Seaside Family Counselling Services is a busy counselling clinic. When you book an appointment with us, we allocate a session time of at least 50 minutes exclusively for you, ensuring that it suits your availability. Just as we are dedicated to your therapy, we kindly ask for your commitment as well.

As our clinic experiences high demand, to minimize waiting lists, we kindly request that you consider the time frame leading up to your appointment when cancelling or rescheduling.

We are now implementing a cancellation policy. In essence if an appointment is cancelled, rescheduled or if there is a non-attendance at appointments with less than 48 hours’ notice, the session will be charged at a 50 % rate of the original appointment cost.

In cases of major illness or emergencies, the cancellation charge will be waived. Clinicians can use their discretion based on your specific situation regarding cancellations. In cases of minor illnesses, we encourage you to swap your appointment to a Telehealth or phone - appointment so you are still able to make the appointment.

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation. We strive to provide exceptional care to all our clients, and your commitment to your therapy journey is greatly appreciated

A cancellation policy is necessary for several important reasons.

• Minimising disruptions: the policy helps us reduce disruptions to our clinicians’ schedules and prevents the loss of valuable clinician time by late cancellations, late rescheduled appointments and missed sessions.

• Ensuring fair access: by adhering to the policy, we ensure that other clients have a fair opportunity to access therapy. It allows us to efficiently manage our appointment slots and provide timely care to those in need.

• Financial considerations: as a private practice, the cancellation policy is crucial for reducing income loss resulting from client cancellations, late rescheduled appointments and missed appointments. When clients cancel or reschedule late, or fail to attend their booked appointments, our clinicians experience financial setbacks.

• Promoting accountability: implementing this policy helps us maintain a higher level of punctuality and responsibility among our clients. By prioritising and committing to scheduled counselling appointments, clients increase the likelihood of effective therapy outcomes. We also wish to encourage a respectful approach towards scheduling by minimising late cancellations, late rescheduled appointments and missed sessions.

To reschedule or cancel your appointment, we kindly request a minimum notice of 48 hours prior to the scheduled time. This is essential as it allows our reception staff the opportunity to offer an appointment to another client in need. When appointments are cancelled or rescheduled at short notice, it becomes exceedingly challenging to fill that time slot with another client.

To assist you in remembering your appointment, a reminder SMS will be sent approximately 48 hours before your scheduled session. This SMS provides a window of time prior to the appointment to make any necessary changes. If you are aware that you won’t be able to attend the appointment, we kindly ask that you promptly reply to the SMS to avoid a cancellation fee.

For cancellations or rescheduling requests made with less than 48 hours’ notice, we respectfully ask that you contact us via phone at (03) 7018 7983, providing a reason for the cancellation. Replying ‘N” to a reminder text or requesting a late reschedule via text within 48 hours of the appointment will also incur a cancellation fee.

When booking your appointment, please take care to note down the scheduled time. It is important to remember that failure to receive a reminder text or forgetting an appointment are not considered sufficient reasons for late notice cancellations or reschedules.

We sincerely appreciate your co-operation and understanding in adhering to these guidelines. By doing so, we ensure the smooth functioning of our clinic while respecting the needs of all our clients.

If an appointment is cancelled, rescheduled or if there is non-attendance at appointments with less than 48 hours’ notice, the session will be billed at 50% of the original appointment cost.

We understand that emergencies can arise, such as sudden illness or family emergencies. In such cases, we kindly request that you contact our clinic as soon as possible to inform reception staff and clinicians about the situation. We will exercise discretion to determine if a cancellation charge will be implemented under these circumstances.

It is important to note that certain circumstances, such as a change of mind, not receiving the reminder text, or forgetting about the appointment, are not considered valid reasons for late cancellations.

For any changes to booked appointments with more than 48 hours’ notice, there will be no cancellation fee applied. Cancellation fees will only be applicable if less than 48 hours’ prior notice is provided for a cancellation, rescheduled or unattended appointment. This is because your designated appointment timeslot has been reserved for you and it is often very difficult to fill appointments at short notice. Therefore, we kindly request that you provide us with as much notice as possible when making any changes to your appointment as a courtesy to clinicians’ and other clients. Cancellations or requests for changes to your scheduled appointment with less than 48 hours’ notice need to be communicated by phone to our office.

On occasion, our reception staff may be able to fill late cancelled or rescheduled appointments with clients who are on our waiting list. If this occurs, a cancellation fee will apply to you. However, please understand that this is rare as it is exceedingly challenging to fill appointments with short notice.