Over 75% of people reported that their mental health has been impacted by the pandemic.1 This means counselling and psychotherapy services are more critical than ever. However, like any profession involving direct contact with clients, there is high exposure to risk. Any of these incidents could lead to a legal claim being made against you:
- a patient misunderstanding your advice;
- an accusation that a course of counselling or psychotherapy has not had the expected result;
- or an accident in your office that leads to someone being injured.
As a practising therapist, it's important to choose the right insurance policy. This ensures both you and your clients have adequate protection. Counselling insurance protects professional counsellors and psychotherapists. It covers against the risks associated with delivering your services and giving advice.
Professional body requirement
It is often a requirement of joining professional associations that you have adequate cover. Specifically, you'll need professional indemnity (PI) insurance. For example, the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) require this. You will need to provide proof that you have this insurance in place before joining. These associations also require you, more generally, to have “adequate insurance when providing services directly or indirectly to the public.” As a minimum requirement, your policy should include public liability or third party cover. This is in case a client is injured while visiting your premises. And you should also have professional indemnity cover, in case you are sued by a client for negligence or malpractice.
Common types of claim
Reviewing claims made by other therapists over the last five years can help demonstrate the cover PI insurance provides. Claims are also a good indicator for areas of improvement – learn from the mistakes of others to better manage risk in your practice.
The most common claims made by therapists insured through Oxygen fall into the following categories:
- Complaints about the advice or services given. A dissatisfied patient may complain for a number of reasons. In many cases, the therapist has failed to ensure their patient understood the therapeutic process. In particular, what the process would involve.
- Alleged breach of rules or regulations of the professional body. A patient might feel you have breached the regulations of your professional body. Or they may feel you have not upheld standards expected by the profession.
- Breach of confidentiality. Claims can arise from alleged breaches in confidentiality. Or it could even be the mishandling or loss of documents/personal sensitive information.
Online therapy
There has been a rapid acceleration in digital technology and handheld devices in recent years. This increased further with the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. All of this has led us to a point where almost all counsellors and psychotherapists interact in some way with digital technology. If you are offering online or digital counselling sessions, you run the same risks as seeing clients in-person.
Professional liability insurance can provide cover in specific circumstances. For example, if a client alleges you have been negligent. They could also bring a claim against you if they feel you have failed to delivere a service advertised.
You might collect information about your clients (e.g. financial or medical) or you might record sessions. In this case you should consider protecting your business with cyber insurance in the unfortunate event of a cyber-attack.
Whether you offer counselling in-person or online, it’s vital you protect yourself with the right insurance coverage. Having insurance in place means that, in the event of a complaint or legal action, you receive some form of protection. The right cover means you'll be protected from being personally liable. It can also cover legal assistance if you're faced with disciplinary or complaints proceedings.
Oxygen counselling insurance is designed specifically to protect counsellors and psychotherapists. Our cover protects against any unforeseen events that could leave your business exposed to financial loss. We can help arrange:
- hypnotherapy insurance;
- psychologists insurance;
- counsellors insurance;
- and psychotherapy insurance.
All of these can be tailored to your individual requirements to suit your business needs.
Sources
1. bacp.co.uk/may-three-quarters-of-people-say-their-mental-health-impacted-by-the-pandemic
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