Cancellation Policy
At Safe Place Therapy, we pride ourselves on being able to deliver one of the most affordable private counselling services in Melbourne.
We work hard to supply services for numerous community organisations, government-funded programs, and provide much-needed mental health support for people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it. It isn’t easy for us to deliver a low-cost and high-quality service, and like many businesses and organisations, we are experiencing certain challenges that only make this harder.
In response to these rising challenges, we have made the difficult decision to extend our cancellation policy to 2 business days prior to an appointment taking place. Extending our cancellation policy will help us to keep our fees low and ensure there is adequate availability for those in need.
We work hard to supply services for numerous community organisations, government-funded programs, and provide much-needed mental health support for people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it. It isn’t easy for us to deliver a low-cost and high-quality service, and like many businesses and organisations, we are experiencing certain challenges that only make this harder.
In response to these rising challenges, we have made the difficult decision to extend our cancellation policy to 2 business days prior to an appointment taking place. Extending our cancellation policy will help us to keep our fees low and ensure there is adequate availability for those in need.
Our Cancellation Policy is as follows:
- At least 2 business days’ notice must be provided when cancelling or rescheduling an appointment. Business days are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and do not include public holidays.
- If you are unwell or are unable to make it in person, you may contact our office staff during business hours to change your appointment to a Telehealth or phone session.
- The Cancellation Policy becomes effective at 9am on the morning two business days before your appointment is scheduled. Any requests to cancel or reschedule must be received by our administration office by this time. If you are contacting us out of office hours, you may leave a message on our answering machine, send an email to admin@safeplacetherapy.com.au, reply to your reminder SMS, or cancel your appointment using our Client Portal.
- If you cancel or reschedule your appointment the day of, the day before, or 2 days before your scheduled appointment date, you will be charged the full fee for your session.
- If you fail to attend your appointment without adequate notification, you will be charged the full fee for your appointment. For Telehealth appointments, Practitioners will wait up to 15 minutes for you join – if you fail to attend before this time, you will have missed your appointment.
- Late cancellation fees will be processed using your stored credit card details where possible. If not, an invoice will be sent to your email address. Invoices for late cancellations are to be paid within 7 days. You will not be able to make another appointment until this has been paid. If it remains unpaid after 7 days, any future appointments you may have will be cancelled, a late invoice fee of $50 will be applied, and the invoice sent for debt collection.
- If you miss multiple appointments without proper notice, we reserve the right to request that you pre-pay for all future sessions or suggest you find another service that may better suit your needs
Important things to note:
- This Cancellation Policy applies to all clients. This includes clients funded by NDIS, TAC, Workcover, VOCAT and National Redress
- Medicare and other insurers will not provide a rebate for cancelled or missed appointments, with the exception of NDIS.
- These fees will only be waived in exceptional circumstances. Examples of exceptional circumstances include severe illness, hospitalisation, or emergency situations. A medical certificate may be required at our discretion before approving any waiver of cancellation fees.
The following are not considered exceptional circumstances:- Changes to work or school roster, or another commitment conflict
- Family activity or holiday
- Changes to babysitting or childcare arrangements
- Difficulty attending an appointment
- Change of mind, including due to cost concerns
- Forgetfulness or forgetting to reply to a reminder SMS
- Failure of technology that prevents you from attending your appointment
When you need to cancel appointments:
- Monday – Cancellations must be received by 9am the previous Thursday
- Tuesday – Cancellations must be received by 9am the previous Friday
- Wednesday – Cancellations must be received by 9am the previous Monday
- Thursday – Cancellations must be received by 9am the previous Tuesday
- Friday – Cancellations must be received by 9am the previous Wednesday
- Saturday – Cancellations must be received by 9am the previous Thursday
Please adjust accordingly if there are public holidays in the days before your appointment.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in following this policy. Our goal is to provide a safe and supportive environment for all of our clients, and this policy helps us to do so.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
