• are over 18 years of age
• are not falsifying your identity or email details
• not receiving any other therapy, counselling or psychiatric care
• will declare any previous therapy or psychiatric care
• are not at risk of harming yourself or others
• will declare any medications taken, drug or alcohol dependency or abuse, any other addictions
• your sole purpose of counselling is for your personal and confidential counselling use only
• you will declare at the outset if there exists any additional agenda in your seeking counselling. This may include, but is not limited to, undergoing counselling for research, publishing, distribution or any other secondary purpose.
• you will declare at the outset if your particpation in this counselling will be shared in any form, be it, recordings, transcripts, copying or reporting of or on the experience, your impressions thereof, surveillance and any other use of the session, verbal or otherwise, other than for your personal therapeutic benefit.
• that your participation within the therapy process is entirely and absolutely for personal, therapeutic use.

2. Your Evaluation Session
Payment for your Evaluation Session is due upon booking and is non-refundable. This session normally takes more time than a usual session, so please leave ample time for this.

3. Booking your on-going sessions
Following mutual agreement to proceed after the Evaluation session, appointments will be made for your regular time slot. These sessions are 50 minutes in duration and will conclude 50 minutes after the scheduled start time. Therefore, please be prompt. If you are unable to make a session and provide good notice, I will try to find a mutually convenient alternative time within that same working day, but if one cannot be found, your session is forfeited by you. No refunds or in-lieu sessions are applicable unless a session or sessions are missed due to my failure or inability to attend the session.

4. Intensive Therapy Fees
For telephone or electronically-delivered sessions, weekly fees must be paid for and cleared before the first session of the next week starts. These can be made by Paypal, Google checkout or credit cards over the telephone. If sessions are personally attended, payment is due at the end of the attended week and can be settled by Paypal, Google checkout, credit card, cheque or cash.

4a. Cancellation of Therapy
Cancellation must be made in writing, by mouth, by telephone or by email. I always confirm cancellation of therapy by email. If you have not received confirmation, please follow this up or you may still be liable for fees of missed sessions. Simply saying that an email was sent is not adequate notice. You must take responsibility to ensure I receive whatever communication you make. See below for notice required.

4ai. Cancellation during first week
You may cancel Intensive Therapy at any time during the first week giving 24 hours' notice. For a session to be refundable it must meet all of the following requirements: 1. it must have been previously paid for with funds fully cleared; 2, it must not have been attended either wholly or in part; 3. a minimum of 24 hours notice received; and 4. confirmation of notice to cancel issued by Deborah Ward. Refunds are calculated at a rate of one-fifth the weekly fee for each refundable session; all refunds are subject to a £40 administration fee. The administration fee is the same amount whether you are cancelling one or five sessions. NB: Non-attended sessions where adequate notice was not received are non-refundable.

Examples:
If you book and pay for your first week in full the week ahead of your first session. On the previous Friday afternoon you cancel by fulfulling 4a above, you will receive as refund your full week's payment minus Administration fee.

If you book and pay in full for your first week and attend two sessions on Monday and Tuesday. At the end of Tuesday's session, you decide to stop and tell me, I will email you straightaway to confirm cancellation. I will refund you the three remaining non-attended sessions minus the Administration fee.

4aii. Cancellation after the first week
After the first week of Intensive Therapy, engagement of services is undertaken on a weekly basis. Notice to cancel (see 4a above) must be given before 17h00 of the preceding Friday. In the event where a future week has been paid for, funds have been cleared and adequate notice given (4a above), the week's fees minus an administration fee of £40 will be made.

'Delivered sessions' include scheduled sessions where no prior notice of cancellation was received, even if the session was not attended by the client. (see item 9 below).

4b. Refunds
Refunds will be made either by Paypal transfer or cheque by post.

4c. Failure of Deborah Ward to attend
Should Deborah Ward not be able to attend a session, the client will be credited with one session and the corresponding amount will be deducted from your next invoice.

5. Confidentiality
I will do my best to keep the content of your e-mails confidential although this is not 100% possible when using the internet (please read the  Disclaimer). After I have received your history and personal details, you may wish to consider not including personally identifiable content in further emails that contain sensitive content. You may need to consider the fact that other people may have access to your computer and you will need to decide how to keep our counselling confidential if you wish to do so. There are also potential internet threats of Messenger and 'Chat' services being compromised, if applicable.

If I feel you are in danger of coming to harm or that someone you are in contact with might be harmed, I will need to break confidentiality in order to protect you or the third party. I would do my best to discuss this with you and involve you in the process but therapy may need to be suspended.

My e-mail or verbal replies, our messenger dialogue, our telephone conversations and our conversations may not be recorded, transcribed, printed, posted or published either in whole or in part without my express, written permission. Material arising from the therapy including your experience of the process may not be used for commercial purposes, interviews, media without my express, written permission.

6. Supervision
I may discuss aspects of the work we do together with my supervisor. This is usual within the profession and is to ensure the high standard of my work. I would not reveal your identity to them.

7. Code of ethics
I abide by the code of ethics of the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapy

8. Notice of Cancellation
Evaluation Session Fee - is non-refundable.
Intensive Therapy First Week - See item 4ai, above. You may cancel at any time during the first week and not be liable for fees where at least 24 hours notice has been given.
Intensive Therapy Second and Ongoing Weeks - See item 4aii above. Engagement of services is undertaken on a weekly basis. Cancellation for any week must be received by at least the preceding Friday at 17h00 to avoid liability for fees.
Notice of holidays - Holidays must be discussed at the time of booking. Otherwise, missed sessions due to holiday or any other reason are forfeited by you. It is highly recommended that you choose a time to undertake Intensive Therapy when there will be minimal disruption to the process.

9. Delivery
Delivery constitutes Deborah Ward's availability for the scheduled hour and will conclude at the scheduled end-time regardless of client's delay or lateness in starting. Therefore, please be prompt. 'Delivery' will be deemed 'Received' regardless of whether the client 'attends' the session or not. The term 'attended' in relation to a session means either physical attendance during a visit or voice attendance by telephone or other electronic means.

In the event that Deborah Ward is unable to deliver the session as agreed (e.g. my inability or failure to 'attend' in whole or in part), you, the client, will be given an alternative appointment or a credit on the next invoice.

10. Geographical Setting
This counselling and therapy service is provided in the United Kingdom and is available to UK citizens residing and located within the United Kingdom at the time of the service being provided. Any prospective or current client must declare, at the outset, their geographic location and citizenship if other than British. All and any therapeutic and counselling service by Deborah Ward of The Being Well is specifically denied to people who live in a country or state other than the UK that requires licensure in that location. It is the responsibility of the client to declare, at the outset, any legal requirements their area of citizenship demands.

11. Dispute
Deborah Ward and you, the client, agree that any dispute arising out of this service shall first be resolved by mediation, if possible. This contract was entered into in Oxfordshire County, United Kingdom, and any necessary arbitration or litigation will take place in this county. All terminology is intended for a UK audience; those not familiar with UK psychotherapy and counselling terms should not assume nor construe meaning applicable to a non-UK service, professional qualifications, standards or any other aspect of Deborah Ward's operations.

12. Disclaimer - Please read the Disclaimer