Terms of service
TERMS OF SERVICE
Last updated: 28 July 2026
ABOUT THESE TERMS
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) apply when you visit or use The Safe Space Counselling website, submit an enquiry, book a consultation or counselling session, or purchase any service made available through the website.
In these Terms, “The Safe Space Counselling”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to The Safe Space Counselling. “You” and “your” refer to the person using the website or booking a service.
Our website is hosted by Shopify, which provides the online platform that enables us to display information and offer services.
By using this website, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy [SEE PRIVACY POLICY]. If you book counselling, you will also be asked to agree to a separate counselling agreement. The counselling agreement will cover the therapeutic relationship in more detail, including confidentiality, its limits, session arrangements, record keeping, fees and cancellations. If there is any conflict between these Terms and the counselling agreement about counselling services, the counselling agreement will take priority.
1. ABOUT OUR SERVICES
The Safe Space Counselling provides counselling and related services, which may include initial consultations, individual counselling, online counselling and in-person counselling. The services currently available, their prices and any eligibility requirements will be shown on the website or explained before a booking is confirmed.
Information on this website is provided for general information only. It is not a substitute for individual counselling, medical advice, diagnosis, treatment or emergency support. Visiting the website, reading its content or submitting an enquiry does not create a counsellor–client relationship. A therapeutic relationship begins only when we have agreed to work together and the relevant counselling agreement has been accepted.
The Safe Space Counselling is not an emergency or crisis service. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact the emergency services or attend your nearest accident and emergency department.
We do not guarantee a particular outcome from counselling. Counselling is a collaborative process and individual experiences and outcomes vary.
2. ELIGIBILITY AND ACCURATE INFORMATION
You must provide accurate, current and complete information when making an enquiry or booking. Please tell us promptly if your contact details or other relevant information change.
Counselling for anyone under the age of 18 will only be offered where we have confirmed that the service is appropriate and any necessary consent, competence, safeguarding and contracting arrangements are in place. A parent or carer submitting an enquiry does not automatically become the client or obtain access to the content of counselling sessions.
You must not make a booking in another person’s name without their knowledge and authority, except where you have parental responsibility or another lawful authority and we have agreed that the arrangement is appropriate.
3. ENQUIRIES, CONSULTATIONS AND BOOKINGS
Submitting an enquiry or requesting an appointment does not guarantee that we can offer counselling. We may need to consider availability, suitability, professional competence, conflicts of interest and whether your needs can be supported safely.
A booking is confirmed only when we send you confirmation. We may decline or cancel a booking where reasonably necessary, including where:
• the service is not suitable for your needs;
• we do not have appropriate availability or competence;
• continuing would create an ethical, legal or safeguarding concern;
• payment has not been made when required; or
• you have behaved abusively, threateningly, unlawfully or in a way that makes safe professional work impossible.
Where appropriate, we may suggest that you seek support from another service or professional. This does not guarantee that another provider will accept a referral.
4. FEES AND PAYMENT
The fee payable will be the fee displayed or agreed when your appointment is booked. Unless stated otherwise, prices are in pounds sterling.
Payment is required at the time of booking.
You confirm that you are authorised to use the payment method supplied. Payments made through the website may be processed by Shopify and other secure third-party payment providers. We do not receive or store your full payment-card details.
We may change our fees from time to time. Any change affecting ongoing clients will be communicated in advance and handled in accordance with the counselling agreement. A fee change will not affect a session that has already been booked and paid for unless we agree otherwise with you.
5. CANCELLATIONS, MISSED SESSIONS AND LATENESS
Please give at least 48 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or rearrange a session.
Sessions cancelled with less than 48 hours’ notice, and sessions that are missed without notice, will normally be charged at the full session fee. Any exceptions will be considered at our discretion and in line with the counselling agreement.
If you arrive late, the session will usually still end at the agreed time and the full fee will remain payable. If we need to cancel, we will offer to rearrange the session or refund any fee already paid for that session. We are not responsible for indirect costs arising from a cancelled or rearranged appointment.
6. ONLINE SESSIONS
For online counselling, you are responsible for having a suitable device, a sufficiently reliable internet connection and a private space where you can speak safely and without interruption.
You must not record, photograph, stream or allow another person to listen to a counselling session without our prior written agreement. We will not record a session without your informed agreement.
Technology can sometimes fail. The counselling agreement will explain what will happen if an online session is interrupted or cannot continue.
7. CONFIDENTIALITY, SAFEGUARDING AND RECORDS
Counselling is confidential, but confidentiality is not absolute. Its limits, including circumstances involving serious risk of harm, safeguarding concerns, legal requirements and professional supervision, will be explained before counselling begins and set out in the counselling agreement.
We keep appropriate records and handle personal information in accordance with applicable UK data-protection law and our Privacy Policy [PLEASE SEE PRIVACY POLICY]. Information about physical or mental health and other sensitive matters may constitute special-category personal data and will be given additional protection.
Please avoid including more sensitive personal or clinical information than necessary in website contact forms. Website forms and ordinary email may not be suitable for urgent or highly sensitive information.
8. CONSUMER CANCELLATION RIGHTS
Where you book a service online, by telephone or away from our business premises, you may have a legal right to cancel the service contract within 14 days, subject to applicable consumer law.
If you ask us to provide a session during that 14-day period, you expressly request that the service begins before the cancellation period has ended. If you then cancel after the service has begun, you may be required to pay a proportionate amount for the service already provided. Once a service has been fully performed following your express request and acknowledgement, your statutory right to cancel that completed service may be lost.
Nothing in these Terms affects any consumer rights that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
9. WEBSITE CONTENT
We take reasonable care to keep website information accurate and up to date, but we cannot guarantee that all content will always be complete, current or free from error. Availability, descriptions and prices may be corrected or updated where necessary.
Website resources, articles and self-help information are general educational materials. You remain responsible for deciding whether they are appropriate for you and for seeking individual professional advice where needed.
10. ACCEPTABLE USE
You may use this website only for lawful, personal and non-commercial purposes. You must not:
• misuse the website or attempt to gain unauthorised access to it;
• introduce viruses, malicious code or other harmful material;
• interfere with the website’s operation or security;
• submit false, misleading, abusive, threatening or unlawful material;
• impersonate another person;
• use the website to harass or harm any person;
• collect personal information about other users; or
• copy, scrape, reproduce or commercially exploit website content without permission, except where permitted by law.
We may restrict or block access where we reasonably believe these Terms have been breached or where necessary to protect clients, the public, our systems or our professional practice.
11. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Unless stated otherwise, the text, branding, logos, graphics, downloadable resources and other original content on this website are owned by or licensed to The Safe Space Counselling and are protected by applicable intellectual-property law.
You may view and download website content for your own personal, non-commercial use. You must not reproduce, distribute, sell, modify, republish or use it commercially without our prior written permission, unless the law allows you to do so.
12. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES AND LINKS
The website may include links to, or features supplied by, third parties such as Shopify, payment processors, booking platforms, video-call providers or external information services. Those services may have their own terms and privacy notices.
We are not responsible for the content, availability or security of third-party websites and do not endorse all content found through external links. Nothing in these Terms excludes responsibility that the law does not allow us to exclude.
Shopify provides the platform used to operate this website, but any counselling service you book is supplied by The Safe Space Counselling, not Shopify. Shopify is not your counselling provider and is not responsible for the therapeutic service.
13. FEEDBACK AND TESTIMONIALS
You may choose to provide feedback, but you are never required to provide a public review or testimonial. We will not publish feedback in a way that identifies you as a counselling client without your explicit agreement.
If you give permission for feedback to be published, we may edit it for length or clarity without changing its meaning. You may withdraw permission for future use by contacting us, although this may not affect material already lawfully printed or distributed.
14. LIABILITY
We do not exclude or limit liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or breach of your statutory consumer rights.
Subject to the above, we are not responsible for losses that were not reasonably foreseeable when the contract was formed, losses caused by events outside our reasonable control, or business losses arising from your use of services as a consumer.
Nothing in these Terms removes the professional duties we owe to counselling clients.
15. EVENTS OUTSIDE OUR CONTROL
We will not be responsible for delay or failure caused by circumstances outside our reasonable control. Where such circumstances affect an appointment, we will contact you as soon as reasonably possible and try to rearrange the service or provide an appropriate refund.
16. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS
We may update these Terms to reflect changes in our services, professional practice or the law. The current version will be published on this page with the date it was last updated.
Changes will not retrospectively alter the terms of an appointment already booked, unless required by law or agreed with you. Where a material change affects an ongoing counselling arrangement, we will explain it to you.
17. SEVERABILITY AND WAIVER
If any part of these Terms is found to be unlawful or unenforceable, the remaining parts will continue in effect.
If we do not immediately enforce a right under these Terms, this does not mean that we have waived that right.
18. GOVERNING LAW
These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. If you are a consumer living elsewhere in the United Kingdom, you will also retain the benefit of any mandatory protections provided by the law of the country in which you live.
The courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction, except where applicable consumer law allows you to bring proceedings in another part of the United Kingdom.
19. COMPLAINTS
If you have a concern or complaint, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve it.
Email: Josh@Thesafespacecounselling.co.uk
Information about professional standards, membership and any applicable external complaints procedure should be provided in the counselling agreement and/or on the website.
20. CONTACT DETAILS
Trading name: The Safe Space Counselling
Counsellor/proprietor: Josh Shepherd
Email: Josh@Thesafespacecounselling.co.uk
Professional membership and registration: British Associtation of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP): Indvidual memeber (Please request memebership number if needed)
ICO registration number: On request.