Safeguards and procedures
Saor Pyschotherapy and Dundrum Counselling & Therapy Centre is reopening for face to face counselling/psychotherapy on Monday 8th June. This is to facillitate clients for whom online and telephone options are not safe, practical or effective.
We have carried out a thorough risk assessment and have updated our protocols to maximise health and safety for our clients and our therapists.
The following is a summary of what to expect when you attend for your appointment:
Travel
It is our understanding that counselling/psychotherapy is an essential mental health service and that it is permissable to travel to attend such a service. If you wish, you can print out this document and carry it with you to explain your journey if stopped by the Gardaí.
Arrival
Please arrive at the time of your appointment. Our reception area will not be in use during the pandemic.
Text or call your therapist from outside the building. Your therapist will ask a series of questions:
Have you had any of the following symptoms in the past two weeks
- fever
- cough
- sore throat
- shortness of breath
- difficulty breathing
- cold or flu-like symptoms
- sudden loss of taste or smell
- diarrhoea
- sudden loss of energy
Have you had any contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the past two weeks?
Have you had a postive test for COVID-19 within the past two weeks?
Are you awaiting results for a COVID-19 test?
Have you travelled outside the country in the past two weeks.
You need to confirm that you can answer NO to all of these questions before entering the Centre.
There will be an ongoing contract between all our therapists and clients that if either party has any doubt about the aforementioned risk factors, they will revert to online/phone contact for a minimum of 14 days.
You will be asked to wash/sanitise your hands on arrival to the Centre. There will be hand sanitiser immediately inside the front door. There will also be hand sanitiser in every therapy room, in reception and in the bathroom.
We will stagger our appointment times to ensure you will not meet anyone else on your way up the stairs. In the unlikely event of this happening, we ask that everyone be respectful of others and willing to step back and wait as we are doing in other public spaces such as shops.
Consulting Rooms
Therapists will ensure that chairs are spaced at a minimum of two metres distance.
Therapists will open and close doors for you to minimise the need for you to touch any surface.
Cleaning Protocols
Therapists will disinfect any areas that might have been touched after every consultation. This will include door handles, arms of chairs, tabletops, banisters, switches, etc.
The bathroom will also be thoroughly disinfected after every use.
Time will need to be allowed for cleaning and ventilation between sessions. To facilitate this, it is essential that your consultation finishes on time and we ask for your cooperation on this.
We also ask that if you bring any item with you into the Centre, i.e. coffee, you take it away with you and dispose of it outside. There is a rubbish bin very close to our front door.
During this pandemic the HSE may need to ask for names and contact details to carry out their role of contact tracing in line with public health guidelines.
Please write or print out the following statement, sign it, and bring it with you to your first appointment:
“I understand that my name and my contact details may be shared with the Health Service Executive for the sole purpose of contact tracing in line with public health guidelines, only if required.”
We realise that this amount of information and detail may be overwhelming. We are providing it so that you can be reassured that we are doing everything we can to ensure your safety during these chalenging times.
We look forward to welcoming you back to the Centre.
