Terms and Conditions

Welcome to my practice

This document contains vital information regarding our services and business policies. Your signature on this document signifies an agreement between us.

In the event that you pose a risk of harm to yourself or others, it is imperative that you seek immediate assistance by proceeding to the nearest casualty, hospital, or contacting an emergency helpline.

Please ensure that you read the terms and conditions carefully.

By accessing or using this service, you agree to comply with all the Terms and Conditions described in these terms. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions, you are not authorised to use the services.

COUNSELLING ADMISSION

1.1 By signing this document, you certify that you are at least 14 years old or above.

1.2 You have the legal authority and capacity to enter into and be bound by the terms outlined herein.

1.3 You have the legal authority and capacity to provide informed consent to utilize our services.

1.4 You are not prohibited by the laws of your country from accessing or using our services.

WORKING HOURS

Please note our working hours are from Monday to Friday, 10AM-6PM, by appointment only, and Saturdays from 9AM to 1PM. Appointments scheduled outside of these hours will incur an after-hour rate. Please be aware that medical aids may not reimburse after-hour rates.

All appointments are to be made through the booking link.

Due to being in session with patients during the day, we may not always be able to return calls or emails promptly.

Rates vary or different services; please refer to the booking link for details.

In the event of an emergency and you cannot reach us, please proceed to the nearest casualty/emergency room.

CANCELLATION POLICY

To cancel an appointment, please provide at least 24 hours’ notice during our working hours, which are from 10AM to 6PM, Monday to Friday. If you fail to cancel within this timeframe, the full consultation fee will be charged. If your appointment is scheduled for a Monday, cancellation must be made by the preceding Friday to avoid incurring the full fee. This is non-negotiable.

Missing the appointment as per booking policy be 100% of the total fee for no-show. 100% of fee if advising the practice within 24hours that you are unable to attend.

CANCELLATION

Clients are informed of this policy at the time of booking and acknowledge the need to pay a late cancellation and no show fee when filling in their initial consult information sheet. They will receive a text /email or whatsapp message 48 hours prior to their appointment which also reminds them of their appointment.

Aim:
The aim of this policy is:

• To reduce disruptions to the psychologists diaries and loss of psychologists time in preparation because of client late cancellations, late rescheduled and missed appointments.
• Make sure that other clients do not miss out on the opportunity to access therapy.
• Reduce the income loss as a direct result of client cancellations, late rescheduled and missed appointments. We are a private practice, therefore if a client cancels or reschedules late or does not arrive for their scheduled appointment the psychologist loses income.
• To reduce the level of late cancellations, late rescheduled and missed appointments.
• 24-hour cancellation policy applies. Please note that sessions need to be cancelled 24 hours prior to your appointment with the psychologist.
• There are no refunds for cancellations that have not been made 24 hours prior to the appointment date.
• If you have paid for a Psychologist’s services and for some reason that Psychologist is not available to provide therapy services later or instantly, you are entitled to rebook the same Psychologist for some other time.
• Our cancellation policy is explained, and clients agree to our cancellation policy at the time of intake as part of the registration process.
• New Leaf Counselling endeavours to remind clients of their appointments through SMS or whatsapp or email reminders. In addition to reminding them of the appointment and cancellation fee, clients are clearly informed that it is the client’s responsibility to remember the appointments they have made.
• Third Party Payer
  • If payment is covered by a third-party payer, then New Leaf Counselling will provide an invoice to the payer. Terms of payment -Strictly 7 days.

Outstanding accounts

Outstanding accounts (maximum terms = Strictly 7 days) will be referred to debt collection and will incur a debt collection fee. No further appointments will be booked if the client has an outstanding account. Upon payment of the outstanding account, appointment scheduling can resume.

MEDICAL AID REQUIREMENTS

Medical aids necessitate an International Statistical Classification of Disease and Health Problems code (ICD 10 Code) for billing purposes. It’s possible that future policies may require your medical aid to access the diagnosis of your treatment. If you have any questions or concerns about ICD10 Codes, please feel free to discuss them with us.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND PROFESSIONALISM

In order to provide professional services, cases and academic materials may be discussed and documented with a senior colleague. Identifying details are omitted, and psychologists treat all information as confidential.

A Psychologist may disclose confidential information –

(a) only with the permission of the client concerned;
(b) when permitted by law to do so for a legitimate purpose,
(c) to appropriate professionals and then for strictly professional purposes only;
(d) to protect a client or other persons from harm;
(e) or to obtain payment for a psychological service, in which instance disclosure is limited to the minimum necessary to achieve that purpose.
(f) When required to do so by law or a court of law, a psychologist shall disclose the confidential information so required.
(g) The Psychologist do not make any representations at court

ACCESS TO SERVICES

• To utilize our service, you must initially register using the intake link and provide us with specific personal information.
• You agree that all information provided about yourself will be truthful, accurate, current, and complete.
• You agree to update your account information each time you log in if any changes occur.
• If any information provided is found to be untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, or if New Leaf Counselling has reason to suspect so, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and deny any current or future use of this service.
• By clicking continue, you confirm that you have read and agreed to New Leaf Counselling’s terms and conditions.
• You are entering into this agreement irrevocably, accepting all stated terms and conditions and agreeing to abide by them.
• If you do not agree with New Leaf Counselling’s terms and conditions, you will not be allowed to continue with the member registration process.
• New Leaf Counselling reserves the right to deny access to any individual whom we believe has violated any of the terms and conditions at our sole discretion.
• We retain the right, at our sole discretion, to change or update our terms and conditions without notice. Therefore, it is recommended that you regularly check these terms and conditions for any modifications.

By signing:

• You authorize contact only with individuals you specify.
• You acknowledge the limits of confidentiality.
• You understand that you are responsible for full settlement of all fees/shortfalls and agree to ensure their payment.
• Failure to pay within 3 months may result in legal action and debt collection, with outstanding bills incurring interest after 30 days.
• You agree to the duration of the initial session being 60 minutes, with subsequent sessions lasting 51 to 60 minutes, with longer consultations billed accordingly.
• Any disputes will be resolved through confidential arbitration rather than court proceedings. Any dispute or claim relating in any way will be resolved by binding confidential arbitration rather than in court.

INTAKE INFORMATION

You agree to refrain from accessing or using the service in any unlawful manner.

You are prohibited from posting, using, storing, or recording any information, online chats, or calls.

You are solely responsible for the content you post on the service.

These terms govern the relationship between you and New Leaf Counselling and do not involve the app provider.

You are responsible for safeguarding your username and password for this site, if required. If you suspect that your password has been lost, stolen, or your account compromised, please notify us immediately and/or change your password.

We shall not be held liable if your user account details are compromised or used by someone else, with or without our/your knowledge.

You consent to the electronic storage of information.

While reasonable steps will be taken to ensure confidentiality, we cannot be held responsible in the event of a confidentiality breach.

NOTICES AND INFORMATION

You agree that we may communicate with you, including by sending information, correspondence and notices to you, using the information provided by you at the time of creating a user account. These communications may be sent via email, SMS, whatsapp, push notification, on site notification or otherwise.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

You agree not to reproduce, distribute, sell or publish any intellectual property given to you by New Leaf Counselling Psychologists.

Access to the service and the information contained is provided as is, and is available without any warranty of any kind.

New Leaf Counselling does not warrant that access to the service /career service will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that defects if any will be corrected, nor does New Leaf Counselling make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, quality, completeness, usefulness, performance, security, legality or suitability of the service or any of the information contained.

Redistribution of any information made available is strictly prohibited; this service is made available only for individuals to use to support their career/ mental health decisions.

New Leaf Counselling does not assume any responsibility for any loss, damage or liability arising from the failure of protected health information, advice ideas, information, instructions or guidelines accessed through the service.

PAYMENT AGREEMENT

All services are chargeable-except the clients who are seeing the Psychologist through their Employee Assistance Programme.

When you schedule a session, it is understood that you accept and agree to pay the fees charged and you will be liable to make payment upon reserving or scheduling your session.

A link will be sent to you to complete the payment ahead of the session-At least 48hours prior to the session- unless an arrangement is made to pay in cash at the practice.

Medical Aid- We will submit the account to your medical aid directly. It remains the responsibility of the client to ensure that there are sufficient funds. If the claim is rejected, the patient is responsible for payment at medical aid rates- payable within 48hrs.

TERMINATION

New Leaf Counselling may terminate or suspend your access to the service at any time for any reason or for no reason at all.

New Leaf Counselling has the right to refuse to provide access to the service to any person, agency or organisation at our sole discretion.

PRIVACY

All data collected by New Leaf Counselling will remain the sole property of New Leaf Counselling. You shall not request New Leaf Counselling to remove or delete   any of such data.

A health care practitioner may make available the patient health records to a third party without the  written authorisation of the patient or his or her legal representative under the following circumstances:

Where a court orders the patient health records to be handed to the third party;

Where the health practitioner is under a statutory obligation to disclose certain medical facts, (e.g., reporting a case of suspected child abuse in terms of the Children’s Act, (Act No. 38 of 2005)).

Where the non-disclosure of the medical information about the patient would represent a serious threat to public health (National Health Act (Act No. 61 of 2003).

DISPUTES

Any dispute or claim relating in any way to a Psychologist or Services offered by New Leaf Counselling will be resolved by binding confidential quick arbitration rather than in court.

There is no Judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is limited.

Maryam Khan Waglay