CAncelations, reschedules, and missed appointments policy

The following language comes directly from our Informed Consent Agreement, to which all clients consent prior to the start of counseling.

CANCELATION/MISSED SESSIONS/INCLEMENT WEATHER & POWER OUTAGES

Change, Inc. and most counseling practices thrive on an hour by hour appointment scheduling process as an industry standard. Essentially, when you schedule an appointment with us, you are reserving that hour of your counselor’s time, which naturally means we are turning down others for that same time slot. It is in both of our best interests that scheduled appointments are maintained. However, we understand and fully anticipate that clients will need to cancel from time to time but even in the event of emergencies, Change, Inc. is still unable to recoup lost time.

Because our counselors providers depend on billable time for their livelihood, for all cancellation needs, including emergencies, our cancellation policies are as follows:

• With at least 24 hours notice, appointments can be cancelled and rescheduled free of charge.

• ***Canceled or missed appointments that were not cancelled at least 24 hours ahead of time are simply “lost” and cannot be made up. The applicable session fee is still charged.***

• If you call with less than 24 hours notice (including the day of the appointment) and move your appointment to a different time slot, you will be charged for both appointments.

• Appointments are considered canceled if clients are more than 25 minutes late – the remaining portion of the therapy session will not be usable.

• Email and voice phone calls are the only acceptable method of cancelation/reschedule. Text messages or other forms of contact will not be considered sufficient notice.

Frequency and Consistency of Therapy Requirements:

Extensive research and experience has shown that counseling is less effective at facilitating goals when treatment is inconsistent or there are significant gaps in appointments. Thus, frequent canceling, rescheduling, and missed appointments grossly reduces your likelihood to achieve desired change. i.e., Clients must come to therapy regularly to receive the benefits of therapy. As such:

• Clients having 3 missed/canceled/rescheduled appointments within a 60-day period will be provided an outline of the sessions missed/canceled/rescheduled to date via email, copying both your counselor and a member of our Managing Direction Team. At your next counseling session, your counselor will discuss these issues with you, including but not limited to requesting a recommitment to counseling, changes to the cadence of sessions, a break from sessions, or a referral to another setting that can better meet your scheduling needs.

• Clients exceeding the limit of 3 missed, canceled, or rescheduled appointments in a 60-day period may be administratively discharged at the sole discretion of Change, Inc., including referral to other settings which may better suit their treatment needs.

• Clients who exceed the 3 missed, canceled, or scheduled appointments in a 60-day period who believe they have experienced extenuating circumstances that warrant additional consideration should follow the “RESOLUTION OF ADMINISTRATIVE/LOGISTICAL GRIEVANCES” procedure below.

Inclement Weather/Power Outage:

At Change, Inc., our therapists plan to attend sessions with you even in the event of inclement weather/power outages (etc.), operating under the belief that what you’re doing with them each session in therapy is crucial to your health and well-being. As such, our inclement weather/power outage policy is as follows:

• If you believe inclement weather/power outage is sufficient to prevent you from attending sessions in-person due to a verifiable road hazard consistent with local news reports and weather agencies, please let your therapist know as soon as you are able, and plan to attend your session via online video conferencing modalities in lieu of in-person therapy. When you write to notify us, your therapist will provide a URL where you may login at the scheduled day/time, or you may access therapist Virtual Waiting Room links here.

• If you fail to notify your therapist about your inclement weather/power outage limitation, or fail to attend an online video conferencing session in lieu of your in-person session, the applicable session fee will still be charged in line with our standard missed appointments policy.