Terms and Conditions

1. Who we are and scope

1.1 The website michellefernando.com (the "Website") is operated by Apex Vanguard Dynamics LLC, a limited liability company registered in the State of Wyoming, USA, with its registered office at 30 N Gould St Ste R, Sheridan, WY 82801, USA (the "Operator", "we", "us"). The Operator is the legal entity behind the Website, your contracting party and the processor of all payments.

1.2 "Michelle Fernando" is the name under which counselling sessions are offered. The counselling sessions are delivered by Michelle Fernando (the "Counsellor") on behalf of the Operator.

1.3 These Terms apply to every use of the Website and to every counselling session booked or held, whether online or in person, paid or free of charge. By booking a session you confirm that you have read and accepted these Terms and the Privacy Policy.

2. Nature of the service: please read carefully

2.1 The Counsellor is a trainee counsellor and student member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), currently in training. She is training at Keele University (UK). Her work is supervised by a qualified clinical supervisor.

2.2 The Counsellor is not a psychologist, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist or medical doctor, and does not use any of these titles. The service is talking-based counselling and personal support. It does not include diagnosis, medical or psychiatric treatment, psychotherapy within the meaning of the Austrian Psychotherapy Act, prescription of medication, or expert opinions.

2.3 Counselling is not a substitute for medical or psychiatric care. If you are receiving treatment, please continue it, and talk to your doctor before changing any treatment.

2.4 No particular result or improvement is promised or guaranteed.

3. Not an emergency or crisis service

3.1 The service is not suitable for emergencies or acute crises and is not available around the clock. Messages and emails are not monitored for emergencies.

3.2 If you are thinking about harming yourself or others, or your life or someone else's is in danger, contact emergency services immediately:

• Europe-wide emergency number: 112
• Austria: ambulance (Rettung) 144 · TelefonSeelsorge 142 (free, 24/7) · Kriseninterventionszentrum Wien +43 1 406 95 95 · Psychosozialer Dienst Wien (Sozialpsychiatrischer Notdienst) +43 1 31330 · Rat auf Draht 147 (young people)
• United Kingdom: 999 · Samaritans 116 123
• Elsewhere: your local emergency number or nearest hospital. Checked numbers for many countries are in the helpline register.

3.3 You remain responsible for seeking urgent help in such situations. The Counsellor cannot provide crisis intervention, and the Operator and the Counsellor cannot monitor your safety between sessions.

4. Who the service is for

4.1 You must be at least 18 years old to book.

4.2 Because of the Counsellor's trainee status, the service is not suitable if you are currently experiencing acute suicidal thoughts or recent self-harm, psychosis, a severe eating disorder, an active addiction that needs medical treatment, or a condition that requires specialist or medical care.

4.3 Before or at the first session the Counsellor carries out a short assessment. The Counsellor may, at any time and at her professional discretion and that of her supervisor, decline to begin or continue counselling and recommend a more suitable service. You agree to give honest and complete information about your situation, including any known risk to yourself or others.

5. Booking, fees and payment

5.1 Sessions are booked through the Website or by email. A contract is concluded when we confirm your booking in writing (email).

5.2 Sessions are charged at the fee shown on the Website at the time of booking (currently £45 per 50-minute session). Prices are in pounds sterling (GBP). VAT is not charged, as the Operator is not registered for VAT.

5.3 Payments are processed by Apex Vanguard Dynamics LLC through Stripe. Card and payment data are handled by Stripe and are not stored by us. Card payments are due at booking. If you cannot pay by card, you can email hello@michellefernando.com and we will send you an invoice to pay by bank transfer; the invoice states the due date.

6. Cancellation and missed sessions

6.1 You may cancel or reschedule free of charge up to 48 hours before the session, using the link in your confirmation email or by email. For later cancellations or missed sessions the full fee is due, unless you could not attend for reasons beyond your control (for example sudden illness).

6.2 If the Counsellor has to cancel, you will be offered a new appointment or a full refund of any fee paid.

6.3 Statutory right of withdrawal (consumers in the EU): you may withdraw from a contract concluded at a distance within 14 days of its conclusion without giving reasons, by sending a clear statement to hello@michellefernando.com. If you expressly ask for a session to take place within the withdrawal period, you pay a proportionate amount for the service provided up to your withdrawal. Your right of withdrawal ends once the service has been fully provided, if you expressly agreed that it should start before the end of the withdrawal period and acknowledged that you would lose your right of withdrawal. A model withdrawal form is available.

7. Confidentiality and its limits

7.1 What you say in sessions is treated confidentially.

7.2 As part of her training, the Counsellor discusses her work with her clinical supervisor and, where required, her training provider. This is done without names or details that could identify you, and everyone involved is bound by confidentiality.

7.3 Confidentiality may be broken only where the Counsellor, after consulting her supervisor where possible, believes there is a serious risk of harm to you or to another person, where a child or vulnerable adult may be at risk, or where disclosure is required or permitted by law or a court order. Where safe and possible, the Counsellor will discuss this with you first. In these situations the Counsellor may contact emergency services or, if you have provided one, your emergency contact.

7.4 Sessions are never recorded by the Counsellor. You may not record sessions without the Counsellor's prior written consent.

8. Online sessions

8.1 Online sessions take place via Microsoft Teams. The Counsellor sends you the invitation by email before your session. You are responsible for a stable connection, suitable equipment and a private, undisturbed place where you cannot be overheard.

8.2 At the start of each online session you confirm where you are, so that local emergency help can be called if needed.

8.3 If the connection fails, the Counsellor will try to reconnect or call you on the number you provided. Time lost through technical problems on your side cannot be refunded.

9. Contact between sessions

Email and messages are for practical matters only (appointments, payments). We aim to reply within 2 working days. Please do not use them for urgent or crisis matters (see section 3).

10. Ending counselling

You may end counselling at any time. The Counsellor may end it if it is no longer suitable or safe, if these Terms are seriously breached, or if her training placement ends; in that case she will, where possible, offer a closing session and suggest other services.

11. Liability

11.1 The Counsellor works carefully and in line with the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions.

11.2 Your decisions and actions inside and outside sessions remain your own responsibility. The Operator and the Counsellor are not liable for decisions you make, or for harm you cause to yourself or others, unless such harm was caused by their own intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty.

11.3 To the extent permitted by law, the Operator and the Counsellor are liable only for damage caused intentionally or by gross negligence. Liability for slight negligence is excluded, and any liability is limited to the fees paid for the services in the 12 months before the damaging event.

11.4 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for personal injury (death, injury to body or health), liability that cannot be excluded or limited under mandatory law (in particular the Austrian Consumer Protection Act, KSchG), or liability for intent and gross negligence towards consumers.

11.5 Content on the Website is general information only and is not individual advice. We are not responsible for the content of external websites we link to.

12. Complaints

12.1 Please first raise any concern with the Counsellor at hello@michellefernando.com. If it cannot be resolved, you can ask, at the same address, for your concern to be passed to her clinical supervisor.

12.2 As a BACP student member the Counsellor is bound by the BACP Ethical Framework. You may also raise concerns with BACP through its Professional Conduct Procedure at bacp.co.uk.

12.3 Consumers may also turn to an Austrian consumer dispute body such as the Internet Ombudsstelle (ombudsstelle.at). We are not obliged and not willing to take part in dispute resolution before a consumer arbitration board.

13. Intellectual property

All texts, images and materials on the Website belong to the Operator or its licensors and may not be copied or used beyond private use without written permission. The free self-tests reproduce published questionnaires under their authors' terms, credited on each test page.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may change these Terms for the future. The version valid at the time of your booking applies to that booking. Material changes affecting ongoing counselling will be notified to you by email in advance.

15. Governing law and jurisdiction

15.1 These Terms are governed by Austrian law, excluding its conflict-of-law rules and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer, you also keep the protection of the mandatory law of the country where you habitually reside.

15.2 For consumers, the courts at their place of residence or employment have jurisdiction where mandatory law so provides. Otherwise the competent court in Vienna, Austria, has jurisdiction.

16. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is or becomes invalid, the remaining provisions stay effective. The invalid provision is replaced by a valid one that comes as close as legally possible to its purpose; towards consumers, the statutory rule applies instead.