Risk Assessment

August 2020

 
 
 

WORKING FACE TO FACE DURING COVID-19

As per the legal requirements of HSE, BACP and the Scottish Government, I have conducted a risk assessment of working face to face with clients in my clinic at 5 La Belle Place, Glasgow G3 7LH.

My clinic is housed in a mixed-use office building.

I have established that;

  1. The hygienic integrity of the building is compromised by the high footfall in public areas including toilets

  2. It is not possible to sufficiently maintain a 2-metre  (nor in some places, a 1-metre) social distance in public areas due to high numbers of  people from other offices moving around the building including multiple people exiting and entering multiple times throughout the working day from the main office at the communal front door.

  3. The Landlord has made no provision for regular cleaning of communal toilets  throughout the working day

  4. There is insufficient ventilation in the public spaces

  5. There is insufficient ventilation in the clinic room itself

  6. The shape of the clinic room itself challenges socially distanced seating arrangements

  7. A meaningful therapeutic relationship would be difficult to establish if either or both parties wore face masks

From a psychological viewpoint; As a counsellor of 20 years I have concluded that it is not possible to conduct appropriate and safe counselling that has any psychological meaning while either or both parties wear face masks. Wearing masks is likely to remove the possibility of establishing a valid therapeutic alliance or working relationship conducive to any improvement for a client who may be anxious and stressed during the session about the possibility of contracting the Covid-19 virus while trying to focus on their counselling.


If you feel you MUST meet a counsellor in person;  I would invite you to ask of them if have they conducted and published a full risk assessment of their room and premises.


If you are invited to wear a face mask, I’d ask you to consider how free you will be to safely express yourself there and how you’d expect that counsellor to not only hear you clearly but fully read your facial expressions as part of an open and effective conversation.  I’d suggest that if either or both partiers cannot read the full range of facial expressions which are required for psychologically appropriate therapy, then the likelihood of a positive outcome is lowered significantly.


I continue to offer counselling to all clients via Telephone, Zoom or FaceTime and look forward to welcoming you on these platforms until it is safe enough to meet in person, face to face.

James Alexander

August 14, 2020

 
109717949_3339935819385111_7673501010120315744_o.jpg