Oliva's Boundaries

Oliva's Boundaries

🗓️
Version last updated on 06.07.2021

At Oliva, our goal is to support the broadest possible spectrum of mental health needs. But to help us focus on the many things we can help with—and to make sure you're on the same page—we want to be as open as possible about our limits. Some are severe situations that we're not equipped to handle effectively, others are best practices that we need your cooperation with 🙏

So have a read through, and get in touch at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Oliva isn’t suitable if you're in a crisis

Oliva is not a medical service, which means we can't provide immediate care in the event of a mental health crisis.

If you feel you are experiencing a mental health emergency, are considering suicide, or feel that you're a danger to yourself or others, you should call one of the following:

  • 111: if they urgently need medical help but it's not a life-threatening situation
  • 999: if they or anyone else is in immediate danger or harm
  • 116 123: to speak to the Samaritans, who are available by phone 24 hours a day or via email at [email protected]
  • For a list of crisis lines for different countries, click here.

Oliva isn't suitable for all mental health conditions

Our diverse range of experienced and licensed mental health professionals is well-equipped to help with a wide variety of mental health issues. But Oliva isn’t suitable for people who have an enduring, complex mental health condition such as schizophrenia, anorexia, dementia, severe substance misuse, Bi-polar disorder during mania, treatment resistant depression, or personality disorders where functioning is severely impaired or the person is at risk.

Oliva is unable to provide you with a formal diagnosis

Whilst our mental health professionals can provide support and intervention for a wide number of common mental health disorders, they are unable to provide you with a formal diagnosis. If you require this, you should talk to your GP about a referral to a psychiatrist or specialist service.

Oliva therapy shouldn't be done while also seeing another therapist

In general, it's not recommended to regularly do sessions with more than one mental health professional at the same time. So for people who are already seeing another mental health professional, we don't recommend starting therapy with Oliva simultaneously.

Oliva may decide not to offer care in some circumstances

While we will always do our utmost to help people, there are rare cases when Oliva may decide not to offer its services. For example, Oliva isn't suitable for people who are unable to avoid the use of alcohol or other substances during a therapy session. Oliva also isn't suitable for people who require in-patient or out-patient care in a hospital based setting. And of course, if our mental health professionals are subjected to prolonged verbal abuse during sessions, we might decide to withdraw our services.

Oliva is confidential—but within legal & ethical limits

We take your confidentiality incredibly seriously. In nearly all circumstances, anything you share with Oliva's mental health professionals is strictly between you and them.

The only exception is if someone clearly shows an intention to harm themselves or others. In these cases, we'll flag the situation as an emergency as legally and ethically required. If this happens, we may try to contact your GP (which we ask you for when starting therapy) or your named emergency contact. If they cannot be contacted, or if the details are incorrect, we may deem it necessary to contact your employer in order to seek assistance.

There might be exceptional occasions not related to self harm where we deem it in your best interests to share information with other professionals involved in your care, such as your doctor, or your assigned mental health team. We would normally ask your permission to share this information, however there might be rare circumstances where we would share information without your consent, for example if we believed you may come to physical harm if we don’t share it.

Oliva will never sell your personal information to third parties or data brokers. All our data processing activities are specified in our privacy notice.

Oliva won't tell you what to do

Our mental health professionals are here to offer their support and guidance on keeping a healthy mind. But ultimately, what you choose to do outside of Oliva sessions is still your responsibility.