Argao Psych (Argao Health Inc.), hereinafter the “Company”, is a mental health company duly registered and validly existing under the laws of the Philippines, and is in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines. These terms and conditions govern your use of our services, facilities (physical, digital, or online), and our website. Engaging our psychological services and using our facilities imply that you (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Client’) accept these terms and conditions in full.

PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES
The Company provides a wide range of psychological services such as, but not limited to psychological counseling, psychotherapy, psychological assessment and evaluation, psychological program development, psychological first aid, mental health and psychosocial support services, stress management and wellness programs, employee assistance programs, research, webinars, trainings, and consultancy. The Company reserves the right to add, modify, suspend, or remove services from its offerings.

SERVICE PROVIDERS
The Company provides its services through mental health providers such as psychologists, psychometricians, psychiatrists, mental health clinicians, and mental health counselors/coaches. The Company may invite, supervise, and engage associate mental health providers who provide services on a self-employed, freelance basis. Associate mental health service providers shall, at all times, be considered independent, associate providers.

 

PRIVACY AND DATA COLLECTION
Collection, Storage, and Use of Information
The Company and its service providers will require and collect personal and confidential information through forms, interviews, tests, and records of sessions. Information collected will only be used for the purposes of the psychological services engaged. This information will be recorded in physical and/or digital format and will only be accessible to the service providers. Company reserves the right to select the methods and means for storage of information. Company takes all necessary steps to ensure the security and privacy of the information collected and stored.

 

Privacy
The Company respects and ensures the privacy of the sessions conducted within its facilities. Company does not assume responsibility for privacy concerns outside its facilities.

Details on privacy and use of information is disclosed in the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these terms.

 

Confidentiality
All information regarding the client and the services they engage will be kept confidential. We will only disclose information to other professionals or individuals at the request and consent of the client. There are, however, certain situations where we can disclose information such as when there is a risk of serious harm to the client or to others, and disclosure of information related to crimes or violations of the law. We may also disclose information on reasons provided for by Chapter 3 Section13 of R.A. 11036 or the Philippine Mental Health Act, and Section 21 of R.A. 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.

The Company and its service providers also requires confidentiality of the Client and in no circumstances is the Client permitted to disclose written, recorded, or distributed correspondence of the session, pre-session or post session. The correspondence and all therapy and counseling communication and application is only permitted to be used by the Client for which it was issued and intended. All written and verbal communication is in context with the session and must not be used out of context. Company accepts no responsibility for the effecting use of material recorded or written for any person other than the Client for which the material and correspondence was intended.

Full details on the limits of confidentiality are discussed in the informed consent that clients must sign prior to the start of any services. The Informed Consent forms part of this Terms and Conditions.

 

Privileged Communication
The Company and its service providers and personnel have protected rights to privileged communication, as stated for in Article VII Section 30 of R.A. 10029 or the Philippine Psychology Act of 2009: “Rights to Privilege Communication for Psychologists and Psychometricians. – A psychologists or psychometrician cannot, without the consent of the client/patient, be examined on any communication or information disclosed and/or acquired in the course of giving psychological services to such client. The protection accorded herein shall extend to all pertinent records and shall be available to the secretary, clerk or other staff of the licensed psychologist or psychometrician. Any evidence obtained in violation of this provision shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding.”

 

Recording of Sessions
The Company’s Service providers may conduct audio and video recording of the sessions, with the consent of the client. Clients are not allowed to record sessions through any means without the consent of the service provider.

 

CCTV Systems
Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) Cameras are installed in Company facilities in compliance with the City of San Fernando, Pampanga Ordinance # 2018-029 that mandates all establishments to install CCTV systems. Access to the CCTV recordings is restricted to Company personnel or to legal authorities for purposes required by law.

 

SERVICE-SPECIFIC TERMS AND CONDITION
Initial Consultation/Mental Health Consultation
Initial Consultation or Mental Health Consultation is the first consultation session that a client has with Company service providers. It can last for 30 minutes, unless otherwise agreed.

 

Intake Assessment
Intake Assessment is a brief psychological assessment and evaluation to determine the needs of the client. It lasts for about 45 minutes to 60 minutes.

 

Psychological Counseling and Psychotherapy
Psychological counseling or psychotherapy sessions lasts for 50 minutes to 60 minutes, unless otherwise agreed. The number and frequency of sessions (i.e. weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly) will be agreed on by the service provider and the client. Prior to the start of the sessions, a treatment plan will be agreed upon by the service provider and the client. The treatment plan may be modified during its implementation when necessary.

 

Psychological Assessment
Psychological Assessment sessions last for about two (2) hours or more depending on the scope, nature, and purpose of the assessment. In some circumstances, the client may have more than one (1) session to complete the assessment. Psychological Assessment and Evaluation Services include the session or sessions for the assessment and one (1) feedback session.

 

Termination of Service
The client may end their therapy sessions any time they wish to. If the client wishes to stop the therapy for any reason, the client should notify Company or the service provider directly in writing or email.

 

SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS

Appointments may be booked through different channels: via our on-line appointment scheduling system, thru e-mail at [email protected], through our social media pages (Argao Psych on Facebook and Instagram) or by texting or calling our client relations lines (+63 45 981 5564/ +63 999 713 8844/ +63 917 621 1649).

 

A client may only book one session for each week, unless prior agreement has been made. Multiple bookings will be verified by our personnel before confirmation.

 

Clients may reschedule or cancel their bookings at least 24 hours prior to their scheduled appointment. Failure to do so will warrant a ‘Did not appear’ (DNA) or ‘no-show’ remark on the record of the client.

 

If a client arrives late for a session, the session will still end at the booked end time. Exceptions to this are at the discretion of the service provider and the availability of the facilities. If a client is not present and has not given notification within 15 minutes from the scheduled time, the service provider reserves the right to terminate the session and will be recorded as ‘DNA’.

 

Multiple ‘DNA’ records may be a basis for the Company to block the client from the booking system.

 

Company reserves the right to require partial or full payments to confirm bookings when it deems necessary. 

 

PAYMENT, FEES, AND CANCELLATION
As fees and rates for the services of Company vary, the fees will be discussed by the service provider at the start of the session.

For initial consultations, full payment is required prior to confirmation of sessions.

 

For psychological assessments, a 60% down payment is required. The remaining 40% is required prior to the start of the testing procedure. Cancellation of a psychological assessment service forfeits  the down payment in favor of the Company/Clinic. Details of the payment terms will be specified in the assessment contract, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

 

For psychological counseling or psychotherapy sessions, the admin and finance staff will discuss the available payment terms such as pre-payment of the whole session, per-session payment, or other terms. Details of the payment terms will be specified in the therapeutic contract, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

  

For seminars, workshops, or training programs, full payment is required upon registration.

 

For corporate services, payment terms will be specified separately in the contract of service, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

 

Re-scheduling and cancellations are only allowed up to 24 hours prior to the session. We will charge a 20% admin fee for cancellations/refunds/re-scheduling made more than 24 hours prior to the session. We will charge 50% cancellation/re-scheduling fees for sessions canceled between 10 to 24 hours prior to the scheduled session. The session is non-refundable if canceled or re-scheduled within 10 hours prior to the session.

 

If you log-in late, the session will still end at the scheduled time. The service provider has the right to terminate the session if you do not log-in within 15 minutes from the scheduled time.

 

Failure to cancel/reschedule within the allowed time, client no-show, or late beyond allowed time will lead to the session being marked completed and the payment will be forfeited in favor of the Company.

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
Some clients wish to invite mental health services providers to be friends on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or other social networking sites. Unfortunately, mental health services providers are unable to accept requests of this kind. We feel your privacy and confidentiality are better protected if mental health services providers are not part of your online social network. In addition, this creates appropriate boundaries in the therapeutic relationship in which you are able to communicate important aspects of your life to your mental health services provider, rather than the mental health services provider reading about your life online. It also keeps mental health services providers’ lives private and separate from therapy, so that the focus remains on you and the reason(s) you wish to attend treatment. Please feel free to discuss any questions/concerns about this policy with your mental health services providers.

USE OF THE WEBSITE
The Websites and Platforms are offered “as is”. All the contents provided in our website are for information purposes only. The Company assumes no responsibility for use of other individuals on the content of the website. Use of the website also indicates acceptance of these terms and conditions.

FORCE MAJEURE
The Company 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, fires, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes and other Acts of God, terrorism, strikes, delay caused by transport disputes, failure to provide a service caused by a death in the service provider’s family, illness of the service provider, Government edict or regulation.

ASSIGNMENT
The Company may assign, transfer, sub-contract any of our rights or obligations to any third party at our discretion.

LAW AND JURISDICTION
This Agreement is subject to Philippine law and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Philippine courts, specifically the courts with jurisdiction in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines, in connection with any dispute hereunder.

These terms and conditions, as well as other agreements entered into between Company and its clients shall be interpreted and understood with the Philippine Laws.

ENTIRE AGREEMENT
These terms and conditions, together with the Website Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Informed Consent, and service-specific contracts are the entire agreement between Company and its clients and supersede any prior agreements and arrangements, whether written or oral. Nothing in this clause or terms and conditions shall limit liability for any fraudulent misrepresentation.