Payment and Cancellation Policy

Life can be unpredictable and sometimes counselling sessions might need to be cancelled or rearranged. Our payments and cancellation policy applies to all our services.

Payment

Counselling session cost from £65, lasts up to an hour and sessions are paid for at least 24 hours prior to each session. Payment can be made via bank transfer. Following your free initial appointment, you will be given the bank details. Alternatively, you can pay in cash for your next appointment at the end of your counselling session.

In-person appointments

As we book appointments at specific times, we would be unable see you if you arrived outside the agreed times. If you arrive early for your session, we ask that you wait until your appointment time. If you arrive late, we cannot extend the session to compensate. If you are over 25 minutes late and have not contacted us, we will assume you are not coming to that session and will consider that a cancellation without notice.

Online Zoom appointments

For online sessions, we will send you a link for the Zoom meeting before the session will take place. If you have not connected to Zoom at the beginning of the session, the counsellor will resend the meeting link and will also try to contact you via an alternative source (email or telephone). This process will be repeated once more 10 minutes into the session. If the session does take place, the session will nevertheless end at the scheduled time. If you have not contacted us within 25 minutes of the scheduled start, we will consider that a cancellation without notice. Two missed appointments, without an explanation, will result in termination of counselling (missed appointments may still incur fees).

The technology we use for online counselling is very robust and rarely completely fails. Where it does, we will do our best to offer the appointment using another communication method or offer an appointment at an alternative time.

Telephone appointments

If you are receiving counselling by telephone, we will call you when the session is due to start. If the call is unanswered, we will try again 10 minutes later. If the second attempt fails, where possible, we would leave a message asking you to contact us. If the session does take place, the session will nevertheless end at the scheduled time. If you have not contacted us within 25 minutes of the scheduled start, we will consider that a cancellation without notice. Two missed appointments, without an explanation, will result in termination of counselling (missed appointments may still incur fees).

The technology we use for telephone counselling is very reliable and rarely fails. Where it does, we will do our best to offer the appointment using another communication method or offer an appointment at an alternative time.

Email counselling

Your counsellor will have discussed the time scales you will use for email counselling for example you may send your email by 5pm on a Tuesday and the counsellor will then reply by 5pm on a Thursday. If you email does not arrive at the expected time, and you have not contacted us within 24 hours of the scheduled time, we will consider that a cancellation without notice. Your counsellor will still send their email within the agreed time scale unless you contact York Counselling Practice to discuss alternative arrangements. If a second email from you fails to arrive, without an explanation, this will result in termination of counselling (missed appointments may still incur fees).

Cancellations

We operate a 24-hour cancellation policy. If you cancel an appointment over 24-hours in advance, we will not charge you for the missed session. If you cancel after that, or if you cannot attend, you will be asked to pay for the appointment.

Exceptional circumstances

We recognise that emergencies happen. If you know that you might not make an appointment, please let us know when you are booking it and we will try to be accommodating. Similarly, if a genuine emergency prevented you from attending, and also from letting us know, we could consider waiving or reducing the cancellation fee.

If we cancel

Occasionally, circumstances might prevent us from delivering an agreed session. If this happens, we will endeavour to give you as much notice as possible. If we are forced to cancel, we will not charge you for that appointment. We will also do our best to re-book your session at a time that suits you.

Termination of counselling

The client is always central to the counselling process and we completely respect their discretion to end counselling at a time most suitable to them. We encourage clients to discuss the ending with their counsellor at the earliest opportunity. This helps to ensure that the ending can be purposefully worked towards and given the focus it deserves.

York Counselling Practice may choose to terminate counselling if it is thought to no longer be in the best interests of all parties. There are many valid reasons as to why the counsellor-client relationship may end. Some of those reasons include:

Client has mental health needs that are beyond the counsellor’s area of expertise. For example, the client requires a different level of treatment (e.g. inpatient or crisis intervention) or more specialised treatment (e.g. addiction or substance abuse). The counsellor would aim to work with the client to ensure a smooth referral process.
Counsellor is unable or unwilling, for appropriate reasons, to continue to provide care (e.g. therapist is retiring/ is unwell/ personal circumstances have changed).
Client threatened counsellor with violence or there is a perceived threat to the counsellor’s wellbeing.
Conflict of interest is identified after treatment begins.
Client fails to participate in therapy (e.g. repeated non-compliance, no shows, or cancellations).
Lack of communication/contact from the client. If the client has failed to return contact with York Counselling Practice for a period of 14 days, we will assume that they no longer intend to remain active in the therapeutic relationship and their case will be closed. If they decide to continue counselling in the future, they are welcome to return (but would not automatically return to their previously scheduled session day or time).
Client has an overdue balance and has not made provision to rectify the situation.

Any questions?

If you have questions about our payment and cancellation policy, please call us on 07764 528138 or email at hello@yorkcp.org.

Changes to this policy

We may edit this policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes we will notify you by posting a prominent announcement on our website.

This policy was last updated on the 4 December 2023.