Therapy Policies
Platform rules for therapy operations
These policies govern booking requests, confirmations, attendance, group participation, payments, cancellations, privacy, and therapist-client conduct within Cognidel Therapy.
Core safety boundary
- Cognidel provides a structured therapy environment, not a guarantee of clinical outcome or an emergency intervention channel.
- Session participation rights flow from the booking record and consent state, not from who paid, who invited whom off-platform, or who claims to be associated with the client.
- Any attempt to use Cognidel Therapy for coercion, surveillance, abuse, secret participation, or payment bypass is grounds for immediate restriction.
Booking requests, confirmations, and approval flow
- A client may request a session through Cognidel, including proposed dates or times where that option is available.
- A session is not confirmed until the booking is approved and the required payment or confirmation receipt has been recorded for that booking type.
- Therapists may accept, decline, or propose changes through the platform. Off-platform promises or side messages do not override the booking state shown in Cognidel.
Attendance, access, and session integrity
- Participants must join only through the authorised account path and assigned room linked to the booking record.
- The therapist, client, and any approved additional participants must match the names, roles, and access permissions recorded in the booking.
- Cognidel may delay access, terminate room participation, or restrict controls where there is impersonation risk, hidden attendance, payment uncertainty, safety concern, or failure of required consent.
Individual, couples, family, and group rules
- Individual therapy is for one therapist and one client unless a lawful support person has been expressly approved through the platform or required by law.
- Couples, family, and group formats must use the exact participant structure approved in the booking record. The payer of record does not gain a right to secretly control, monitor, or alter another participant consent status.
- Family sessions are capped by the platform configuration and group sessions are capped by the platform configuration. Additional participants must not be informally admitted outside Cognidel controls.
- Each participant in a multi-party session must have the level of notice, consent, and authority required by law and by the therapist professional duties before participation begins.
Minors, dependents, and guardian involvement
- Where a session concerns a minor or dependent, the person arranging, paying for, or approving the session represents that they have lawful authority to do so.
- Therapists may require further authority checks, consent clarification, or legal documentation before proceeding with a minor, family, or dependent-related session.
- Cognidel may restrict access, suspend the booking, or preserve records if lawful authority or valid consent for a minor or dependent is unclear, disputed, or later challenged.
Consent, privacy, and recording restrictions
- Users must not record, stream, transcribe, screenshot, or redistribute a therapy session or therapy record without every required participant valid informed consent and any additional authority required by law.
- Therapy data, intake forms, notes, attachments, and session logs are protected records and may only be used for lawful therapeutic, safety, operational, or legal purposes.
- Secret observation, secret attendance, deceptive participant substitution, or obtaining therapy access using false identity is prohibited.
Payments, payer of record, and service release
- The payer of record is the person or entity shown by Cognidel as responsible for the checkout that secured the booking or service.
- Therapy access, premium service release, therapist earnings, and related state changes may remain pending until Cognidel receives reliable confirmation that the payment has settled and passed anti-fraud checks.
- Users must not bypass Cognidel by asking for cash, direct transfer, hidden invoice settlement, or any off-platform arrangement that avoids platform records.
Cancellations, reschedules, and no-shows
- A client cancellation made at least 24 hours before the session has no cancellation fee. A cancellation made between 6 and 24 hours before the session carries 50% of the session fee. A cancellation within 6 hours, or a no-show, carries the full session fee.
- A therapist cancellation never charges the client. A therapist may waive a recorded cancellation fee where circumstances justify it.
- After payment processing costs, Cognidel retains 15% of a cancellation fee and the therapist receives 85%. Payments are collected only when the live payment system is enabled.
Clinical boundaries and emergency escalation
- Cognidel Therapy is not an emergency response service and is not suitable for every clinical situation, diagnosis, risk level, or jurisdiction.
- If a participant faces immediate danger, severe deterioration, or urgent psychiatric or medical risk, local emergency or crisis services should be used first.
- Therapists remain responsible for lawful scope of practice, risk management, safeguarding, documentation, and any professional duty to report or escalate serious concerns.
Investigations, restrictions, and record preservation
- Cognidel may preserve room logs, booking metadata, payment traces, reports, and related records where necessary to investigate abuse, fraud, safeguarding concerns, complaints, or legal claims.
- Platform access may be paused or restricted while therapy-related incidents are reviewed.
- Where a law, court, regulator, or safeguarding duty requires disclosure or cooperation, Cognidel will comply to the extent reasonably required.
- Therapy records may be retained beyond ordinary service closure where the platform needs them for legal defence, payment disputes, safeguarding review, or regulator-facing evidence.
