Note that attendance of counselling sessions is regarded as an acknowledgement and acceptance of the following Terms & Conditions and Informed Consent.

Me Therapy (Pty) Ltd, trading as "Me Therapy", appoints counsellors and coaches registered with various counselling and/or coaching bodies in South Africa and abroad, operating within the Regulations & Rules, and Code of Practice of these bodies, where applicable. Me Therapy is in no way claiming to conduct itself in the business of Health Profession Counsel of South Africa's (HPCSA) registered professional's scope, including that of any medical or healthcare professionals like psychologists, psychiatrists, or similar. The use of the word "Therapy" in our business name is in no way implying that we offer any services that are within the scope of the HPCSA and we strongly reitterate our own scope and limitations in comparison.

The client undertakes to enter into a counselling relationship (hereafter referred to as the “process”) with the counsellor where the counsellor provides services to the client through a process of exploring personal, social or psychological challenges, problems and / or difficulties with the aim to improve the overall quality of life of the client. The client may be an individual, couple, married couple, friends, family or a group who is committing to the counselling relationship with the counsellor. Any referral to the “client” will therefore include all parties who undertake this process, and any confidentiality during the process with more than one individual client will be deemed to be handled at the discretion of the counsellor, as necessary to be disclosed only in the event that it will contribute to the counselling process.

Should the counsellor be contracted to render any other services by a client, the counselling agreement will be regarded as cancelled and a new agreement may be entered into. The client will, under such new agreement, deem the terms and conditions, as well as the counsellor’s capacity as counsellor, to be null and void under the new agreement and will not hold the counsellor liable for acting outside of the scope or code of practice of the counsellor’s membership with any registered body.

The counsellor commits to continuing with the counselling relationship with the client should the counsellor be suitably skilled and able to provide adequate service to the client, while making the necessary effort to refer the client to the appropriate type of professional who would be able to provide the necessary service to the client.

The client understands and accepts that the processes of counselling will differ from client to client, that it is not a perfect recipe with a detailed and predetermined end result, and that it may require of the client to explore various uncomfortable areas of their lives or pasts from time to time in order for the counsellor to guide the client through the process. The counsellor commits to guiding the client through the process of counselling to the best of their ability, with the intended outcome of the overall process will result in a better quality of life for the client through better understanding and acceptance of themselves in their capacity as the client, and the client agrees not to hold the counsellor liable should the progress or outcome of counselling not meet the expectations of the client.

The client understands and accepts that the process, if interrupted for periods of time, or if ended abruptly, may not result in a satisfactory outcome and may require of the client to restart with certain aspects of the process. The client and counsellor have the right to terminate sessions with notice of one (1) final paid session in order to summarise the course of the process undertaken thus far and to provide the client a with final recommendation for further progress in the areas of concern.

The client is entitled to confidential treatment. Confidentiality will be maintained and information regarding the client’s communication or engagement with the counsellor, treatment and management will be released only to qualified professionals that the client has explicitly and in writing advised the counsellor to release this information to. The client accepts that confidentiality may be breached in certain situations where maintaining confidentiality would result in clear and imminent danger to the client or others or as otherwise stipulated by law. Furthermore, the client understands that confidentiality cannot be ensured with regards to Forensic and Medico-Legal assessments \ consultations \ evaluations.

The counsellor is required by law to report to the appropriate authorities any suspected child abuse, elderly abuse or abuse of people with disabilities. When a threat of bodily harm to others or to the counsellor is present, the counsellor may breach confidentiality of communications. The client understand that the counsellor will make reasonable efforts to resolve these situations before breaking confidentiality.

The client understands and accepts that the counsellor may record sessions and / or notes for the client’s record, and that all reasonable protection of such records will be undertaken by the counsellor. Notes and records form an important part of the counselling process as the counsellor may find it necessary to refer to previous sessions in preparation for or during a session with the client. The client may take notes of the sessions for future reference but may not make any recordings of the sessions in electronic format of any kind, without the written consent of the counsellor, clearly stipulating the terms of such recordings.

Information obtained by the counsellor in client sessions may be used for research purposes, presented anonymously at professional meetings and / or published in journals / textbooks, and at no time will any identifying information regarding the client be used and every effort to maintain confidentiality is assured.

The client understands and accepts that any electronic communication records, including but not limited to records on email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Google, video call facilities, or any other electronically based systems, may be subject to the terms of use of such platforms, as well as the security enforced on the devices and accounts that such information is recorded on. The counsellor will take all reasonable measures to protect the information of the client to the best of their abilities, but will not be liable for the disclosure of information through any such electronic platforms.

The counsellor will provide any written statements, legal testimony, or necessary service as is required by law while charging the client for such services at a rate of R550,00 per page required in such a document. It is expressly agreed that the counselling process is the normal service rendered to the client and that any reporting will be subject to further fees, and may not be provided to the client or any other party should the counsellor not be legally obligated to do so.

The client understands and accepts that the counsellor will charge a fee for the counselling sessions, depending on the duration of sessions, type of service, the counsellor's discretion based on the circumstances of the client, and the additional pre- and post-session efforts required by the counsellor. This fee may be amended at the discretion of the counsellor and will be confirmed in writing to the client prior to the commencement of sessions at the new rate. The counsellor is under no obligation to continue sessions should the client’s account be in arrears, or if the client is no longer able to afford sessions, although this is at the discretion of the counsellor and will be confirmed in writing to the client.

The client will make payments in advance of sessions during the first month of counselling via EFT or card payments, as per the agreement with the counsellor, and within 7 days after invoicing for every month thereafter. Should any EFT payments not be paid within 30 days of being sent the invoice, the client will be charged interest of 5% for every 5 days that payment is late, calculated as from the invoice date.

The client furthermore understands and accepts that any appointments that are cancelled within 24 hours of the session will still be billed in full to the client, and that any longer or group sessions that are cancelled within 48 hours of the session will still be billed in full to the client. The client understands that it is unreasonable to cancel within the above indicated times as the counsellor may not be able to utilise the time slot for other client sessions on short notice.

The client understands and accepts that any sessions may be rearranged, rescheduled or cancelled at the discretion of the counsellor without providing further reasons regarding these changes to the client.

We focus on guiding clients and providing them with tools and techniques to overcome their greatest, sometimes most seemingly impassable obstacles. We believe in our clients and invest in their quality of life, believing that they can and should live their best lives.