Therapist to Client Terms & Conditions

1.1 The following is a contract between me, as your therapist, and you, the client, for therapeutic work. The aim of this contract is to provide you with an understanding of how I work and the practicalities involved, so you are fully informed.

1.2 Please take some time to read through this contract in full prior to booking your initial session. This page will, however, remain available for you to review at any time during our work together. 

2.1 At the initial assessment session (and potentially further sessions if more time is needed), we will explore the issues that you have sought therapy for. During this consultation period, we will attempt to get a clear understanding of the matters which are important to you and any difficulties you are facing, in order for us to formulate a plan and find a focus for your therapy.

2.2 The assessment sessions give you the chance to see if we can create a shared understanding of your difficulties in a manner which feels purposeful to you. You are not obliged to complete the assessment or embark on further sessions after the initial session if you do not feel we are the best fit.

2.3 As I have a duty of care to my clients, if I think that you would be better helped by a therapist with a different speciality or more experience in a specific area, or if it does not feel that you would be best served by outpatient therapy or an independent therapist in private practice, I will discuss this with you, and share any recommendations or possible alternatives such as offering the opportunity to be referred to another practitioner, or sharing details of better suited services. 

2.4 If either of us does not feel that we would be the best match for ongoing therapy sessions, Harley Therapy Platform will offer to cover the cost of an initial session with a different therapist as part of their guarantee if you contact the admin team to let them know. Please note, if you have previously booked an initial session using the guarantee, it may not be offered a second time. It would also not usually be offered where refunds have already been issued. 

2.5 If you have any concerns about the process of therapy, then I encourage you to discuss these with me.

3.1 Once you have agreed to therapy, I will reserve a weekly time slot for you. This will be a 50-minute slot unless otherwise discussed and agreed. Reserving a weekly slot allows me to set aside the same time for you each week for us to be committed to engaging and discussing areas of your life which are of concern to you.

4.1 As your sessions will take place on the same day and time each week, these times will be “reserved” on an ongoing basis. If you cannot attend in person, you have the option of taking your session online or by telephone. You can cancel any session provided you give 48 hours’ notice; however, in some cases, cancelling a session may forfeit your ongoing reserved slot (this would be discussed with you in advance if so). In that scenario, if you forfeit your space but wish to later resume therapy, you will need to see if spaces are available, noting that there is no guarantee that a slot will be available upon your return.

4.2 Please provide at least 48 hours' notice when requesting a cancellation or rearrangement to receive a refund, or avoid a payment being processed. You can cancel sessions at any time by logging into your Client Dashboard. 

4.3 Any late cancellation made with less than 48 hours' notice, changes to the appointment date/time requested with less than 48 hours' notice, or non-attendance without any prior notice, will be charged at the full fee. This cancellation policy applies to holidays, work commitments, illnesses, emergencies and any other scenarios. 

4.4 Please notify me of any planned future holidays or absences, or ending of therapy. Please advise me of any foreseeable difficulties in attending; where possible, I will look to accommodate your needs with an alternative slot. 

4.5 Ad-hoc sessions are usually only advisable to review your progress and wellbeing after a course of therapy has concluded. It is common practice that psychological therapy occurs weekly. My flexibility is limited as my diary is typically full with regular clients on a weekly basis. If you are unable to attend the same day and time each week or cannot attend weekly, then please let me know from the outset so I can advise if it's possible for this to be accommodated. 

5.1 I encourage you to discuss any concerns you have in your therapy session. Nonetheless, in the circumstances of cancelling or any difficulties in attending your appointment, please contact me directly using the details provided upon booking your session, or cancel via your Client Dashboard. I will attempt to respond to any non-risk concerns or questions within 48 hours unless I am on planned leave.

5.2 Please contact me directly to rearrange a session rather than contacting Harley Therapy Platform, as they would need to forward your query to me. Harley Therapy Platform will, however, be happy to advise on the best methods of contact if, for example, you have lost or are unsure of my contact details. 

6.1 When making your first booking, you will provide Harley Therapy Platform with details of the card you wish to use to pay for your session. By entering your credit card details, you are authorising Harley Therapy Platform to take payment on my behalf for this initial session and any follow-up sessions you ask me to book for you. Harley Therapy Platform does not store your card details, but will request authority from your card provider to take charges from that card in future. You can update these card details at any time in your Client Dashboard. 
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6.2 Payment will be taken immediately for any sessions you book via the Harley Therapy Platform website. Payment will be processed automatically 48 hours in advance of the session start time when booked by me. You can request a refund or avoid being charged, provided you give 48 hours' notice as per the cancellation policy noted under point 4 "Cancellation Policy and Planned Breaks". 

6.3 Please do not offer me payment by cash, cheque, BACs, personal accounts or any other method, as I am contracted with Harley Therapy Platform to only accept e-payments through the Harley Therapy Platform for ease of administration.

6.4 Please update your credit card expiry date if it lapses - normally you will be notified of an impending expiry, or if a charge fails for this reason when Harley Therapy Platform tries to process payment for a follow-up session organised by me. 

6.5 If a payment for a follow-up session fails, Harley Therapy Platform will attempt to notify you by email and SMS 48 hours prior to the session start time, with the reason for the payment failure noted in the emails sent. The payment will be attempted again 24 hours prior to the session start time, and then 12 hours prior to the session start time. If the payment cannot be processed by this point, you will need to log in to your Client Dashboard to make a payment if you wish for the session to go ahead. 

6.6 Your session will be cancelled automatically around an hour before the scheduled session start time if payment cannot be taken in advance of the session start time.

6.7 Payments taken for each session will include the Session Fee as shown in my Profile, and the Service Fee charged by Harley Therapy Platform. The fees will remain the same each week unless we discuss and agree on a different Session Fee (for a longer or shorter session than usual, for example). The Service Fee will remain the same each week unless the Session Fee is adjusted (the Service Fee will be £5.95 for Sessions under £100, or 6% of the Session Fee for Sessions above £100).

7.1 I will give you as much notice as possible of my holidays, and also of any ad hoc absences which I try to keep to a minimum. You will not be charged for my absences.

8.1 Please arrive at the exact appointment time. I regret that I cannot make up time if you are late, as this may impact other client sessions.

9.1 In order to ensure that the therapeutic process can be maximised, please do not arrive under the influence of alcohol or non-prescribed drugs. If I have reason to believe that this is likely the case, I will draw the session to a close or decline to commence the session. 

9.2 I recognise that the process of Therapy may generate strong emotions, which we will endeavour to work through together. In rare circumstances where I have a concern that such emotions have escalated to the point where they are not, in my opinion, containable in the room, I will draw the session to a close early.

9.3 Any instances of abusive, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate behaviour towards myself or the Harley Therapy Team may result in the ending of our therapeutic relationship, and may result in your access to the Harley Therapy Platform being revoked. Both myself and the Harley Therapy Team reserve the right to end the relationship with you as the client without prior notice. 

9.4 Concerns regarding your safety and the safety of others, including myself, may require me to inform other agencies - please refer to section 11 "Confidentiality".

9.5 I do not offer emergency support as I cannot guarantee my availability to you. If you are in danger in any way, please contact emergency services (A&E), your GP or the Samaritans and discuss this with me in our next session.

10.1 Therapy is not a magic ‘cure’ and you will be expected to share responsibility for your progress. I encourage you to discuss how you are finding therapy. If you feel therapy has lost meaning or focus, or if you feel any frustration or you are not feeling any benefit from your sessions, please discuss this with me. It can be beneficial to work through these challenges together and to decide how best to move forward.

10.2 However, if either you or I think it is time to end the therapy, then a discussion should take place, which would include how best to end the therapeutic relationship. If you do decide to terminate your therapy sessions, please provide as much notice as possible so we can work together towards a healthy ending.

10.3 In cases where I feel it is necessary, I reserve the right to bring a session and/or the therapeutic relationship to a close without notice, and to inform Harley Therapy Platform if this has taken place, noting the reasons why. Situations where this could occur include if any mistreatment, abuse, inappropriate or violent behaviour, threatening or foul language is directed towards myself or the Harley Therapy Team. 

10.4 If, for any reason, we have to discontinue sessions and you choose to be referred to another Therapist within Harley Therapy, then I will respect your decision.

10.5 After our sessions come to an end, I will remain responsible for your full records until such time that they require secure disposal (in accordance with the requirements of my professional body and prevailing legislation).

11.1 All sessions are conditionally confidential. However, I am legally obligated to:

11.2 These situations happen extremely rarely, and normally, I would inform you if I have to act in this way.

11.3 By confirming your agreement to these Terms & Conditions and continuing with booking the first therapy session, you give permission for me to securely hold your assessment information and any other information provided in the course of our work together. This information will be maintained in accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 (as amended), clinical governance audit standards, requirements of my professional body and any other relevant legislation.

11.4 By confirming your agreement to these Terms & Conditions and continuing with booking the first therapy session you are also giving permission for Harley Therapy Platform to hold such information as is required to service our working arrangement, this includes but is not limited to data stored in paper form and/or electronically, processing your personal data including but not limited to contact details, bank details, accident forms; processing your sensitive data, including but not limited to, data in respect of your racial or ethnic origin and your physical and mental health; and to transfer your personal data and/or sensitive data outside the European Economic Area.

11.5 I am required to participate in supervision as part of my commitment to good practice, and the duty of confidentiality extends to my supervisor/s. Any notes taken in supervision sessions are confidential, and full names will not be used.

12.1 If you request that I produce any reports or letters on your behalf, and I confirm that I am able to offer this service, my time in preparing such reports will usually be charged at my hourly rate unless otherwise agreed directly with you. 

12.2 Please let me know in advance if you are seeking a professional letter of any kind or are seeking therapy as part of a legal claim, so I can confirm if I am able to offer this service. I will need to decline if I do not feel sufficiently experienced to complete this type of additional work.

12.3 I do not offer one-off sessions for clients I have not previously worked with who are seeking report or letter writing services, and will only discuss this possibility with clients whom I have worked with in an ongoing or long-term therapeutic capacity. 

13.1 The contract is not with Harley Therapy Platform. Harley Therapy Platform does not accept any liability arising from the advice and treatment provided by me.

14.1 As an independent practitioner, I hold professional indemnity insurance.

15.1 It is natural at times to experience feelings of frustration or dissatisfaction about the process of therapy; these feelings should be discussed with me as described in section 10 "Ending Therapy" so we can work through these feelings together safely and appropriately. 

15.2 As well as discussing feedback with me directly, you are also entitled to leave a public review via your Client Dashboard if you feel it is appropriate to do so. Please be aware that Harley Therapy Platform reserves the right to remove reviews that contravene their review policy and/or where a client's account has been suspended by the Harley Therapy Team; however, in all other cases, reviews will remain publicly available unless you choose to request their removal by contacting the Harley Therapy Platform Team directly. Therapists cannot remove or edit reviews.  

15.3 Should you have a serious complaint regarding my conduct that we have been unable to resolve to your satisfaction, you may wish to escalate the complaint to my professional body. Either I or the Harley Therapy Platform will be able to direct you to the relevant details if you would like assistance with submitting a formal complaint to my professional body. 

15.4 Complaints about the booking system, website or app should be directed to the Harley Therapy Platform. They are not able to address issues related to our relationship or my conduct, and should you approach them, they will normally advise you to either speak to me or to contact my professional body.

15.5 Please put complaints concerning technical matters to Harley Therapy in writing, giving as much detail as possible. Complaints should be addressed to the Clinical Director, Harley Therapy Platform, either by email: [email protected] or by post to 10 Harley Street, London, W1G 9PF. They will endeavour to resolve your concern and will normally respond within 10 working days.