Elena Darmenko

Expat Psychotherapist

Consulting Arrangements

I work on the basis of an offer contract as a self-employment taxpayer (self-employment).
In order to avoid the "emotional burnout", and to preserve the ability to work efficiently, I clearly limit the number of working hours per week; therefore, there is an important organizational framework, namely:

1. Weekly attendance of sessions is important for the efficiency of the conducted therapy, with the exception of some cases, where it is 1 time every 2 weeks. As a rule, this refers to late consultation times, and is to be agreed upon in advance. Of course, the session may be cancelled in case of your illness, or postponed for the duration of your vacation or business trip;

2. I offer 2 formats of work - a one-time intensive consultation, and a course of 10 sessions (this is the minimum). The first format is suitable for those who need to take in a specific situation, or for those who are not ready for systematic consultations, while preferring to consult a psychologist as needed. The second format, that is, the course of sessions, is suitable for those who are interested in a deep study of the existing problem. It is important to understand that this is namely a course, and not a series of separate sessions with a psychologist;

3. If you have the need and inner readiness for a course of sessions, I invite you to sign up for the first free of charge consultation. We will review your specific case and identify the possibility of our work together. This session is for informational purposes only. At the end of it, we would fix the schedule of our working sessions, and you would make the payment;

4. Reservation would be made for you for one and the same time, once a week (unless otherwise agreed).

5. An appointment for the next session shall be fixed upon payment. This shall be done to secure a time for our session on my schedule, as well as to prevent eventual resistance to changes.

6. We start the work at the time agreed in advance. In case you are late, the session duration shall be reduced by that period of time. In case you come late regularly, I would have to discuss the expediency of our further work with you, since its efficiency would be minimal;

7. It is necessary to notify about the postponement or cancellation of a session 24 hours before its start, except for cases of force majeure. This is necessary in order for me to be able to adjust my schedule. In case of a one-time payment for the course of sessions, cancellation/postponement shall be possible no later than two hours before the start of the session. An exception is situations of force majeure. If you fail to attend a session without notifying, the payment for it shall be debited. Also, in case you regularly miss sessions, I would have to refuse to work with you further on;

8. In urgent cases, I would find time for an extraordinary session with you;

9. In order to integrate your inner changes, it is very important to hold a summarizing final meeting, so that your psyche could acquire our learnings. If you plan to finish a course, please let me know at least one week in advance, so that we would have a final meeting, no matter how long we have worked together. Without your consent to this condition, I would have to refuse to work with you.

10. In very rare cases, if, for any reason, I think that my resources are not sufficient for a full-value work with you, I would refer you to another good specialist.

In any case, remember, whatever happens I'm standing on your side!