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Online Counseling Services Guide
On this page are
easy-to-follow guidelines to enable you to use online counseling
services I offer. Please read it if you are not already familiar
with how these services work. Also feel free to request more
information before you decide to try out any of these services.
Initial Inquiries/Responses
There is no
charge for initial inquiries and responses by e-mail to find out
if online counseling is appropriate for
you. I may have you fill out a form or ask for you to provide
more information to help me understand what your issues and
goals are. After you have tried e-mail counseling, if you would
like a telephone consultation, let me know and I may be able
to arrange it as a separate service. Remember that you may be
able to combine services
or obtain discounts for paying in advance for multiple services,
as described in the Rates & Terms of Service page.
Arranging & Paying for Services
Options and
rates for online services are given in the Rates & Terms of
Service page. You may choose to pay for one response at a
time, or may choose to pay for several in advance which results
in a discount. Payments can be made by credit or debit cards
through PayPal, a well-known and trustworthy site for
money transactions. You may also pay by money order or personal
check, made out to me and sent to my main office address (Advanced
Counseling Services - see
Contact Me for mailing
address). However, checks must be cleared through the bank prior
to initiating services, which means you may have to wait several
days before being able to use online services. Once payments are
made and cleared, I will contact you with instructions on
initiating service. If payments are not processed by your bank
or credit card company, you are subject to administrative fees
of $25 per item plus any applicable bank charges. In addition,
if this occurs more than once, services may be terminated
completely and administrative fees will be subtracted from any
prepaid services before a refund is given.
E-mail
Counseling
At the beginning,
I will ask
for whatever information I need to help me assess and
understand your issues and needs. You do not pay anything until
I have sufficient information to begin counseling. Once such
information is obtained, you have the option of paying for a
full (standard) e-mail response through the website. The charge
for an e-mail counseling response is based on the total length
of the response (not on time taken to compose it), counted in
words or lines of text. A paid response contains a minimum of 300
words (approx 20 lines or 1/2 page of text on standard 8 1/2
x 11 letter paper, using this typeface (10 pt. Arial, which
allows more words per line or page). A typical detailed response
should run between one-half and one-full letter size page (25-50
lines, 300-700 words). I currently use MSWord 2003®
for writing and formatting documents, but you may use any e-mail
program to send/receive messages. If you need brief
clarification of any of response (up to 300 words), it is
included in the original price. This means you can ask for
simple clarifications of any response without having to pay
additional charges. You only pay for e-mail counseling when a
detailed response is necessary to address information you
provide. For an example of a typical length of an e-mail
response (using a general article I wrote),
click here.
Although all e-mails I send or
receive are checked for viruses, it is recommended you have an anti-virus
program on your computer to screen incoming and outgoing e-mails, since this is
one of the more common ways computer viruses are spread (never open up an e-mail
from any company or person you do not know!).
Service Guarantees, Cancellations, Credits
and Refunds
General: Once you have paid for a service, I will
provide it as described above. Neither you nor I are obligated
to continue online counseling services. If I am unable to
provide services for professional or technical (e.g., equipment
malfunction) reasons, I will notify you as soon as possible. If
I am not able to provide services that have already been paid
for, you will receive a complete refund for all unused services (this will be pro-rated if some services were used already
on a multiple service plan). You may cancel or terminate
services at any time without prior notice. However, you will not be entitled to a refund
for unused prepaid services except
under certain circumstances (described below).
E-mail Counseling: Any inquiry or request for e-mail
services will be answered as soon as possible, but no later than
48 hours after I receive and read the e-mail (I check 1-2
times per day for new e-mail and will send you an automated
response with the time of receipt indicated when I have opened
it). If you send an e-mail and receive no response of any kind
within 48 hours of when you sent it, you may try again or
call me to find out what the problem is (see below for calling
information). If I am away for a period of time which prevents
me from responding in a timely manner, I will post a message on
my website or in an e-mail which will automatically be sent when
you request information. Once your payment for an e-mail service
has been cleared, my
response will be composed and sent within 48 hours. If I
do not respond
within this time, you will be given the option of a full refund
or credit toward a future service. (Note: If you are a member of
PayPal or some other service that can verify your account
information in advance, payments may process sooner. Payments
made by check will take longer to process).
Termination of Online Counseling Services,
Confidentiality Provisions
Either party may terminate online services
without prior notice, although I will generally not terminate services
without attempting to notify you of the reason(s). In general, you will
always have the option of continuing or discontinuing services as you
desire. However, in certain cases I may choose or need to terminate
services, as follows:
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1. We mutually agree that you have
met your goals and/or have reached the maximum benefit of online
e-mail counseling for the time being. |
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2. The problems you are having are
not amenable to online counseling and you are in need of
in-person counseling
or a higher level of care (such as
inpatient psychiatric or substance abuse). |
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3. You engage in abusive or illegal
activities which may potentially cause endangerment, security
risk, or irreparable harm to me, you or others. Confidentiality
laws provide for contacting appropriate authorities if possible in the event
I suspect you may harm yourself or someone else. In order to
stay within the law, I need to have the following information
when you begin counseling: A verifiable contact name and phone number of someone
(e.g., yourself, a family member or friend) I can contact in case of suspicion
of potentially dangerous activity or an emergency that prevents me from
providing services). "Verifiable" means I would be able to reach you if
necessary with reasonable effort and if I am not able to verify the authenticity
of your contact information, I may choose to terminate services. In general,
persons who are suspected of being safety risks to themselves or others will not
be permitted to continue to use online services and will be referred to an
appropriate type of service. Unlike office-based services, I cannot assure that
I can contact or locate emergency services in your area. Having a contact
person/phone number also helps to protect both parties against fraud,
misrepresentation, impersonation, spam or other illegal or inappropriate uses of
online counseling services. |
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4. You fail to follow my Terms of
Service which you agree to when you request any type of
online counseling service. Examples include misrepresenting yourself or your
circumstances, not paying for services or not being appropriate for online
counseling. Although you are free to
set your own goals, if I feel you are not making sufficient
progress or need a different level of care, I may choose to terminate services
after a reasonable effort has been made to assist you. You may receive refunds
for unused prepaid services if I choose to terminate services, except in cases
where you are not using the services as agreed. If money is remaining in your
account after subtracting for unexcused or voluntary service cancellation, you will be
given a refund by check, money order or credit to a credit card
per your instructions and contact information you provide. |
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5. I am unable to provide services
for professional (e.g., lack expertise), technical (e.g.,
equipment malfunction) or personal (e.g., illness) reasons. In
such cases, I or my designated representative will notify you
using your latest contact information as soon as possible. If I
need to terminate services prematurely, you will be entitled to
a full refund of any unused prepaid time. Please allow up to 90
days to process refunds. |
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For additional information about
rates, terms of service and privacy policies,
click here. For my contact information,
click
here.
Terms of Service & Privacy
Policies
Contact Information
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