficial for The Confident Patient Project to keep the information for longer, or where I believe it would be in my professional interest to do so.

* There may be a rare occasion that I will need to make your information available to a relevant third party where there is ethical need to do so (eg. if I feel there is a threat or serious harm to yourself, myself or a member of your family, or if there are safeguarding concerns) I may also need to share your contact details with an appropriate third party if I have an emergency and am unable to attend our scheduled session.

* All information will be kept securely on a password protected laptop and mobile phone.

* Your personal information will not be shared with any third party except where outlined above.

Publicity and marketing:

* Any message, feedback or review you provide may be used to support promotion and marketing of The Confident Patient Project unless you specifically prohibit its use in writing. Any text used will be edited to ensure anonymity and will only include the age of the child(ren) and the county lived in.

Session details:

* To enable The Confident Patient Project to prepare for the session, your completed pre-session questionnaire must be emailed at least 48 hours before your scheduled appointment. Failure to provide these documents on time may delay your session and may incur a cancellation fee.

* Payment for services provided to The Confident Patient Project must be made through bank transfer at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled session.

* If you need to cancel your session, you must inform The Confident Patient Project by text message, WhatsApp or email no later than 48 hours prior to the scheduled session. If I am unable to fill your session, there may be a cancellation fee of 75% of the invoiced cost of the session. If the session is rebooked within 24 hours of cancellation then there will be no cancellation fee.

* Within a week of your session, a summary will be sent to you via email. You will be given a week to comment on the summary before it is saved as a true representation of the contents of the session.

* All medical equipment that is used during an in-person session is either brand new and in it’s original unopened packaging or has been fully sterilised in line with NHS infection control standards before the session.

* If you have been loaned any resources by The Confident Patient Project, they will need to be returned within two weeks of the event that it was loaned for.