Terms and conditions

The short version

These terms cover counselling and psychotherapy sessions with Alpha Ponce at Wise Beginning Counselling, in person in West End or Milton, or online.

Booking a session means you accept them. Nothing here limits any right you have under Australian Consumer Law.

This is not an emergency service

This website is not monitored, and I do not check email or messages outside session hours. Please do not use the contact form to tell me about an emergency.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 000. If you need to talk to someone tonight, these lines are free and answer 24 hours:

• Lifeline — 13 11 14
• Suicide Call Back Service — 1300 659 467
• 13YARN, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people — 13 92 76
• Kids Helpline, for people aged 5 to 25 — 1800 55 1800

There is no shame in using them. They exist for exactly this.

Booking and payment

Sessions are booked through the client portal or by arranging a time with me directly. Current fees are listed on the fees page and I'll tell you before they change.

There is no package to buy and no minimum number of sessions. You book one at a time, and you decide when the work is finished.

Cancellations and missed sessions

Things come up, and I'd always rather move a session than have you push through one you can't be present for. So tell me as early as you can. If you cancel with less than 48 hours' notice, the fee is 50% of the session. With less than 24 hours' notice, or if you don't arrive, it's 80%. That hour is held for you and can't be filled at short notice, which is the whole reason for the policy.

• Session fees are settled at least three hours before we meet, so our time stays on the work.
• If a balance is still outstanding on the day — a late cancellation, or a payment that didn't go through — it's processed using the card held securely on file, which you authorise when you complete your intake form.
• If payment has to be handled during the session, that time comes out of the hour and a card surcharge is added.
• Cash isn't accepted.
• If you're unwell, we move the session online rather than meeting in person.
• If I'm unwell, we move it online too.

Most therapy practices have policies about missed appointments or last-minute cancellations. This isn't just about rules: therapists don't have a set salary. Unlike medical doctors, they are paid only for the sessions they actually hold, and they typically reserve that hour for you alone.

If they charge for a missed session it isn't a penalty; it's paying for the time that was set aside for you. Some therapists offer flexibility when you cancel with enough notice, but even then they usually can't fill the spot at short notice.

What this work is, and what it isn't

I am a PACFA Registered Clinical Counsellor and Somatic Psychotherapist. I am not a registered psychologist or a medical practitioner, and I do not diagnose conditions or prescribe medication. There is no Medicare rebate for these sessions, which is said plainly here because it is the first thing most people want to know.

Counselling and psychotherapy are not a guaranteed outcome. I bring training, care and honesty about what I can and can't help with. What the work produces depends on things neither of us fully controls, and I won't promise you a result in order to keep you booking.

If I don't think I'm the right person for what you're carrying, I will say so and help you find someone who is.

Somatic psychotherapy is also unsuitable for people who have recently faced, or are currently facing, legal allegations.

Your information and your records

What you tell me stays between us, apart from the narrow situations where the law or a serious risk to someone's safety requires otherwise. Confidentiality may be broken only in these circumstances:

• If you are in imminent danger of harming yourself or someone else. Where I can, I'll discuss it with you first.
• If information indicates a child is at risk of harm, in line with Queensland's mandatory reporting laws.
• If a client is under 18 and there is a serious risk of harm to themselves or another person.
• If a court subpoenas records, a court order applies, or the law otherwise requires disclosure.
• If you are funded by WorkCover or an insurer, they receive reports on attendance and progress. Those reports cover function and capacity, not the content of what you talk about. I will tell you what goes in them.
• Where information is necessary for professional consultation or clinical supervision, which is a professional requirement. Cases are discussed in a way that doesn't identify you.
• Where it is necessary to defend against a malpractice claim or a professional complaint.
• If I believe my own safety is compromised.

Those situations are set out in full in the privacy policy, along with what I collect, where it's held and what you can ask me to do with it.

Clinical notes are my professional records and they stay with the practice. You can ask to see the personal information I hold about you, and there are two narrow situations where I may decline part of that request. This isn't about secrecy, it's about safety:

• Risk of harm: if giving you direct access could reasonably be expected to cause serious harm to your life, health or safety, or to someone else's, some detail may be withheld.
• Third-party safety: access may be limited where the records contain information about another person whose safety or privacy would be compromised.

This website itself stores nothing about you. The contact form emails your message to me and keeps no copy.

Ending the work

You can stop at any time, without explaining why. If you'd like a final session to close things properly, I'd welcome it, and it isn't a condition of stopping.

I may end the work if I no longer believe it's helping you, or if what you need sits outside what I'm trained to offer. If that happens I'll tell you directly and help you find appropriate support.

About this website

Everything written here, including the articles, is general information. It is not personal clinical advice and it can't take account of your situation. Reading it does not make you my client.

The words, images and design of this site belong to Wise Beginning Counselling. Where the site links out to another organisation, that organisation is responsible for its own content.

If something goes wrong

Tell me first. Most things are a misunderstanding and can be sorted out in a conversation, and I would rather hear it than not.

If you'd prefer to raise it with someone outside the practice, PACFA has a complaints process for registered practitioners, and you can go to them directly without speaking to me first.

Which law applies

These terms are governed by the laws of Queensland, Australia.