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Open Book

Terms & Conditions

Last updated: August 2026

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These Terms & Conditions explain the general arrangements that apply when you purchase services from Aaron Shaw Psychology.

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Aaron Shaw Psychology is an independent private practice operated by me, Dr Aaron Shaw, HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist.

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By booking or purchasing a service, you agree to the terms that apply to that service.

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For psychological therapy and other clinical services, these Terms & Conditions should be read alongside the Client Agreement, Privacy Notice and Clinical Governance & Professional Standards information provided by Aaron Shaw Psychology.

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Nothing in these Terms & Conditions affects your statutory consumer rights.

1. Services offered

Aaron Shaw Psychology provides two broad categories of service.

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Clinical psychology services

These may include:

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  • psychological assessment;

  • individual psychological therapy;

  • couples or family psychological work where agreed;

  • cognitive rehabilitation;

  • psychological support relating to neurological or cognitive difficulties;

  • other psychological services falling within my professional competence.

 

Clinical services are healthcare services provided by an HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist.

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Professional development and coaching services

I also provide separate non-clinical services which may include:

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  • Assistant Psychologist interview coaching;

  • DClinPsy application support;

  • interview preparation;

  • career mentoring;

  • other psychology-related professional-development services.

 

These services are not psychological therapy, healthcare or clinical assessment.

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The particular service, price and arrangements will be explained before you purchase or book it.

2. Suitability of services

An enquiry or booking does not automatically mean that I will be able to provide the service requested.

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For clinical work, I will consider whether:

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  • the difficulties described fall within my areas of competence;

  • private outpatient psychological work is appropriate;

  • there are significant risks requiring a different level of care;

  • another professional or service would be better placed to help;

  • there is any professional conflict of interest or boundary issue.

 

I may decline an enquiry or recommend another service where I believe this is clinically or professionally appropriate.

3. Initial enquiry calls

Where appropriate, I offer a brief initial enquiry call before psychological therapy.

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The purpose of this call is to:

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  • understand broadly what you are looking for;

  • consider whether my service may be appropriate;

  • answer questions about how I work;

  • discuss practical arrangements.

 

An enquiry call is not a full psychological assessment, therapy session or emergency mental-health service.

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Neither party is obliged to proceed following an enquiry call.

4. Booking appointments

Appointments are agreed directly with you and confirmed by email or another agreed method.

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An appointment is considered booked once it has been confirmed.

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For clinical work, you may also be asked to complete and sign a Client Agreement before therapy begins.

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Please check appointment dates, times and whether the appointment is:

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  • in person; or

  • online.

 

It is your responsibility to let me know promptly if you believe the appointment details are incorrect.

5. Fees

The current fee for each service is shown on the relevant website page or confirmed with you before booking.

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Fees may differ between:

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  • clinical therapy;

  • assessment;

  • insurer-funded services;

  • professional-development packages;

  • other individually agreed services.

 

I will not retrospectively increase the price of a service that has already been provided.

 

If my fees change, I will provide reasonable notice before the revised fee applies to future appointments or services.

6. Payment for self-funded clinical services

Unless otherwise agreed, payment for self-funded clinical appointments is due at least 48 hours before the appointment.

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Payment is normally made by bank transfer.

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Payment details will be provided privately and should not be sent through public social-media channels.

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If payment has not been received when due, I may contact you to clarify whether you still intend to attend.

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Where payment remains outstanding, I may decide not to proceed with the appointment until payment arrangements have been agreed.

7. Private health insurance

Where treatment is funded by private health insurance, you are responsible for ensuring that you have appropriate authorisation for treatment.

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You may be asked to provide information such as:

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  • insurer name;

  • membership number;

  • authorisation number;

  • approved number of sessions;

  • any excess or contribution that you are required to pay.

 

Claims may be submitted through Healthcode or directly to the relevant insurer.

Insurance arrangements are ultimately governed by the contract between you and your insurer.

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I cannot guarantee that an insurer will pay a particular claim.

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Where an insurer declines payment, applies an excess, limits the number of authorised sessions or does not cover a particular charge, you may remain responsible for the amount due where this has been appropriately agreed with you.

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I will seek to make any known charges clear before they are incurred.

8. Cancelling or rearranging clinical appointments

I ask for at least 48 hours' notice if you need to cancel or rearrange an appointment.

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This is because appointment time is reserved specifically for you and short-notice cancellations can be difficult to offer to somebody else.

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Where less than 48 hours' notice is provided, a cancellation charge may apply, potentially up to the value of the booked appointment.

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Any cancellation charge will be applied fairly and proportionately, taking into account circumstances including:

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  • the amount of notice provided;

  • whether the appointment time can reasonably be offered to another client;

  • costs or losses arising from the cancellation;

  • exceptional or unavoidable circumstances.

 

I will not seek to recover more than the reasonable loss resulting from a cancellation.

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Where sufficient notice is provided, any advance payment for the cancelled appointment can normally be transferred to a rearranged appointment or refunded where appropriate.

9. Missed appointments

If you do not attend an agreed appointment and have not contacted me to cancel it, this will normally be treated as a late cancellation.

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A charge may therefore apply in accordance with the cancellation arrangements above.

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If I am concerned that a missed appointment may relate to your safety or welfare, I may attempt to contact you.

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A missed appointment does not by itself mean that emergency or safeguarding services will be contacted.

10. Late arrival

If you arrive late, I will usually still need to finish at the originally agreed time because another appointment or professional commitment may follow.

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The normal session fee will usually remain payable.

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If I am responsible for a significant delay, I will seek either to provide the agreed appointment duration or make an appropriate alternative arrangement.

11. Cancellation by me

Occasionally I may need to rearrange or cancel an appointment because of illness, emergency or another unavoidable circumstance.

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I will provide as much notice as reasonably possible.

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Where I cancel an appointment:

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  • no cancellation charge will apply;

  • any payment already made for that appointment can be transferred to another appointment or refunded.

 

I cannot normally accept responsibility for indirect costs arising from an appointment being rearranged, such as travel or accommodation costs, except where the law requires otherwise.

12. Online appointments

Where sessions take place online, you are responsible for joining from a location that is reasonably:

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  • private;

  • quiet;

  • safe;

  • suitable for confidential psychological work.

 

You should use a reliable internet connection and an appropriate device where possible.

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Neither party can guarantee that internet or technology services will always function without interruption.

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If significant technical difficulties prevent an appointment from continuing, we will agree whether to reconnect, continue by another appropriate method, rearrange the remaining time or reschedule the appointment.

13. Communication between appointments

Email and telephone contact outside appointments should normally be used for:

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  • scheduling;

  • administrative matters;

  • brief practical communications.

 

Routine email correspondence is not intended to provide ongoing psychological therapy between sessions.

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I may not be able to respond immediately and do not provide a continuously monitored clinical messaging service.

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Please do not rely on email, website forms, text messages or social media for urgent mental-health support.

14. Emergencies and crisis support

Aaron Shaw Psychology is an outpatient psychological service and is not an emergency or crisis service.

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I do not provide:

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  • 24-hour availability;

  • emergency psychiatric assessment;

  • crisis-team functions;

  • continuous monitoring.

 

If you require immediate assistance because of serious risk to yourself or another person, please use appropriate NHS urgent-care or emergency services.

15. Confidentiality

Clinical information is treated as confidential in accordance with professional and legal requirements.

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There are circumstances in which information may need to be shared, including serious risk, safeguarding concerns or legal requirements.

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These arrangements are explained more fully in the Client Agreement, Privacy Notice and Clinical Governance & Professional Standards page.

16. Clinical records

I maintain appropriate clinical records of psychological work.

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These records are maintained separately from my NHS and other employment records.

 

Further information about:

  • what information is collected;

  • how it is stored;

  • retention periods;

  • information sharing;

  • your data-protection rights

 

is contained in the Privacy Notice.

17. Recording sessions

Psychological therapy sessions are not routinely audio- or video-recorded.

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Recording will only be considered where there is a specific therapeutic, clinical, supervision or professional-training reason.

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If recording is proposed, the arrangements will be discussed separately and appropriate informed agreement obtained before any recording takes place.

18. Ending psychological therapy

You are free to decide to end psychological therapy.

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Where possible, I encourage clients to discuss ending therapy during a session so that:

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  • progress can be reviewed;

  • difficulties can be considered;

  • outstanding risk or clinical issues can be discussed;

  • an appropriate ending can be planned.

 

I may also recommend ending or transferring therapy where:

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  • the work is no longer clinically indicated;

  • another service would better meet your needs;

  • the level of risk requires a different service;

  • there is a significant breakdown in the therapeutic relationship;

  • professional boundaries cannot safely be maintained;

  • a conflict of interest emerges;

  • continuing would fall outside my professional competence.

 

Where reasonably possible, I will discuss this with you and support appropriate onward planning rather than ending clinical work abruptly.

Professional development and coaching services

The following sections apply particularly to non-clinical services such as Assistant Psychologist coaching and DClinPsy application support.

19. Nature of coaching services

Career mentoring, application support and interview coaching are educational and professional-development services.

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They do not constitute:

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  • psychological therapy;

  • clinical supervision;

  • university admissions advice provided on behalf of a university;

  • NHS recruitment advice provided on behalf of an NHS organisation;

  • access to confidential recruitment or admissions information.

 

Purchasing a service does not provide preferential access to an employer, university or training programme.

20. No guarantee of outcomes

I will seek to provide coaching and feedback with reasonable care and skill.

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However, recruitment and admissions outcomes depend upon many factors outside my control.

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I therefore cannot guarantee:

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  • an interview;

  • an employment offer;

  • acceptance onto a training programme;

  • a particular interview score;

  • any other recruitment or career outcome.

 

Any examples, suggestions or feedback are intended to support your own preparation and professional development.

21. Conflicts of interest in coaching

I will not knowingly accept paid coaching or application work where another professional role I hold creates an actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest.

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This includes circumstances where I am personally involved in the relevant:

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  • recruitment;

  • shortlisting;

  • interviewing;

  • admissions;

  • selection process.

 

I do not use or disclose confidential recruitment or admissions information obtained through other professional roles.

22. Payment for coaching and professional-development services

The price and contents of a coaching package will be explained before purchase.

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Payment is normally required in advance unless otherwise agreed.

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The package will specify what is included, such as:

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  • meeting time;

  • document review;

  • feedback;

  • preparation work;

  • written resources.

 

Work outside the agreed package will not automatically be included and any additional fee will be discussed before additional work is undertaken.

23. Cancellation rights for non-clinical services

Where a professional-development or coaching service is purchased online, by email or otherwise at a distance, statutory consumer cancellation rights may apply.

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Where applicable, this may include a 14-day period in which you can cancel the contract.

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If you specifically ask me to begin providing the service during a statutory cancellation period, you may be responsible for a proportionate amount for work already completed if you subsequently cancel.

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Where a service has been fully performed at your express request during the cancellation period, your statutory cancellation right may end where the applicable legal requirements have been met.

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Nothing in these Terms & Conditions removes any cancellation right you are entitled to by law.

24. Rearranging coaching appointments

If you need to rearrange a booked coaching appointment, please give as much notice as possible.

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Where substantial preparation or document-review work has already been completed specifically for you, that work may still form part of the service provided even if the live appointment is subsequently cancelled.

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Any cancellation or retained payment will be handled proportionately and will reflect work actually undertaken or reasonable loss resulting from the cancellation.

25. Documents submitted for review

If you provide CVs, application forms, personal statements, job descriptions or other documents for coaching purposes, you are responsible for ensuring that you are entitled to share them.

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Please avoid providing unnecessary confidential information about third parties.

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Documents will be handled in accordance with the Aaron Shaw Psychology Privacy Notice.

26. Your responsibility for applications

You remain responsible for the final content of any:

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  • job application;

  • personal statement;

  • DClinPsy application;

  • CV;

  • interview answer;

  • other professional submission.

 

I may suggest edits, questions or ways of improving communication, but I will not submit an application on your behalf or represent material as being independently authored by you where that would be misleading.

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You are responsible for complying with the rules and requirements of the relevant employer, university or training programme.

27. Resources and intellectual property

Materials created by Aaron Shaw Psychology for therapy, coaching or educational purposes remain protected by applicable intellectual-property law unless otherwise stated.

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Resources provided to you may normally be used for your own personal or professional-development purposes.

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They should not be:

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  • sold;

  • reproduced commercially;

  • published online;

  • distributed as your own material;

  • used to provide paid services to others

without permission.

 

This does not prevent you from using ideas and learning from coaching in your own applications, interviews or professional practice.

General terms

 

28. Professional standards

Clinical services are provided with the reasonable care and skill expected of an appropriately qualified Clinical Psychologist.

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The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires services supplied to consumers to be performed with reasonable care and skill.

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Nothing in these Terms & Conditions attempts to exclude responsibilities that cannot lawfully be excluded.

29. Complaints

If you are unhappy with a service, I encourage you to raise the concern with me.

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I will seek to respond openly, professionally and appropriately.

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Details of how complaints are handled and the external routes available where relevant are provided in my Complaints Policy.

30. Changes to these Terms & Conditions

I may update these Terms & Conditions where:

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  • services change;

  • fees or administrative arrangements change;

  • legislation changes;

  • professional guidance changes;

  • governance requirements change.

 

Changes will not retrospectively alter the essential terms of a service already purchased without an appropriate reason and appropriate notice.

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The date at the top of this page indicates when these Terms & Conditions were last reviewed.

31. Governing law and consumer rights

These Terms & Conditions are intended to operate in accordance with applicable UK consumer law.

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Nothing in these terms removes or restricts any statutory rights you may have.

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Terms in consumer contracts must be fair and transparent. A contractual term that is unfair may not be enforceable simply because it appears in written terms.

32. Contact details

If you have questions about these Terms & Conditions, please contact:

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Dr Aaron Shaw
Aaron Shaw Psychology
Email: info@aaronshawpsychology.com
Website: www.aaronshawpsychology.com

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