Counselling terms & conditions

As a counselling practice, we work in accordance with the Ethical Framework of Australian Counselling Association. Please familiarise yourself with the following terms and conditions.

1. CONFIDENTIALITY

Your use of the counselling services and what you discuss in your sessions are both treated as confidential within the service and are not normally disclosed to anyone else. In accordance with their professional requirements, psychotherapists/counsellors discuss their work regularly with an external counselling supervisor/consultant, and occasionally with other counsellors/psychotherapists.

As a counsellor, we will not provide information about you unless:

• You ask your therapist to break confidentiality because you consider that to be your best interest.

• There is a risk of harm to you or someone else. The therapist’s duty of care may require steps to be taken to minimise any danger. Where possible, a proposed course of action would usually be discussed with you first.

• The therapist is legally compelled by a court of law. Or a specific piece of legislation makes disclosure mandatory.

If you have any concerns about confidentiality, please discuss those with your counsellor. Further details of information management and how to request access to your file is available on the privacy form.

2. CANCELLATIONS

You are expected to give at least 12 hours’ notice of any cancellation, otherwise you are expected to pay for the session. Cancellation can be made by phone call or by email. The counsellor will also do their best to give reasonable notice of any changes.

3. FEES & PAYMENT

Fees are displayed on remedytherapy.com.au website. For first time clients, the full appointment fee is due at time of booking in order to confirm the first appointment. For returning clients, payment is due within 48 hours of the session completion or cancellation (in the instance that the notice period was not met). Payment is accepted by BPAY or by credit card and is made on the Halaxy portal. Payments with a stored card will be attempted post session, and those with an outstanding debt will be charged to clear the debt. Should payment not be possible or not be made within the specified time, a late fee of $20 will be added once overdue by 7 days. The outstanding invoice will be sent to a debt collection agency at 14 days overdue and no further appointments will be conducted.

4. REFUNDS

Refunds will not be made for the following: dissatisfaction with session, cancelling without appropriate notice given, or inability for client to complete session for personal reasons. Refunds can be considered in the instance that the therapist is unable to conduct the session.

5. CONTINUITY

Continuity of sessions is important. As the client, you are responsible for setting appointment frequency. If you choose not to participate in frequent sessions then your desired outcome may not be achieved.

6. MAKING THE MOST OF EACH SESSION

On registration, initial intake forms are sent to the registrant. To maximise time, please ensure that these are completed in advance of the session. Please ensure that you are ready for your session at the booked starting time. Sessions that go over time are charged at an additional $30 per 15 mins.

7. COUPLES

A ‘no secrets’ policy is utilised by Remedy Therapy Canberra which means that it is not appropriate for one member of a couple engaged in counselling services to contact the therapist other than for appointment or administrative purposes. It is also important that appropriate behaviour is used during the sessions, and any abusive or aggressive behaviour can result in sessions being terminated with full payment required.

8. TERMINATION

When you feel ready to finish your counselling it is important to bring this up with your counsellor so that together you can plan for ending your work in a satisfactory way.

9. OUT OF SESSION CONTACT

Our policy is that counselling advice or assistance will not be conducted over email or SMS messaging or outside of sessions. Records must be kept on all contact outside of sessions and can be used in court if Remedy Therapy Canberra is subject to a subpoena. The exception of this would be when contact is established to provide further information regarding worksheets or referrals to other providers. If you are concerned about seeing your therapist in a public setting and have a specific request of how this should be handled, please discuss this with your therapist as soon as possible.

Privacy Agreement

Remedy Therapy Canberra is an independent practice.

You may contact Remedy by emailing lauren@remedytherapy.com.au or by calling the practice directly. You have the right to gain access to the information held by Remedy Therapy Canberra about you.

Our Privacy Policy (available upon request) contains information on how you may request access to, and correction of, your personal information and how you may complain about a breach of your privacy and how we will deal with such a complaint.

Remedy Therapy Canberra needs to collect information about you for the primary purpose of providing quality treatment. In order to fully assess, diagnose and treat you, we need to collect some personal information from you. This information will also be used for the administrative purposes of running the practice such as billing you or through an insurer or compensation agency. Information will be used within the practice for handover if another practitioner provides you with assistance.

Remedy Therapy Canberra may disclose information regarding diagnosis or treatment to your Doctor or other treatment providers only with your consent. In the case of insurance or compensation claims, it may be necessary to disclose information and/or collect information that affects your treatment and return to work. Remedy Therapy Canberra will not disclose your information to commercial companies, however specific service or product information as deemed suitable for your management, may be forwarded to you by us, unless you instruct Remedy Therapy not to forward this type of information. Your written consent will obtained at the start of your treatment in order to carry out the above activities. We do not disclose your personal information to overseas recipients.

Information at Remedy Therapy Canberra is stored securely and only practice staff has access to it. Remedy Therapy Canberra takes all reasonable steps to ensure that information collected about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. You may have access to your information on request and if you believe that any of the information is inaccurate we may be able to amend it accordingly. If you do not provide relevant personal or health information, in part or in full, to lauren@remedytherapy.com.au it may result in incomplete assessment. This may impact on the diagnosis and the following therapy that is provided. Any concerns that you may have about this statement or about your management can be directed to lauren@remedytherapy.com.au