Professional terms for practising through Cognidel.

These terms apply to any person who applies to become a therapist on Cognidel, is approved as a therapist, appears in therapist discovery, delivers therapy through Cognidel, receives platform earnings, or submits a marketplace resource as a therapist.

They work alongside Cognidel’s Privacy Policy, Therapy Policies, and any additional terms shown for a specific service. If a specific service has additional terms, those terms apply to that service as well.

A therapist using Cognidel is an independent professional. Nothing in these terms creates employment, agency, partnership, joint venture, or authority for the therapist to bind Cognidel. A therapist must not present themselves as an employee, representative, or agent of Cognidel.

The therapist remains responsible for their own professional practice, clinical judgment, scope of work, professional registration, licences, insurance, supervision, taxes, statutory filings, and legal or ethical obligations. Cognidel does not take over those responsibilities by approving a therapist or making the platform available.

• A therapist must provide complete, accurate, current, and lawfully obtained information during onboarding and whenever Cognidel asks for an update.
• Cognidel may review identity, qualifications, professional registration, licences, practice information, supporting documents, and other information reasonably needed to assess eligibility.
• Approval is required before a therapist can offer therapy through Cognidel. Approval confirms platform eligibility at that time; it is not a guarantee of future clinical competence, legal status, or professional standing.
• False, altered, borrowed, expired, misleading, or unverifiable information may lead to rejection, suspension, removal, or a report to a relevant authority where appropriate.

• A therapist must maintain every registration, licence, and authority required to provide the services they offer through Cognidel.
• The therapist must give Cognidel an accurate expiry date for applicable professional credentials and promptly submit renewal evidence when requested.
• Cognidel may issue renewal reminders before an expiry date. Once a required credential expires, the therapist cannot accept new work or provide therapy through Cognidel until updated evidence has been reviewed and approved.
• Where a renewal is submitted before expiry and is awaiting review, Cognidel may prioritise that review and decide how existing appointments should be handled. This does not permit the therapist to practise outside their lawful authority.

• A therapist may practise only within their actual competence, professional scope, lawful jurisdiction, language capability, and ethical boundaries.
• The therapist is responsible for clinical assessment, informed consent, risk management, safeguarding, referrals, emergency escalation, documentation, and all mandatory reporting duties that apply to their work.
• The therapist must maintain clear professional boundaries. Harassment, discrimination, coercion, exploitation, sexual or romantic conduct with a client, deceptive conduct, or misuse of the therapeutic relationship is prohibited.
• A therapist must not use an unauthorised substitute, misrepresent their identity or qualifications, or conduct therapy while impaired, suspended, or without the authority required to practise.
• Cognidel may apply reasonable availability limits to protect quality of care and the platform. These limits do not reduce the therapist’s own duty to manage workload safely and competently.

• Only a booking confirmed through Cognidel creates a Cognidel therapy session. A request, discussion, approval, or counterproposal does not itself create a confirmed paid booking.
• Therapists must keep their availability accurate and must handle bookings, reschedules, attendance, and completion through Cognidel where those controls are provided.
• The therapist must use the approved room and must not admit unapproved participants, hidden observers, or substitute participants. Recording, streaming, screenshots, transcription, or redistribution of a session is prohibited unless every required consent and authority has been obtained outside the platform and the action is lawful.
• For couples or other approved multi-party sessions, the therapist must ensure that participation, consent, and clinical suitability are addressed before the session proceeds.

• Therapists must handle client information confidentially and use it only for legitimate therapeutic, safety, professional, or legal purposes.
• Intake information, session notes, clinical notes, and related client records must be kept accurately through the appropriate Cognidel workflow when that workflow is available. A therapist must not move protected client information into an insecure channel or disclose it without a valid basis.
• Private psychotherapy notes are separate therapist working notes. They are not part of a client’s ordinary record export and remain accessible only to the therapist, subject to applicable law and a lawful professional or legal requirement.
• The therapist must cooperate with a properly managed clinical-record request, including requests that require review, redaction, or a treatment summary. A therapist must not disclose another person’s private information through a client record.

• Therapists set session pricing within the limits shown in Cognidel. A session must not be priced or described in a misleading way.
• Earnings become available only after Cognidel records the relevant payment and the applicable release period has passed. A payout request is not a completed payout until the selected provider confirms it.
• Therapists are responsible for their own taxes, insurance, professional costs, bank or payment-account obligations, and statutory filings. Cognidel does not prepare, file, or pay those obligations for the therapist.
• A therapist must not request hidden fees, direct payments, cash payments, or an off-platform arrangement intended to bypass Cognidel payment records or client protections.

• A therapist may submit an eligible resource for review. Nothing is publicly available until Cognidel approves it.
• The therapist must own the material or have the rights needed to submit, sell, and make it available. The material must be accurate, lawful, professionally responsible, and free from harmful, infringing, deceptive, or malicious content.
• The therapist may archive a published item or permanently delete an item that has not created purchaser rights. Cognidel may recall, archive, reject, or remove an item where there is a safety, quality, legal, rights, or policy concern.
• A therapist must not promise diagnosis, treatment, professional qualification, or a clinical outcome through a marketplace listing unless that promise is lawful, accurate, and properly supported.

• Cognidel may review a therapist account where there is a credible safety report, client complaint, payment concern, credential issue, suspected misuse, professional concern, or legal request.
• Where proportionate, Cognidel will explain the reason for a restriction and give the therapist a reasonable opportunity to respond. Cognidel may act immediately without advance notice where this is necessary to protect a client, preserve evidence, prevent fraud, comply with law, or address a serious safety concern.
• A restriction may include pausing profile visibility, new bookings, room access, marketplace activity, payouts, or selected account functions. Cognidel will keep any restriction no broader or longer than reasonably necessary for the situation.
• The therapist must cooperate with a reasonable request for clarification or supporting information. Failure to cooperate may affect continued approval.

A therapist may ask to stop using Cognidel, subject to resolving existing bookings, client care continuity, financial obligations, and any legal or professional record-retention duties. Cognidel may suspend or end therapist access for the reasons described in these terms or where continued access would present an unacceptable safety, legal, financial, or platform-integrity risk.

Ending access does not remove obligations that by their nature should continue, including confidentiality, records handling, payment reconciliation, tax responsibility, intellectual-property obligations, and cooperation with a lawful investigation.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, a therapist is responsible for loss, claim, regulatory action, or liability arising from that therapist’s own professional services, negligence, misrepresentation, unlawful conduct, ethical breach, privacy breach, or breach of these terms. This does not remove any responsibility Cognidel may have under applicable law for its own acts or omissions.

Cognidel may update these terms where the platform, professional requirements, or law changes. A material change will be presented through the platform or by another reasonable notice before it takes effect, unless an immediate change is required for safety, law, or service protection.

Questions about these terms can be sent to support@cognidel.org. These terms should be read with Cognidel’s general Legal page and Therapy Policies.