Terms of Service

Alison is a registered counsellor and member of the Australian Counselling Association ('ACA') who is bound by the ethics and professional guidelines provided by the ACA.

The purpose of counselling is to promote your health and wellbeing and enhance your functioning.  It is a safe and collaborative process designed to serve your needs by helping you explore and reflect upon your thoughts, feelings and behaviours in order to facilitate healing and growth.  

Please read the following Terms of Service ('Terms').  

(a) We offer a free, 15 minute introductory phone call to discuss your needs to help you decide if our Counselling Service ('Service') is suitable for you. 

(b) Payment for the Service is due on the day of your appointment.  We accept payment by card, cash or bank transfer.

(c) Cancellation: You will receive an sms reminder of your appointment the day prior.  Please provide as much notice as possible if you need to cancel.   If you do not show up or cancel on the day of your appointment, you may be charged the standard consultation fee.  Kindly appreciate that the time set aside for your appointment has been kept just for you, so if you are unable to attend another person may be very happy to take your appointment.

(d) Privacy:  We respect your privacy.  We are committed to complying with the requirements in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Health Records (Privacy & Access) Act 1997 (ACT) when handling your personal and health information ('Information').  Information obtained during the Service is only used to contact you for arranging appointments, recording what occurs in session, communicating with you and to aid and inform the Service we provide you.

(e)  Your Information will always be kept secure in accordance with Australian Privacy Principles. As required by the ACA, Information will be retained for 7 years from the date of the last appointment then destroyed.

(f)  Confidentiality:  Anything that we discuss in session is confidential. Information will never be shared with a third party without your prior written consent. Importantly however, there are limits to confidentiality, namely:

       (i)  if there is a legal requirement to disclose (eg: court subpoena)

       (ii) if there is an immediate, serious risk of harm to you or another person (we prefer to discuss our concerns with you in the first instance)

(g)  To promote ethical standards and ensure best practice we engage in regular supervision with a more experienced practitioner.  Your identity will always be protected when individual cases are discussed.  

(h)  ***By attending an appointment and paying for the Service you are agreeing to the Terms***.