Counselling Service Agreement

This Service Agreement is made for the purpose of providing supports under the client’s NDIS plan.

A copy of the client’s NDIS Plan needs to be provided to Voices of Hope for the client’s file.

The parties agree that this Service Agreement is made in the context of the NDIS, which is a scheme that
aims to:

• Support the independence and social and economic client of people with disability; and
• Enable people with a disability to exercise choice and control in the pursuit of their goals and the planning and delivery of their supports.

Voices of Hope agrees to provide the client counselling services. Depending on the client’s age and how they are accessing the NDIS, items from the NDIS Schedule will differ. The relevant supports from the NDIS Schedule for counselling services are listed below:

NDIS items will be clearly shown on our invoices with any identifiers such as ‘Provider Travel’ or ‘NonFace-to Face Support’ to assist the client/client’s representative in processing claims from your NDIS
plan.

Additional expenses (i.e. things that are not included as part of a client’s NDIS supports) are the
responsibility of the client/client’s representative and are not included in the cost of the supports.

Voices of Hope agrees to:

• Review the provision of supports at least annually with the client;
• Once agreed, provide supports that meet the client’s needs at the client’s preferred times;
• Communicate openly and honestly in a timely manner;
• Treat the client with courtesy and respect;
• Consult the client on decisions about how supports are provided;
• Give the client information about managing any complaints or disagreements and details of
  Voices of Hope’s cancellation policy;
• Listen to the client’s feedback and resolve problems quickly;
• Except in the case of extreme emergencies give the participant a minimum of 24 hours’ notice if Voices of Hope has to change a scheduled appointment to provide supports;
• Give the participant the required notice if Voices of Hope needs to end this Service Agreement (see “Ending this Service Agreement” below for more information):
• Protect the participant’s privacy and confidential information;

The participant/participant representative agrees to:

• Inform Voices of Hope about how they wish the supports to be delivered to meet the participant needs;
• Treat Voices of Hope workers with courtesy and respect;
• Talk to Voices of Hope if you have any concerns about the support being provided;
• Give Voices of Hope the required notice if the participant cannot make a scheduled appointment, noting that if the notice is not provided, Voices of Hope’s cancellation policy will apply;
• Give Voices of Hope the required notice if the participant needs to end this Service Agreement (see “Ending this Service Agreement” below for more information); and
• Let Voices of Hope know immediately if the client NDIS plan is suspended or replaced by a new NDIS plan, or the participant stops being a participant in the NDIS.

Voices of Hope will seek payment for their provision of supports at the commencement of the supports delivered.

Self-managed – the participant/participant representative has chosen to self-manage the funding for NDIS supports provided under this Service Agreement. Before providing those supports, Voices of Hope will send the participant/participant representative an invoice for those supports for the participant/participant representative to pay. The participant/participant representative will pay the invoice by EFT or cash on the day of service.

Plan-managed – the participant has nominated the Plan Management Provider to manage the funding for NDIS supports provided under this Service Agreement. After providing those supports, Voices of Hope will claim payment for those support from and invoices are to be paid within 7 days.

Voices of Hope are committed to meeting the highest standards of professional and ethical practice. All Counsellors at Voices of Hope are Masters level trained and registered with the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) and/or Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA). They are all signatories to the relevant governing body’s Code of Ethics as well as Voices of Hope’s Code of Conduct.

Voices of Hope focus on individual outcomes to actively engage the participant(s) and utilise industry appropriate assessment and evaluation tools to regularly track and report participant progress.

As part of providing a psychotherapy-counselling service, it is important to collect and record personal information that is relevant to your current situation. This information will be a necessary part of the assessment and counselling that is conducted. Any such information, along with correspondence to myself, will be kept in a file as original or photocopy and stored securely in a locked filing cabinet if printed in hard copy. Voices of Hope Psychotherapy and Counselling Services will collect and record your personal information for the purposes of contacting you only, no clinical notes or correspondence will be accessed by others without your prior written consent.

All information collected will remain confidential except when:

• It is subpoenaed by a court; or
• You are at risk of harming yourself or others; or
• Failure to disclose would place you or another person at risk
• Suicidal ideation or attempts

As a psychotherapist-counsellor I attend formal clinical supervision and your case may be discussed with my supervisors Clinical and Managerial. Your name is not used, but some of your background details may be shared with the supervisor to ensure the best possible care for you.

If changes to the supports or their delivery are required, the parties agree to discuss and review this Service Agreement. The parties agree that any changes to this Service Agreement will be in writing, signed and dated by the parties.

Should either party wish to end this Service Agreement they must give 2 weeks’ notice. If either party seriously breaches this Service Agreement the requirement of notice will be waived.

If the client wishes to give Voices of Hope feedback or is not happy with the provision of supports and wishes to make a complaint, they can talk to Yeou-Ling on 0412 034 516 or email info@voicesofhope.com.au.

At Voices of Hope, we value consistent, accessible and high-quality music therapy services. If you need to cancel an appointment it is recommended you cancel before 48 hours or more prior to the day of your appointment. Short–notice cancellations (less than 2 business days’ notice) and no shows will result in a cancellation fee of 100% charged against the NDIS Plan (or credit/debit card on file if you are selfmanaged or you run out of NDIS funds). Our cancellation amount and period are determined by the most current NDIA Price Guides. The NDIA Price Guides change from time to time and as a user of our service you agree to such changes (e.g., If the NDIA put up/down the cancellation fee or time period for cancellation you agree to those changes).

Should your therapist arrive at your scheduled appointment and the participant is not at home or at the location of the appointment with no prior notice, the scheduled session including travel will be charged at 100% of the scheduled fee for that session.

Where Voices of Hope cancels an appointment due to operations reason, the service will be rescheduled at no penalty to either party. Where multiple cancellations or no shows occur in a 12-month period Voices of Hope will initiate contact with the participant/participant representative and their support network to establish the supports we are providing are best suited to the needs of the participant.

TIME AND PUNCTUALITY: A consultation will usually last 60 minutes. If you are late, the consultation will usually still finish at the scheduled time.

The participant representative can be contacted on:

Yeou-Ling Wen 0412 034 516
info@voicesofhope.com.au
voicesofhope.com.au

I/we agree to pay for therapy session provided by Voices of Hope through claiming against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) service plan.

Voices of Hope agrees to provide the participant counselling services or the duration of the agreement at
the scheduled rate. These include:

• Counselling assessment and interventions.
• Clinically relevant communications including phone calls/written programs/communication with
  other health professionals (any task that takes more than 10 minutes will be invoiced).
• Attendance at team meetings/case conferences.
• Any reports, forms or letters as required by the NDIA or requested by the client/client
  representative.
• Cancellation charges for late notice or no-show appointments.

Voices of Hope reserves the right NOT to provide service or to cancel any future appointments for the
participant if you do not have sufficient funds in your plan or the plan expires. Any services fees not met
by NDIS will be covered by your participant/participant representative.

As per NDIS Guidelines for travel each therapy session will incur up to minutes travel charge per trip, per hour, per travel direction and an addition of $0.99c per km charge for provider travel – non-labour costs. Voices of Hope will only invoice for travel time at $180 per hour capped at 30 minutes (for one direction only) and will not be charging for the additional per km charge. All prices will be adjusted if there is any change in the NDIS price guide during the Service Agreement period.