Before you skim over, agree and proceed with registration for Counselling, we ask that you take the time to read ALL of these terms BEFORE you agree to them. These are important things to consider that will have a direct impact on our work together.

It is your responsibility to ensure you understand these terms prior to signing up. If you have any questions, contact us and we are happy to explain or elaborate on anything contained in this document so you have clarity and peace of mind and so that we can maintain the highest level of harmony and rapport during our time together.

GLOBAL ALIGNMENT AGREES TO PROVIDE YOU WITH:

• Individual Professional Counselling with a Global Alignment Counsellor.

 

COUNSELLING & YOUR COUNSELLOR’S ROLE:

• As your Counsellor, I work with every day challenges and struggles that impact most people at one time or another in their life. Counselling is, basically, a “conversation”, in which the client and counsellor work together to achieve the client’s goals of change or improvement. The client’s task is to talk about whatever difficulties are of most concern; the more open and honest one can be, the faster the work may progress. The Counsellor’s task is to listen carefully, look for patterns in one’s thinking, feeling and behavior, point out alternative interpretations of events, ask questions to stimulate thinking, and facilitate the formulation of strategies for problem-solving. For the most part, I help you to determine your own needs, steps and answers. However, at times I may also teach theory, offer new tools or provide the option to do exercises, visualizations or take away lessons to help you practice and integrate new skills and perspectives both during and between your sessions.  
• Counselling can often result in emotional ups and downs, anxiety or feeling like things are getting more difficult before they feel better. Sessions may have a lingering effect in the days following (upset, tired, increased anxiety, vivid dreams etc.), especially if you opt to participate in experiential or cathartic exercises. Discussing things in one area of your life may bring up issues, traumas or forgotten memories in another area of your life. If you have any concerns regarding an exercise or steps or feel unmanageable emotional, intellectual or spiritual distress during or between sessions, please contact your Counsellor to set up a session. If it is of a more urgent nature, contact your local crisis line for support.
• Some Counselling topics or issues that that arise during counselling may be out of my area of focus or expertise. For your well-being, your Counsellor may recommend you seek additional support through other mental health or wellness professionals. Other professionals may provide therapeutic techniques I do not use, expertise in topics outside of my focus, psychological assessments, and diagnose or prescribe medications.
• As a professional, my job is to adhere to a “code of ethics” and “standards of practice” set my various governing bodies in the mental health industry. These guidelines often dictate how I function as a professional and as a business. As such, Clients are required to complete an intake and assessment form at the start of our work together.
• As a professional, our connection will be friendly, but it is not a friendship. Befriending clients is a conflict of interest and a breach of licensing body terms. The objective of this is to clearly identify and separate that your needs as a client are the focus during sessions, not ours. As such we cannot have social contact with you in person, on the phone or through our personal social media accounts. Our experience shows that, when boundaries blur, the hard-won benefits gained from the counselling relationship can quickly erode so we keep things professional at all times for your benefit.
• It should be understood that Counselling is neither coaching nor business training and it does not provide access to any of our online training or material. As a counsellor, I do not assume the same level of collaboration or personal disclosure as in coaching or training. Further to this, please read our webpage called "Coaching vs. Counselling vs. Supervision vs Business Training” which can be found under the "Services" tab of our website. This page is important in detailing the unique difference of these services and what they do and don't offer.
• In the unlikely event that your Counsellor has an illness, accident or absence that prevents them from working for an extended period of time, or in the case of death, a Global Alignment team member will notify all Clients. All those who have unused pre-paid sessions will be refunded, but we ask that you keep your pre-paid receipt as verification. Clients may request that copies of client files are sent to a new Counsellor under our standard protocol. Global Alignment will retain the original client file for the amount of time specified by our governing body.
• Your Counsellor will always be the one to initiate all calls to you to begin a session.
• From time to time your Counsellor will provide advance notice of times they will be out of the office for vacation or training. You as the client understand that these events will occur throughout the year and will be asked to book your sessions accordingly around those times.
• Your Counsellor is out of the office on weekends and most holidays, and is unable to book sessions or answer emails during those times. During normal working times, it would not be uncommon for your Counsellor to be fully booked 10-14 days out. Please plan accordingly and be proactive when booking your sessions.

YOU THE CLIENT, AGREE TO:

• Never record counselling sessions – either in part or in whole.
• Read and adhere to the Company's “Privacy Policy & Terms”, which can be found on the bottom right-hand corner of our website. This page outlines the conduct, interaction and participation guidelines for our Company.
• Be accountable for your decisions and goals and pace. If you have questions or concerns, it is your responsibility to pause, ask questions, and express any concerns or questions to your counsellor.
• Exercise your right to refuse any processes you are not comfortable with as well as evaluating all information and making your own appropriate decisions accordingly.
• Contact your local crisis line if you feel unmanageable emotional, intellectual or spiritual distress between sessions.
• Answer all emails from your Counsellor and/or our administration or billing team within 3 working days (with the exception of being on holiday). Email or phone calls are how we are able to conduct all business matters, so a timely response is greatly appreciated. Also, if you feel stuck, in resistance or other, the worst thing you can do is use avoidance as a problem-solving method. Please email us and book a session so you may work through any decision or issue you may be experiencing. Our intent is to support you to not derail your progress or default to unhealthy avoidance tactics.
• Limit emails to your Counsellor to topics of administration (such as booking or rescheduling sessions) or asking for clarity regarding your assignments, unless otherwise indicated by your Counsellor.
• Understand that emails and voice mails are not considered a confidential forum and as such, no confidential or personal information or check ins can be conducted in this manner and should be kept exclusively for your session time.
• Understand that the success of Counselling requires a level of commitment and consistency. For this reason, the maximum time between sessions should never exceed four (4) weeks. (Exclusions: sickness, extended holiday or other possible conditions proactively agreed to between the Coach and Client, in which case a 3-month coaching “pause” may be put into effect.) Otherwise, exceeding 4-weeks between sessions may result in a default of your prepaid session and having to begin coaching again under new terms. All prepaid counselling sessions expire twelve (12) months from the date of purchase.
• Proactively schedule your sessions, as there is often a 10-14 day book out time for sessions. Waiting too close to expiration to schedule sessions may mean there are no appointment times available in the time frame you hope to book.
• Notify your Counsellor in writing (email) if you would like to stop counselling. This notice will be put in your file for completion.  We do recommend you have an “exit session” to conclude our work together, but that is entirely at your own discretion.
• Be on time. Now's the time to practice being accountable in all facets of your life. All sessions will start and end at the scheduled time, regardless of your punctuality or the absence of appropriate 24-hour phone cancellation and the fees for that session will remain the same.
• Ensure you have tested your internet signal strength, close all non-essential applications, suspend all notifications and minimize all other distractions. It is your responsibility as a client to ensure your system has been tested and is working prior to each individual or group session.  This prevents valuable session time being lost as you try to resolve technology issues. We are unfortunately not able to provide technical support or troubleshooting assistance.  Global Alignment Counsellors will also ensure our systems have been tested and are ready prior to the start of sessions as well.
• Ensure there is mutual confidentiality/privacy during sessions. You should be alone in the room and away from others to ensure the session cannot be overheard. We also suggest using a headset and microphone as it blocks out background noise.  “Mutual confidentiality” means that recordings of sessions, session content or emails MAY NOT be shared with others for any reason.
• If hand-out assignments are provided, you may not duplicate, reproduce, distribute, or re-teach any of the Company’s content, materials methodologies, concepts, or written information to any third party.
• Ensure that your contact information is up to date at all times. As a Counselling client, you can update your contact information by advising your Counsellor personally in your session so that your file can be updated.  

COACHING FEES, SCHEDULING & ADMINISTRATION:

• One-to-One Counselling is $120 per hour and for the initial sessions must be purchased as a package consisting of 3 hours at a cost of $360 (plus tax). Each Counselling session is up to 1 hour in duration and can either be conducted as one comprehensive session or broken into shorter sessions (minimum of 30 minutes/session).
• After the completion of the initial package, clients may choose to continue their counselling in any of the three methods below:

1.  Pay-as-you-go for one Counselling session (1 hour) with no discount
2. Pay for a package of 3 Counselling sessions (3 hours) with a 5% package discount
3. Pay for a package of 6 Counselling sessions (6 hours) with a 10% package discount

NOTE: All payments are processed through PayPal Credit Card Payments only.

 

• Counselling fees may be covered by extended medical or insurance providers. Please consult your insurance policy for the designation that is covered in your specific policy or ask your Counsellor for their credentials and designation so you may take that information to your insurance provider for pre-approval of coverage. If you are covered, clients are required to pay up front and take the receipt to your insurance provider for reimbursement. For other third-party coverage, please speak to your Counsellor prior to signing up to ensure you are covered and our services are approved.
• Because we are also an international company with clients in different time zones (sometimes a full day ahead), and our billing staff work part-time, payment for additional individual sessions is required two (2) working days in advance of a scheduled session.  Late payments will incur fees of $20 per week and result in the possible cancellation of sessions. Any accounts not paid after a month will be referred to collections.
• Please keep rescheduling, cancelling or deferring of sessions to a minimum. We are a busy practice so if you need to cancel or reschedule a session, please call your Counsellor (604-765-2001) at least 24-hours prior to your scheduled session start. That way your appointment time can be offered to someone else. Texting, emailing or sending Facebook or Skype messages will not be accepted as notice of cancellation, and failure to cancel or reschedule within the required 24-hours' notice will mean session fees are still incurred. (If the session had not been prepaid, payment must be received within 5 working days or late fees will be applied.) Your Counsellor has the right to deny further services to an individual who abuses or misuses any services (i.e. frequent missing or rescheduling of sessions.)
• We do understand that on rare occasion, there may be an emergency that would prevent you or your Counsellor from giving the required 24-hours’ notice to cancel or reschedule a session.  The standard we use to determine "emergency" is specific to any acute illness or injury, accident or situation that occurred within that 24-hour period that would be characterized as unforeseeable, unavoidable, and would prevent the ability to follow through on the scheduled session. (i.e. Power failure or car accident.) This does not include matters of negligence, overbooking, disorganization or any situation that could have been reasonably anticipated. (i.e. double booked or ongoing sickness that has been present for more than 24 hours.)
• All fees are non-transferrable and non-refundable and unused time expires 1 year after date of purchase.  We require that you read all of these terms first (so that you are in full understanding and agreement first) and then Pay after.
• Understand that technology is fallible, and will not hold Global Alignment or it’s team liable for human or technical issues that can occur through the use of online technology (such as audio/video quality, internet server failure, power outages, etc.) which are out of the Company’s control.

CLIENT CONFIDENTIALITY:

• If you (the Client) would like to review your file for your own reasons, you may do so by making a request to your Counsellor in writing. Your Counsellor will then require you to schedule session(s) time to review the file/notes together in order to give you context and clarity on the notes and providing you with an opportunity to ask questions.
• Original client files are the property of Global Alignment. Requests to have copies of your file (in whole or in part) sent to third parties such as lawyers or other mental health professionals are processed via the signing a specific release form, which will be provided to you at your request. Sharing your client file (or not) is done so at the sole discretion of your Counsellor. Fees and timelines for such requests will be quoted to the client (or third party) so that payment can be made in advance.   
• We understand the nature of the work with your Counsellor is both personal and confidential. Please know that the personal details discussed are not shared with other Global Alignment team members. Those personal details are kept confidential and are locked away in your file. However, other team members will have access to your contact information for the purposes of their function within our business alone. For example, our billing coordinator will have access to your email and contact information so they may send you invoices or call you as needed for administrative reasons. Our accountant may see which programs you have signed up for and which dates for accounting purposes. You will also be added to our contact and notification list, of which you have the ability to opt out of at any time. All shared information is specific to the nature of how a business functions and unrelated to what is confidentially sealed in your personal file. Certain situations may be discussed with your Counsellor’s Supervisor, however all identifying information, such as names or features and other specifics will be not be shared.  
• Beyond our ability to function as a team within this business, we only release personal information about our work together with your written permission, or in the unlikely event that we are required to do so by a court order. There are some situations in which we may be legally obligated to breach your confidentiality in order to protect others from harm. 

These include: 

• Information indicating a child/elderly/disabled person’s (including your Coach or GA team members) life or health is at risk, the appropriate agency must be informed;
• If a Client (or other individual) is an imminent risk to themselves, or makes threats of violence against another person (including a member of our team), we are required to take protective actions which involve breaking confidentiality and involving third parties.  This includes risk or threat of suicide or harm.
• If you have any questions regarding disclosure and our duty to inform others, please ask us PRIOR to disclosing.
   

OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS:

• You as the Client are responsible for individually evaluating all information provided to you and making your own appropriate decisions independently. The maximum aggregate liability of any of the Counsellors/Company/Consultants howsoever arising, including but not limited to: default, breach, negligence and indemnity obligations – shall be limited to an amount equal to the Counselling fees you paid.
• You as the Client understand that we DO NOT work with individuals who have pending custody or lawsuits, accident/injury insurance claims (such as ICBC, Worksafe). If while already working with us, an event occurs that results in a legal, work, accident or insurance claim of any nature, your Counsellor should be informed immediately, PRIOR to your next session. 
• Being a Global company, we conduct business around the world. If you are in another country or jurisdiction and a dispute should arise between the participant and Global Alignment, it should be understood that it is solely the laws of the municipality, province and country where Global Alignment Group Inc. is registered that will be utilized to resolve any and all disputes, claims or legal issues.  It is agreed that the laws of other regions, jurisdictions or countries will not apply under any circumstances. 
• The qualifications of your Counsellor and all of our team members are specific to the country of Canada and the province of BC. You as the Client understand that we do not make any representations about what our qualifications or designations mean in your particular jurisdiction or country.
• If at any time, you as a client wish to express a concern or complaint regarding our business processes or policies, social media presence or the conduct or ethics of our consulting team, or Counsellors, please email Global Alignment's Owner, Cindi Williams at info@globalalignmentcoaching.com.  We will do our utmost to ensure an immediate inquiry and resolution of any issue.
• From time to time, there may be occasional policy or rate changes within our Programs. In such cases, one month's notice is given to existing participants, proactively outlining any changes.
• Referrals: As a thank you for paying it forward, any referral that results in a client or participant signing up for one of our programs, we’d be thrilled to offer you a free 45-minute session credit, provided the referee advises you referred them.

For your convenience, this terms document will be emailed to you upon submission, for reference as a printable document. We recommend that you print it for your own reference.