General Terms and Conditions for Online Counselling  – Social Justice International CIC

Standard Terms for the Purchase of Online Counselling Services

The following are the Terms and Conditions (the “Agreement”) which govern your access and use of our online platform through which counselling may be provided (collectively the “Platform”)

The Platform may be provided or be accessible via multiple websites or applications whether owned and/or operated by us or by third parties, including, without limitation, our website

www.sojustinternational.org

and its related apps provided by:

Social Justice International CIC (Registered: England and Wales No.9735038) at our current Registered Address (“Social Justice International” or “SoJust International” “we”, “us”, “our”).

You may contact us on hello@sojustinternational.org  and/or +44 1304 820863

These terms and conditions are in addition to any Website Disclaimers and apply to the sale of any Online Counselling services.  Please read these terms and conditions carefully before purchasing any Online Counselling Services and print off a copy / copies for your own records.

For purchases via our website, by clicking on the access button or authorising mechanism that purchases the services, course or product, you agree to the terms of this agreement which will bind you.

ONLY those persons who are  18 YEARS OLD  or  OLDER, may purchase, access and, or use this service.

If you do not agree to these terms and conditions you must cease to continue to purchase any Services from us.

 

Important Notice

The Customer is hereby informed that information provided by a Counsellor via the Platform is neither suited to, nor intended as, a replacement for professional psychological support and/or treatment by an expert. It is emphasised that ensuring compliance with advice provided is generally not the responsibility of a Counsellor. Thus each Customer acts on their own responsibility.

Note:

All of the Services provided via the Platform, do not constitute medical or regulated  psychological counselling and/or treatment in person and can neither completely, nor partially, replace such services. In particular, User registration on the Platform is not suitable as a replacement for visiting a doctor or psychologist. Every user is therefore urgently recommended to consult a doctor or appropriately specialised counsellor in person in case of need.

IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT SUICIDE OR IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING HARMING YOURSELF OR OTHERS OR IF YOU FEEL THAT ANY OTHER PERSON MAY BE IN ANY DANGER OR IF YOU HAVE ANY MEDICAL EMERGENCY, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY CALL THE EMERGENCY SERVICE NUMBER (‘999’ IN THE UNITED KINGDOM / CHANNEL ISLANDS & ISLE OF MAN, ‘199’ – LANDLINES OR ‘112 – MOBILES’ IN GIBRALTAR AND ‘112’ IN THE 27 COUNTRIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION) AND NOTIFY THE RELEVANT AUTHORITIES. SEEK IMMEDIATE IN PERSON ASSISTANCE. THE PLATFORM AND ASSOCIATED SERVICES ARE NOT DESIGNED FOR USE IN ANY OF THE AFOREMENTIONED CASES AND THE COUNSELLORS CANNOT PROVIDE THE ASSISTANCE REQUIRED IN ANY OF THE AFOREMENTIONED CASES.

THE PLATFORM IS STRICTLY NOT INTENDED FOR REGULATED SERVICES OR PROVISION, OR, THE PROVISION OF CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS REQUIRING AN IN-PERSON EVALUATION AND YOU SHOULD NOT USE IT IF YOU NEED ANY OFFICIAL ADVICE, GUIDANCE, DOCUMENTATION OR APPROVALS FOR PURPOSES SUCH AS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, COURT-ORDERED COUNSELLING, FOR LEGAL ACTION NOW OR IN THE FUTURE, OR FOR INSURANCE PURPOSES, OR IF THIS TYPE OF SERVICE IS REGULATED OR REQUIRES A SPECIFIC LICENCED PRACTITIONER IN YOUR JURISDICTION. IT IS ALSO NOT INTENDED FOR ANY INFORMATION REGARDING WHICH DRUGS OR MEDICAL TREATMENT MAY BE APPROPRIATE FOR YOU OR ANOTHER PERSON, AND YOU SHOULD DISREGARD ANY SUCH ADVICE IF DELIVERED THROUGH THE PLATFORM.

DO NOT DISREGARD, AVOID, OR DELAY IN OBTAINING IN-PERSON CARE FROM YOUR DOCTOR OR OTHER QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL BECAUSE OF INFORMATION OR ADVICE YOU RECEIVED THROUGH THE PLATFORM.

1. Definitions

“Confidential Information” means information provided by one party to the other in written, graphic, recorded, machine readable or other form concerning the business, clients, suppliers, finances and other areas of the other party’s business or products, including, without limitation, but does not include information in the public domain other than through the default of the party disclosing the information, information required to be disclosed by any court or regulatory authority, or any information already in the possession or control of the disclosing party.

“Counselling Services” means “to give non-binding advice to (a person) on social or personal problems, especially professionally.” and. “the process of assisting and guiding clients, on a professional basis” provided by Social Justice International CIC as part of the Services offered remotely through technology by use of the internet.

‘Counselling Session’ means a period of 40 minutes, at an agreed time and date, as purchased on the Portal.

“Fees” means the fees paid by you to Social Justice International CIC for the Services.

“Intellectual Property Rights” means copyright, rights in or relating to databases, patent rights, performers’ rights, designs and registered designs, trademarks, rights in or relating to Confidential Information and other intellectual property rights (registered or unregistered) throughout the world.

“Online” means the delivery by us of an online service pursuant to which you participate or access counselling services remotely.

“Services” means the provision of online counselling, with such other services as agreed from time to time and purchased by you through the Website or by telephone.

“Website” means www.sojustinternational.org or any links to one of our website partners or portals

“you” means the individual purchasing the Services.

 

2. The Services

2.1. A description of the Services together with the dates on which the Services will begin are available on The Platform.  We will provide the Services with reasonable care and skill in accordance with the description set out.

2.2. We reserve the right to vary or withdraw any of the Services described on the Platform without notice.

2.3 We expect you to confirm that the Services you are purchasing will meet your needs.  We do not make any guarantee to you that you will obtain a particular result, personally, or professionally from your purchase, engagement, usage, participation or completion of any of the Services.

2.4 The Platform may be used to connect you with our Counsellor who will provide services to you through the Platform (provision of “Counselling Services”).

2.5 Counselling in the United Kingdom is not a regulated activity as listed in Schedule 1, of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Registered Activities) Regulations 2014, it is regarded as Complementary and Alternative Medicine. We require every Counsellor providing Counselling Services on the Platform on our behalf to be a qualified, trained, and experienced expert in their focussed field of specialisation eg: Youth Worker, Youth Justice Specialist, Education, Social Worker, Probation Worker, Drug & Alcohol Addiction Worker etc. They must hold a minimum of an academic degree or preferably the highest academic degree such as a PHD or Professional Doctorate, in addition to have at least 5 years vocational experience, and, at least 400 hours of practice, and to be a member of, or registered in, the United Kingdom or European Union with at least one recognised professional body, federation, or association, linked to their focussed field of specialisation.

2.6 The Counsellor/s are acting on our behalf, or employed by us, to provide services to you, at your request, and you thus fully agree, that your legal relationship is with us absolutely, and not the individual counsellor.

2.7 While we hope the Counselling Services are beneficial to you, you understand, agree and acknowledge that they may not be the appropriate solution for everyone’s needs and that they may not be appropriate for every particular situation and/or may not be a complete substitute for a face-to-face examination and/or care in every particular situation.

3. Ordering Services

Purchasing Services via the Platform (Website)

3.1. In order to purchase any of the Services on-line you must register for an account with us as outlined via the Platform (website).  If you already have an account with us you can log into your account using your user name and password.

Purchasing Services via the Telephone

3.2. ‘If offered’, you do not need to have registered for an account with us to purchase any of the Services over the telephone. You must, however, register for an account with us to access your services on-line through the Platform.

3.3. When you place an order for a Service via the Platform, or telephone you are offering to purchase the Services on these terms and conditions.  Social Justice International CIC reserves the right to cancel or decline your order or any part of your order at any time until it has been confirmed in accordance with clause 3.5 below.

3.4. Following receipt by us of your order for Services via the Platform or on the telephone we will contact you confirming receipt of your order.

3.5. A legally binding agreement between us and you shall come into existence when we have :
(a)    accepted your offer to purchase Services from us electronically through confirming the purchase; and
(b)    received payment of the relevant Fees from you in accordance with clause 5 below.

3.6. Where your order consists of multiple sessions purchased and booked together at the same time and paid as one transaction this will be regarded by us as one purchase. If sessions are booked and purchased individually, these will be treated by us as a separate offers to purchase.

Acceptance of your offer to buy one or more sessions will not be acceptance by us of your offer to purchase any other sessions which make up your order.

3.7. Social Justice International CIC does not guarantee any outcomes for service users..

4. Cancellation and Variation

4.1. Subject to clause 4.2 below, where we have accepted / confirmed the Services being purchased by you and formed a legally binding agreement with you in accordance with clause 3.5 above, then you are permitted within 14 working days starting on the day after the date we have concluded our agreement in accordance with clause 3.4, to cancel your purchase of the Services.

4.2. If you have purchased any online counselling session/s and also ‘confirmed by booking a time and date’, you shall have no right to cancel your order prior to the agreed session.

4.3. Notwithstanding clause 4.1 there is no other right to cancel or vary your purchase of Services and any other cancellation and / or variation of session dates will be at the entire absolute discretion of Social Justice International CIC. An administration charge of £45 per each cancelled or varied counselling session may be levied from fees received by us from you, to cover costs of cancellation or variation, at our absolute discretion.

5. Fees

5.1. The Fees for the Services shall be as set out on the Platform (Website) or as told to you over the telephone at the time you placed an order for them.

5.2. Unless otherwise specified at the time you purchase the Services the Fees are exclusive of VAT or other local taxes (if applicable).  Each of these costs will be set out in the Platform or told to you over the telephone prior to your purchase the Services.

5.3. Should either You or we experience difficulties ‘attending’ an online session because of technical reasons, we should both endeavour to let the other person know straight away and allow time to try to connect again or to have the session via another means (such as by eg: telephone). In the event that You have paid for a session but are unable to attend the session at the agreed time, the full fee charged for the session will be retained and will not be refundable. Sessions which are only partly used for any reason, will be charged at the full session rate and are non-refundable in part, or in whole.

5.4. Fees for the Service selected by you on the Portal or purchased over the telephone are priced in British Pounds Sterling (£) and shall be debited from your credit / debit card in British Pounds Sterling (£) at the time of purchase, irrespective of country of residence.  Fees must be paid in full prior to you accessing the actual service provision.

5.5. Any fees charged by your debit or credit card provider in connection with your purchase of Services, including any foreign currency exchange fees are for your own account and Social Justice International CIC shall not be responsible for these fees.

5.6. You shall be responsible for all costs you incur in connection with your purchase of any of our online services. You confirm and agree to use only credit cards or other payment means (collectively “Payment Means”) which you are duly and fully legally authorised to use, and that all payment related information that you provided and will provide in the future, to or through the Platform, is accurate, current and correct and will continue to be accurate, current and correct.

6. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: YOUR ATTENTION IS PARTICULARLY DRAWN TO THIS CLAUSE

DISCLAIMER:

YOU HEREBY RELEASE US AND AGREE TO HOLD US HARMLESS FROM ANY AND ALL CAUSES OF ACTION AND CLAIMS OF ANY NATURE RESULTING FROM THE COUNSELLING SERVICES OR THE PLATFORM, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) ANY ACT, OMISSION, OPINION, RESPONSE, ADVICE, SUGGESTION, INFORMATION AND/OR SERVICE OF ANY COUNSELLOR/S, EMPLOYEE/S OR TRUSTEE/S AND/OR ANY OTHER CONTENT OR INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THE PLATFORM.

6.1 Nothing in these Conditions shall limit or exclude the Provider’s liability for:

(a) death or personal injury caused by its negligence, or the negligence of its employees, volunteers, agents or subcontractors;

(b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or

(c) any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

6.2 Subject to clause 6.1, the Provider, its employees, volunteers, agents and subcontractors:

(a) hereby expressly excludes liability of any kind for all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity;

(b) shall under no circumstances whatever be liable to the user, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, for any loss, cost or damage (direct, indirect, consequential or otherwise) arising under or in connection with the Contract;

(c) hereby expressly excludes liability of any kind for any warranty written implied or otherwise as to any specific type, level, quantity, quality, volume, time, resource materials or outcome of any kind in relation to the Services that may be provided by the Provider at any time; and

(d) the Provider’s total liability to the Member in respect of all other losses arising under or in connection with the Contract (including any losses arising from use of the Portal, Website, use of the Digital Services or otherwise in connection with the Services), whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, shall in no circumstances exceed a cumulative £100 (one hundred pounds sterling).

If the applicable law does not allow the limitation of liability as set forth above, the limitation will be deemed modified solely to the extent necessary to comply with applicable law.

6.3. Jurisdiction. Each party irrevocably agrees that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with this Contract or its subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims).

6.4. No claim may be brought more than three months after the last date on which the Services concerned have finished or ceased to be provided by us.

6.5 This section (Limitation of Liability) shall survive the termination or expiration of this Agreement.

7. Intellectual Property

7.1. All Intellectual Property Rights remain the intellectual property of Social Justice International CIC or its licensors, whether adapted, written for or customised for the Client or not.

7.2. You are not authorised to:-

(i) copy, modify, reproduce, re-publish, sub-licence, sell, upload, broadcast, post, transmit or distribute any of the Materials / Videos or website features or content, without prior written permission;

(ii) record on video or audio tape, relay by videophone or stream or broadcast in any way, confidential counselling sessions or images of our counsellors or staff members in relation to their interaction with you.

(iii) use the Counselling Sessions content in the provision of any other counselling session or programme, course or training, and or research activity, whether given by us or any third party;

(iv) remove any copyright or other notice of Social Justice International CIC on any materials, videos, or website features or content;

(v) modify, adapt, merge, translate, disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer (save to the extent permitted by law) any software forming part of our content.

Breach by you of this clause 7.2 shall allow us to immediately terminate these terms and conditions with you and cease to provide you with any Services, including but not limited to access to the Counselling Sessions.

7.3. In consideration of the Fees paid by you, we grant to you a limited, non-transferable, non-exclusive licence to use the materials (if applicable) and the software and technologies in respect of the Online Counselling Sessions for the sole purpose of completing the sessions.

8. Confidentiality

8.1. Each party shall keep the other party’s Confidential Information strictly confidential and not use it otherwise than for the purposes of these terms and conditions, and shall return it on demand and not retain copies of it, unless required under law.

8.2. Either party may disclose Confidential Information to its legal and other advisors for the purposes of obtaining advice from them.

8.3.There may be situations in which we are required by our legal, regulatory or professional obligations to inform Your GP and/or other public bodies about certain matters, for example where there is a risk to life or physical harm to You or to a third party.

8.4. Access to non-counselling session information may be granted to others on a strictly confidential basis in the course of and for the purpose of efficient administration, for example audit, financial management and credit control and managing or improving our services. This access may be given to any person or organisation involved in billing, processing, payment or collection of accounts or the provision of credit referencing. In some instances we may be obliged by law to disclose information for example where it will assist in investigations into fraud or other criminal offences, or if there is an issue relation to public health, Your own safety or another individual’s safety.

8.5. It is important for You to ensure that the environment You work and live in allows You the physical and emotional safety and privacy to express Yourself freely in order for a remote counselling session to take place. It is Your responsibility to ensure that the technology that You use is secure and that precautions are put in place in Your surroundings to safeguard confidentiality of information relating to You.

8.6. This clause shall continue notwithstanding termination of these terms and conditions.

9. Termination

9.1. We shall be entitled to terminate these terms and conditions and cease to provide you with any Services with immediate effect in the event that you:

• fail to pay when due your Fees;
• act in an aggressive, demeaning, bullying, offensive, threatening or harassing manner towards the organisation, any employee of Social Justice International CIC, any Counsellor, Expert, or other person who represents us or provides Counselling Sessions or any other service on our part to you;
• steal or act in fraudulent or deceitful manner towards us or our employees or any other person in relation to engaging or participating with us or our services
• intentionally or recklessly damage our reputation or those representing us, or property or the property of our employees or other persons in relation to engaging or participating with us or our services;
• are intoxicated through alcohol or illegal drugs while engaging or participating with us or our services;
• commit any criminal offence as part of your engagement with us or our services where the victim is our organisation, employee or other person representing or connected with us
• are in breach of these terms and conditions.

9.2. On termination clause 6 (liability), 7 (intellectual property rights), 8 (confidentiality) 10. (Assignment), and 14 (Law and Jurisdiction) shall continue notwithstanding such termination.

10. Assignment

Any Services provided by us under these terms and conditions are personal to you and cannot be transferred or assigned to any other person.

We may assign, transfer, sub-contract any of our rights or obligations to any third party at our discretion

11. Entire Agreement

These terms and conditions, together with the Website Disclaimer and Service Specific Terms and Conditions are the entire agreement between the parties and supersede any prior agreements and arrangements, whether written or oral. You confirm that you have not relied on any representations in entering into these and any other terms and conditions with us.  Nothing in this clause or terms and conditions shall limit liability for any fraudulent misrepresentation.

12. Force Majeure

Social Justice International CIC shall not be liable to you for any breach of its obligations or termination under these terms and conditions arising from causes beyond its reasonable control, including, but not limited to, health emergencies, epidemics, pandemics, fires, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes and other Acts of God, terrorism, strikes, internet, communication, or technology interruptions, delay caused by transport disputes, failure to provide a session caused by a death of the counsellor , employee or a family member, illness of the counsellor or employee, or due to a United Kingdom or European Union Government edict, directive or regulation.

13. Data Protection

You confirm that you have read and agree with the Social Justice International CIC, Data Protection and Cookies Policy found on the Portal (website) www.sojustinternational.org as well as 13.1 – 13.8 below:

13.1 The nature of the Services provided by us means that we will obtain, use and disclose (together “Use”) certain information about you (“Data”). This statement sets out the principles governing our Use of Data. By purchasing the Services you agree to this Use. Please

13.2 When you register with us you will need to provide certain Data such as your contact details and demographic information. We will store this Data and use it to contact you, provide you with details of the Services you have purchased and otherwise as required during the normal provision of the course.

13.3 We may also use the above Data, and similar Data you provide us in response to surveys, to aggregate user profiles and, unless you click on the relevant button on the Registration Form, provide you with communications. We will not pass any personal data onto anyone outside of Social Justice International CIC unless required by law,

13.4 To enable us to monitor and improve our Services, we gather certain aggregated information about you, including details of your operating system, browser version, domain name and IP address, the URL you came from and go to and the parts of the Website you visit.

13.5. We use information such as your User ID, session identifiers and password to enable us to identify whether you are using our services, assist with the provision of services and to ensure that you have access to relevant products. We will only read cookies from your cookie file placed there through your web browser’s interaction with the Website.

13.6. Our products may link to third party websites and we are not responsible for their data policies or procedures or their content.

13.7. Social Justice International CIC endeavour to take all reasonable steps to protect your personal Data including the use of encryption technology, but cannot guarantee the security of any Data you disclose. You accept the inherent security implications of being and transacting on-line over the internet and will not hold us responsible for any breach of security.

13.8. Social Justice International CIC may supplement the information that you provide with information we receive from third parties.

13.9. If you wish to change or update the data we hold about you, please e-mail: hello@sojustinternational.org or contact us on +44 1304 820863

14. Law and Jurisdiction

This Agreement as per 6.3 Each party irrevocably agrees that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with this Contract or its subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) excluding any rules governing choice of laws.

This Agreement and our relationship with you shall both be interpreted solely in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

You irrevocably agree that the exclusive venue for any action or proceeding arising out of relating to this Agreement or our relationship with you, regardless of theory, shall be the courts of England and Wales. You irrevocably consent to the personal jurisdiction of the aforementioned courts and hereby waive any objection to the exercise of jurisdiction by the aforementioned courts.

15. Notices

You can contact us by any of the following methods:

Email:  hello@sojustinternational.org          Telephone: +44 1304 820863