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Terms of Service

Last updated 03/10/2026. These terms are written by Marking Therapy Ltd and apply to every service booked or arranged through this website. The service schedules at the end say what each service involves. Please read them before you book; the booking form asks you to confirm that you have.

Who you are contracting with

  • Marking Therapy Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 14644277, registered office Stanhope Road, South Shields, NE33 4RB.
  • Email support@markingtherapy.com, telephone +44 191 249 6127.
  • Counselling and therapy, hypnotherapy and clinical supervision are provided by Kingsley Ampomah Boateng, MBACP, MNCPS (Acc.), whose registrations are listed on the About page.
  • Mediation is provided by the same practitioner, a Civil and Commercial Mediator and CMC Associate Mediator.

What you are buying

  • The service and its format, as named on the booking screen (for example Live Video | Counselling, Phone | Counselling, In-Person | Counselling, In-Home Therapy | In-Home Counselling or Walk and Talk | Counselling), with the length and fee shown there and repeated in your confirmation email, are the whole of what you are buying and the whole of the price.
  • There are no additional charges, and Marking Therapy is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added.
  • Fees for every service are published on the fees page.

Booking and payment

  • Sessions are booked at least five days ahead and paid at the time of booking through the online booking system.
  • The booking is made, and the contract formed, when your payment is accepted and the confirmation email is sent.
  • A customer account is created for you so you can see and manage your bookings; the privacy notice explains what is held and why.
  • Sessions can also be booked by telephone or email if the online form does not suit you.

Your right to cancel within 14 days

You are a consumer buying a service at a distance, so you have the right to cancel a booking for any reason within 14 days of making it and receive a full refund.

  • To cancel, email support@markingtherapy.com, telephone +44 191 249 6127, or use the cancellation form at the end of these terms.
  • Most sessions are booked to take place inside those 14 days. By ticking the box at checkout you expressly ask Marking Therapy to provide the session on the booked date, even though that may be within the 14 days.
  • You acknowledge that once the session has taken place you cannot cancel it or claim its fee back.
  • If you cancel a session before it takes place, you are refunded in full, subject only to the 48 hour policy below where the law allows it to apply.

Cancellation policy

  • For every session after the 14 days, and for any session you have asked to have inside them, 48 hours’ notice is needed to cancel or move it.
  • With less notice, or if you do not attend, the full fee is charged.
  • In exceptional circumstances, such as a medical emergency, discretion is exercised.
  • If Marking Therapy needs to cancel a session, you are given as much notice as possible and offered an alternative appointment or a full refund.

Sessions

  • Sessions start on the hour and end at the booked length, even if you join late.
  • A session missed because of a fault on Marking Therapy’s side is rebooked without charge.
  • Sessions are provided with reasonable care and skill, in line with the ethical frameworks of the professional bodies named on the About page.
  • No particular outcome is promised or guaranteed; therapy, hypnotherapy, supervision and mediation depend on the people taking part.

Where sessions take place

  • Sessions are held by secure video, by telephone, in person in South Shields, at your own home within 10 miles of South Shields, or outdoors on a walk within 10 miles of South Shields.
  • Where an in person appointment is booked, the venue and its full address are emailed 48 hours before the session starts. The registered office is a correspondence address, not a consulting venue.
  • Online and telephone sessions are explained on the Online and Telephone Sessions page.
  • Sessions are for clients in the United Kingdom. Online and telephone sessions are also open to clients living or temporarily abroad, where the practice has first confirmed that it can work with you there, as the Online and Telephone Sessions page explains.

Confidentiality and records

What you share stays between you and the practitioner, with the limits that every UK practitioner works to, and, wherever possible, after talking with you first:

  • a serious risk of harm to you or someone else
  • the protection of a child or vulnerable adult
  • a court order, or a legal requirement
  • Clinical supervision hears about the work in a form that does not identify you.
  • Sessions are never recorded and never transcribed.
  • Brief notes are written after a session so that the work can carry on from one meeting to the next and to support supervision. They carry no details that would identify you, and they are destroyed once the work has ended.
  • Your client record, meaning your personal and contact details, this agreement, and the dates and payments for your sessions, is kept as the privacy notice describes and is then securely destroyed.

Insurance and employer schemes

  • Marking Therapy is a recognised provider with Allianz, Aviva, Vitality and WPA.
  • Please confirm your cover, any authorisation required, and any excess or shortfall with your insurer before booking. You remain responsible for any part of a fee your insurer does not pay.
  • Enquiries about other insurers and employee assistance programmes are welcome.

Not an emergency service

Marking Therapy is not an emergency or crisis service and does not provide medical treatment. If you are in immediate danger call 999. For urgent support call Samaritans on 116 123, free at any time, or NHS 111 and choose option 2. Services are for adults aged 18 and over.

If something goes wrong

  • Tell Marking Therapy first at support@markingtherapy.com so that it can be looked at and put right wherever possible. Complaints are acknowledged within five working days.
  • You can also complain to the relevant professional body, whose procedures are linked from the About page: BACP or NCPS for counselling, therapy and supervision, the National Hypnotherapy Society for hypnotherapy, and the Civil Mediation Council for mediation.
  • Nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Changes to these terms

  • These terms may be updated from time to time; the date at the top shows the last change.
  • The terms that apply to a booking are the ones sent with its confirmation email.
  • These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.
  • That does not affect any right you have to bring a claim where you live in the United Kingdom or, if you live outside the United Kingdom, any rights you have under the consumer law of the country where you live.

Model cancellation form

Copy this into an email to support@markingtherapy.com if you want to use it.

To Marking Therapy Ltd: I cancel my booking of [service] on [session date], made on [booking date]. Name: [your name]. Email or telephone: [your contact]. Date: [today’s date].

Service schedules

Each schedule below is part of these terms for the service it names, and is sent with the confirmation email for that service.

1. Individual counselling and therapy

  • A session is 45 minutes of confidential, one to one time with the therapist, in person in South Shields, at your own home, outdoors on a walk, by secure video or by telephone. It is not medical treatment, and it is not a substitute for emergency care.
  • Work usually begins weekly and is reviewed together. There is no fixed number of sessions and no obligation to continue after any session, including the initial consultation.
  • Between sessions, contact is for practical matters such as appointment times. If you need support between sessions, the urgent routes above apply.
  • If you arrive at a session distressed or unsafe, the session is used to make sure you are safe, and the therapist may involve the emergency services where there is an immediate risk.
  • Endings are planned where possible, with a closing session to review the work.
  • Home based sessions take place at the address agreed at booking. The room must be private, and the session may be moved if it is not safe or private for both people.
  • Walk and talk sessions can be booked once you have had an Initial Consultation or a free 10-minute introductory call. They take place outdoors on a route agreed in advance within 10 miles of South Shields. Because the setting is public, complete privacy cannot be guaranteed, and how we handle meeting someone either person knows is agreed before the first walk. In extreme weather the session moves to secure video or telephone at the same time, and the fee stays the same.

2. Couples counselling

Couples counselling is a full hour with both partners present. How it starts, what is confidential between partners, when joint work is not suitable, and the couples agreement itself are on the couples counselling page, which forms this schedule.

3. Hypnotherapy

  • Hypnotherapy at Marking Therapy uses focused attention and guided imagery in support of your own effort. You stay aware and in control throughout and can stop at any time.
  • It is not sleep, not a surrender of control, and not a treatment for a medical condition; no result is promised.
  • Suitability is checked at the first session, and hypnotherapy does not go ahead where it would not be safe or appropriate for you.
  • Sessions are 45 minutes, by secure video or in person in South Shields, at the fees on the fees page. Sessions are never recorded or transcribed, and the cancellation terms above apply.

4. Clinical supervision for counsellors

  • Supervision supports your practice; you remain responsible for your own clients and for meeting the requirements of your own professional body.
  • A written supervision agreement covering frequency, review and what happens if the supervisor has concerns about practice is agreed at the first session.
  • The supervision record holds dates, duration and a brief note, with no client identifiers.
  • Sessions are 45, 60 or 90 minutes at the fees published on the fees page.
  • A free monthly online group is also offered to therapists and counsellors working in private practice, and you can join it by emailing support@markingtherapy.com.

5. Civil, commercial and community mediation

  • Mediation is arranged by enquiry rather than online booking.
  • The Agreement to Mediate, signed by every party before a date is fixed, forms this schedule, together with the written quote.
  • The mediation page sets out the six stages, the complaints route and the route for solicitors and referrers.