CLIENT – THERAPIST AGREEMENT

THE NATURE OF OUR RELATIONSHIP

I want to commit myself to help you work diligently on getting over the situations you have come to resolve.

APPOINTMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS

If you need to cancel an appointment, please do so with as much advance warning as possible. I understand that last-minute emergencies make it impossible to cancel in a timely fashion. But in non-emergency situations, please give us time to schedule someone else into the time slot you are vacating.

In counseling and psychotherapy it is customary to pay for reserved time. This is different than with a doctor or a dentist where you do not reserve a whole hour that someone else can use. Your reserved time is what you pay for, no matter how you use it. If you do not come, or if you cancel with less than 24 hour’s notice, it is not likely that anyone else can use the time. Unlike doctors and dentists, psychotherapists cannot keep clients in the waiting room to squeeze into any open minute or two. Unlike lawyers, we cannot do paperwork for which we can bill somebody.

So you will have to pay for the time unless someone else needs an emergency appointment and can come in at the time you vacated. This is only if you fail to come for your appointment or cancel with less than 24 hour’s notice (other than for an emergency). And keep in mind that insurance policies do not contribute to the cost of failed or late-cancelled appointments.

The exception to this cancellation rule is an emergency or illness. Those things prohibit advance cancellation. However, you still need to cancel unless the emergency makes that impossible.

If you miss two appointments without canceling within the 24-hour limit, we schedule appointments only with advance payment.