Terms of Service

1. About ThoughtShift Therapy

ThoughtShift Therapy is an independent private therapy service. It is not part of, operated by or provided on behalf of NHS Scotland, even where the therapist also holds separate employment within NHS Scotland.

The service is provided by Peter Cartwright, a Registered Mental Health Nurse and Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. Professional services will be delivered with reasonable care and skill and in accordance with applicable professional duties.

2. Services

Services may include a free introductory consultation, assessment, formulation and online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The specific service, session length, fee and arrangements will be shown during booking or agreed with you in writing.

Therapy is collaborative and individual outcomes cannot be guaranteed. Progress may depend on factors including attendance, engagement, personal circumstances and work completed between sessions.

Unless expressly agreed in writing, the service does not include emergency or crisis care, prescribing medication, medical treatment, medico-legal reports or a formal neurodevelopmental diagnosis.

3. Suitability and clinical judgement

An initial consultation or assessment does not guarantee that ongoing therapy will be offered. We may decide that online CBT is not clinically appropriate, that another service would be safer or more suitable, or that work should be paused or ended. Where appropriate, this will be discussed with you and reasonable signposting will be offered.

You agree to provide information that is accurate and complete enough for safe and appropriate care, including relevant changes in your circumstances, medication, risk or other professional support.

4. Children and young people

Where therapy is requested for a child or young person, consent, confidentiality, information sharing and the involvement of parents or carers will be discussed before therapy begins. Arrangements will reflect the young person's age, understanding, wishes, best interests and applicable legal and professional requirements.

A parent, carer or other person booking or paying on behalf of a young person confirms that they have the authority to do so. Payment by another person does not automatically give that person access to confidential therapy information.

5. Booking and payment

Session fees are confirmed before booking. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, payment is required in full and in advance. A booking is confirmed only when payment has been received and a booking confirmation has been issued.

You are responsible for checking the date, time, time zone, service and contact details shown in the confirmation. Please notify us promptly if anything is incorrect.

6. Cancellation, rescheduling and refunds

At least 24 hours' notice: you may cancel and receive a full refund. If you prefer, you may request that the payment is transferred to a rearranged appointment.

Less than 24 hours' notice: no refund will be provided and the full session fee remains payable because the appointment time has been reserved and may not be possible to offer to another client.

Non-attendance: failure to attend without notice is treated as a cancellation made within 24 hours and is not refundable.

Rescheduling: the same notice periods apply when asking to move an appointment.

Notice is calculated from the scheduled start time. A cancellation is treated as received when it reaches the Microsoft Bookings system or our email inbox. Please keep the cancellation confirmation or sent email.

We may consider exceptional circumstances at our discretion, but this does not create an automatic entitlement to a refund or credit. Nothing in this cancellation policy limits your statutory rights, including the rights described in section 9.

7. Late arrival

If you join late, the session will normally still finish at the scheduled end time so that later appointments are not affected. If you are too late for the session to proceed safely or meaningfully, it may be treated as a late cancellation and will not be refundable, subject to your statutory rights.

8. Cancellation by ThoughtShift Therapy

If we need to cancel a session, you may choose either a rearranged appointment or a full refund for that session. We are not responsible for other costs you may incur as a result of a cancelled appointment, except where the law requires otherwise.

Approved refunds will normally be made to the original payment method within 14 calendar days. The time taken for funds to appear may also depend on the payment provider or bank.

9. Statutory cancellation rights for distance contracts

Consumers who book online, by telephone or by email may have a statutory 14-day cancellation period under UK consumer law. This statutory right is separate from the appointment cancellation policy above and is not restricted by these Terms.

If you book an appointment or ask us to begin providing a service during the statutory cancellation period, you expressly request that the service begins before that period ends. If you then exercise a statutory right to cancel after the service has begun, you may be required to pay a proportionate amount for services already supplied. Once a service has been fully performed, the statutory right to cancel may be lost where you expressly requested early performance and acknowledged that consequence.

You may exercise a statutory cancellation right by sending a clear statement to peter.cartwright@thoughtshifttherapy.co.uk or by using the model cancellation form at the end of these Terms.

10. Online sessions and technology

Sessions are delivered online, normally using Microsoft Teams or another agreed secure video platform. You are responsible for having a suitable device, a stable internet connection and a private environment in which you feel able to speak safely.

If a session cannot proceed because of a technical issue on our side, we will offer a rearranged session or a refund. If it cannot proceed because of your equipment, connection or failure to join, the late-cancellation policy may apply. We will act reasonably and consider the circumstances.

Neither party may record a session without the other party's prior written agreement.

11. Confidentiality and safeguarding

Information shared in therapy is treated as confidential. Confidentiality is not absolute. Information may be shared without consent where this is required by law or professional duties, or where there are serious concerns about risk, safeguarding, abuse, neglect or the safety of you or another person. Where it is safe and appropriate, we will try to discuss this with you first.

Non-identifying or appropriately limited information may be discussed in professional supervision to support safe and effective practice. Information will not otherwise be shared with family members, employers, schools, GPs or other professionals without consent unless a legal, safeguarding or safety exception applies.

Personal information and health information are handled in accordance with the separate ThoughtShift Therapy Privacy Notice and applicable data protection law.

12. Emergencies and urgent support

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999 or attend the nearest Accident and Emergency department. For urgent mental health support in Scotland, contact NHS 24 by calling 111. Do not rely on email, Facebook, the website enquiry form or Microsoft Bookings for urgent support.

13. Communication between sessions

Administrative contact may be used for bookings, payments and practical arrangements. Unless expressly agreed, routine messages are not a substitute for a therapy session and therapeutic support is not provided continuously between appointments. Response times cannot be guaranteed outside normal working arrangements.

14. Respectful and safe participation

Clients and anyone attending with them must communicate respectfully and must not behave in a threatening, abusive, discriminatory or unlawful way. We may end a session immediately or terminate services where this is necessary to protect safety, professional boundaries or the integrity of the service.

15. Ending therapy

You may end therapy at any time. The cancellation and refund terms continue to apply to appointments already booked. Where possible, it can be helpful to use a final session to review progress and plan next steps.

We may pause or end therapy where it is no longer appropriate, safe or therapeutically useful; where professional boundaries cannot be maintained; where fees remain unpaid; or following repeated non-attendance or late cancellation. Where appropriate, we will explain the reason and discuss reasonable next steps or signposting.

16. Complaints

If you are unhappy with any aspect of the service, please contact peter.cartwright@thoughtshifttherapy.co.uk. We will aim to acknowledge a complaint within five working days and respond as soon as reasonably practicable after considering the issues raised.

Raising a complaint will not affect your right to obtain independent advice, exercise your statutory consumer rights or raise an appropriate professional concern with a relevant regulator.

17. Liability and consumer rights

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation. Nothing in these Terms affects your statutory consumer rights, including the right for services to be provided with reasonable care and skill.

Subject to the paragraph above, we are responsible for loss or damage that is a foreseeable result of our breach of these Terms or failure to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for losses that were not reasonably foreseeable, losses caused by information you withheld or misrepresented, or losses arising from events outside our reasonable control where we acted reasonably to minimise their effect.

Services are supplied for personal use. We are not responsible for business losses, loss of profit or loss of business opportunity.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms to reflect changes in the service, professional standards or the law. The version that applies to a booking will normally be the version provided or made available when that booking was confirmed. Material changes affecting ongoing therapy will be communicated in advance where reasonably possible.

19. General

If any part of these Terms is found to be unlawful or unenforceable, the remaining parts will continue to apply. A delay in enforcing a right does not waive that right. No person other than you and ThoughtShift Therapy has a right to enforce these Terms, except where the law provides otherwise.

20. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the law of Scotland. If you are a consumer living elsewhere in the United Kingdom, you retain any mandatory protections available under the law of the country where you live and may bring proceedings in any court available to you under applicable consumer law.

21. Contact

Email: peter.cartwright@thoughtshifttherapy.co.uk

Website: thoughtshifttherapy.co.uk

Business correspondence address: 6 Strathearn Way, Kilmaurs, KA3 2DS