What if I told you that conflicts are good for your marriage? “Wow, Coach, how can you say that?” Healthy conflicts are necessary for any relationship. They increase trust, foster understanding and make connections between partners even stronger. Unhealthy conflicts, on the other hand, lead to built-up resentment, reduce trust, increase anxiety and can damage […]
At Ruth’s Marriage, we are committed to providing a safe and confidential environment for our clients. This confidentiality policy outlines how we handle your personal information and the limits to confidentiality that may apply during the course of marriage counseling sessions.
2.1 Client-Counselor Privilege: All information shared during marriage counseling sessions is confidential. This means that your counselor will not disclose any information without your explicit written consent, except as required by law or ethical standards (see section 3).
2.3 Protection of Records: Client records, including session notes, assessments, and any other documentation, will be securely stored and only accessible to authorized personnel as outlined in section 4.
3.1 Domestic Abuse or Physical Abuse: If there is a reasonable report of physical abuse, we are legally obligated to inform the victim to report this to the appropriate authorities.
3.2 Threats of Harm: If you pose a serious threat of harm to yourself or others, we may need to take steps to ensure safety, which may include disclosing relevant information to appropriate parties, such as law enforcement or medical professionals.
3.3 Court Orders: If a court orders the release of your counseling records, we may be required to comply with such an order.
3.4 Supervision and Consultation: Your counselor may consult with other mental health professionals for supervision and training purposes. In such cases, your identity will be kept confidential.
4.1 Authorized Personnel: Only authorized personnel, including your counselor, and administrative staff, of Ruth’s Marriage will have access to your information.
4.2 Security Measures: We take all reasonable measures to protect your personal information, both in paper and electronic formats, from unauthorized access, disclosure, or alteration.
Before any disclosure beyond the limits outlined in this policy is made, we will seek your explicit written consent, explaining the purpose and recipients of the information to be disclosed.
Client records will be retained for a period determined by applicable laws and ethical standards. After the retention period expires, records will be securely destroyed.
If you have any questions or concerns about our confidentiality policy, please feel free to discuss them with your counselor or write us at ruthsmarriage@gmail.com
We may update this confidentiality policy from time to time to reflect changes in laws, regulations, or our counseling practices. You will be notified of any significant changes.
The client is expected to arrive on time for each booked session. A cancelled or postponed appointment slows down our work and might have a negative influence on other clients. Because your appointments include the reserve of time expressly for you, and out of mutual respect for each other and our other clients, postponing or cancelling an appointment requires a minimum of 24 hours’ notice in advance.
Please note, that if you abruptly decide to discontinue your session(s) mid-way or you do not show up after payment has been made, there will be no refund.
You can always reschedule your dates provided you have given at least 24hours notice according to the cancellation policy as stated above
WHEN THE NO-SHOW/LATE CANCEL FEE IS WAIVED
This means if your appointment is supposed to be 9am on Wednesday and you wish to cancel, we expect to have received your email by 9am on Tuesday, then we can waive the cancellation fee. If we receive your cancellation later than that, then you will be charged the cancellation fee to have another appointment. Note that if your appointment is on a Monday, the cancellation needs to be provided no later than the prior Friday, by your appointment time, to be considered proper 24-hour notice.
If you can, we would appreciate more than 24-hour notice so that we can make that time available to other clients.
As a result, if you find out before the mandatory 24-hour notice that you will be unable to attend our session, please send an email so that we can fill your slot and place another client in your space who may require it. Counseling appointments are designated exclusively for our customers and are booked in advance. We are unable to cover this time slot by providing it to another client when a session is canceled without adequate notice. The email to send a cancellation notification to is ruthsmarriage@gmail.com
WHEN THE NO-SHOW/LATE CANCEL FEE IS WAIVED
This cancellation policy is only waived in the event of a serious sickness or emergency. Car accidents, family deaths, and severe illness are all examples of emergencies. In this case, if you are not physically able to cancel your appointment, you can get someone to write us an email on your behalf. Our cancellation policy applies even if the missed appointment was unintended.
Work-related issues are not emergencies.
Late Cancellation Fees Process: Any session missed due to a cancellation less than 24 hours in advance will be assessed at $50/standard fee. You will be charged even if the cancellation was due to work or if you rescheduled the appointment without adequate notice. We will send you a payment link immediately to pay the cancellation fee before you can have another appointment or continue your sessions.
WAIT TIME GRACE PERIOD
Your wait time is kept to a minimum. Due to the length of time provided for each appointment, it is critical that you arrive on time for your appointments. If you are more than 10 minutes late to your appointment, we will have no choice but to reschedule your appointment and you will be responsible for the $50 fee of a no show. To avoid paying no show fees, we require at least twenty-four (24) hours’ notice for all cancellations (as described above). Both counselor and client have a grace period of 10 minutes.
RECURRING SESSIONS: CANCELLATION FEE PAYMENT ENFORCEMENT
For recurring therapy/counselling sessions, when you miss a session without adequate notice, you will pay the cancellation fee of $50 for that session, before another session. The same standard above applies for each session.
Ruth’s Marriage Counselling Services sends automated email reminders of forthcoming appointments as a courtesy. Whether or not you receive the text or email reminder, it is your sole duty to keep track of and attend any planned appointments/sessions on time. If your phone number or email address changes, please notify us via email.
We appreciate your understanding and our policy is hinged on the fact that a late cancel or no-show hurts at least three people: you, the counsellor, and another client who could have potentially utilized your time slot
TERMINATION OF APPOINTMENT (SIX WEEKS THERAPY)
Your therapy sessions have a time limit of 4months before it’s terminated. This means that if you do not show up to complete your six weeks session within 4 months from your start date, the therapy sessions will be automatically terminated and you will have to make additional payment based on the amount of the sessions at the time you come back
In the event that you don’t want to make the payment, we will deduct the equivalency fee from the sessions you have taken and refund you the differential.
This is because therapy sessions need consistency and continuity for it to be effective, and also our practice is only profitable with good use of time. So we encourage that once you start, please be consistent and committed to it.
THANK YOU
We value you and are committed to your journey, however, we can only accomplish this with your understanding of the obligations set forth in this policy. Time is of the essence in our practice and we encourage good use of time to accommodeate more clients who need help. Thank you!
I agree to the Confidentiality Policy and Cancellation Policy.
