Our agreement, in plain English

I am Alison Woodward, a psychotherapeutic counsellor. I practise as Alison Woodward Psychotherapeutic Counselling. There is no team behind this: the practice is me, and you will only ever deal with me.

I am a Registered Member MBACP, which stands for Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. The BACP is the UK’s professional body for counsellors. It sets the Ethical Framework I work within, it asks that I keep regular clinical supervision, and it holds a public register that anyone can check.

You can reach me at 07355 371467 or alison@alisonwoodward.com. Anything to do with this page, including cancelling, can come to either. I see clients at Chapter House, 11 Preston Road, North Shields, NE29 0LU.

• 50 minutes, one to one. I work with adults, older adults and young people over 16, and I do not work with couples, families or groups.
• In person in my practice room at Chapter House, on Saturdays. Appointments are at 10:30am, 12:00pm, 2:00pm, 3:30pm, 5:00pm and 6:30pm, and the last session finishes at 7:20pm.
• Sessions can also be held online by arrangement. That is not something the booking form sets up, so please ask when you get in touch and we will sort it between us.
• A free 15-minute introductory phone call is available first, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings between 7pm and 9pm. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

There is no fixed number of sessions and no minimum. Some people come for short, focused work, others for something longer and open ended. We review it together as we go.

An accessible room is available at Chapter House. Please mention any access needs when you book, or ring me beforehand, and I will make sure we are in the right room for you.

A session is £60 for 50 minutes. That is the only rate. The introductory phone call is free.

There are two ways to settle it, and both are equally fine:

• By bank transfer, either before the session or on the day. The account details are on every invoice, and the reference to quote is your invoice number, so I can match the payment up.
• In cash at the session itself.

There is no card payment. Nothing on this site takes money from you, there is no card form anywhere in the booking flow, and I will never ask you for card details by email, by text or over the phone. If something ever appears to, it did not come from me.

I check transfers off by hand rather than automatically, so a payment can take a few days to show as settled on your account here. That is normal and there is nothing you need to do about it.

When you choose a time on this site you are asking for it. The agreement between us is made when I confirm that booking back to you, and the confirmation is what fixes the day, the time, the place and the fee.

Because that whole exchange happens online or by phone rather than face to face, it counts as a distance contract under UK consumer law. That is why the section below exists, and why this page is written before you book rather than after.

Because we agree things at a distance, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 give you 14 days from the day we agree in which to cancel, for any reason or none, and be refunded. This is your right in law, and it sits on top of anything else on this page.

There is one thing worth knowing before your first session. If you ask me to start within those 14 days, which is usually exactly what people want, you keep the right to cancel but you can be asked to pay for what has already been provided. In practice that means: cancel before we have met and there is nothing to pay at all; cancel after a session has happened and that session is payable, not the ones still to come.

Once the 14 days have passed, the notice periods further down this page are what apply.

To use it, just tell me. An email to alison@alisonwoodward.com saying you want to cancel is enough. There is no form, and I will not ask you why.

Life happens, and it happens to everybody. If you need to move a session or cancel one, please give me at least 48 hours’ notice. With that much warning I can usually offer the time to somebody else who is waiting for it, and there is nothing to pay.

A session cancelled with less than 48 hours’ notice is charged at the full £60, and the same applies to a session you do not attend. The one exception is if I am able to fill the time after all, in which case there is nothing to pay. That does happen, but please do not count on it: the hour is held for you, and at short notice it usually stays empty.

None of this is meant to be forbidding. If something serious has happened, tell me and we will sort it out between us. I would far rather you told me late than not at all.

Tell me whichever way is easiest: cancel your next session from your account on this site and book a new time, email me, or ring 07355 371467. Voicemail is fine and you do not need to explain yourself.

It is rare, but illness and genuine emergencies happen to me as well. If I have to cancel or move a session I will tell you as soon as I possibly can, by phone or email, and offer you another time.

You are never charged for a session I cancel. If you had already paid for it, we will sort that out between us, whichever way suits you best.

If I were ever unable to offer sessions for a longer stretch, I would tell you honestly rather than leave you waiting, and if you wanted it, I would help you think about where else to look.

It is open ended. There is no fixed term, no minimum number of sessions, no package to buy and nothing that renews itself. It simply carries on for as long as we are both working, and it ends when either of us ends it.

You can stop at any time, for any reason or for none, and you do not owe me an explanation. Where it is possible I would ask for a conversation about ending rather than a silent stop, because how something finishes matters in this work. That is a wish, though, not a condition of anything.

I may end it too. That would happen if I judged that what you need is better met by a different service or a different practitioner, or if I could not practise safely and ethically. I would say so directly, explain why, and where I could, help you find something more suitable.

Ending costs nothing either way. Only sessions actually held are payable.

Please tell me first. Say it in the room if you can, or ring me, or write. I would far rather hear that something has not sat right with you than have you carry it, and being able to say so to me is part of the work rather than an interruption to it. I will listen properly, take it seriously, and reply.

Raising a concern will never change how I treat you, and it will never affect whether you can keep coming.

If speaking to me does not feel possible, or it does not settle things, you do not have to stop there. As a Registered Member MBACP I am accountable to the BACP, and it offers two routes:

• Get help with counselling concerns is the BACP's confidential guidance service, by telephone and email, for anyone unsure about their therapy or their therapist. You can use it without deciding to complain, and you can stay anonymous.
• The Professional Conduct Procedure is the BACP's formal process for complaints about its members. It applies to me, and it can be used whether or not you are still coming to sessions.

The BACP asks that you try to resolve things with your therapist first where you reasonably can, which is exactly why this section starts where it does. None of it takes away any legal right you have, and you are free to take advice from anyone you choose.

What I hold about you, why I hold it, how confidentiality works and the small number of situations where it has limits, are all set out separately and in the same plain language. Nothing on this page changes any of it.

Terms should not feel like small print, and you should never have to agree to something you had to squint at. If anything here is unclear, or you would like it explained before you book, please just ask.