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Now You’re Talking Therapy

Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) 

V03Nov2025

 

Introduction

Purpose

This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) explains how we expect everyone to behave when using the Now You’re Talking Therapy platform ( “the platform”, “we”, “us”, or “our”).

Our aim is simple: we want to provide a respectful, safe, and professional space for everyone. This policy sets out the standards of conduct we expect and the responsibilities that apply to all users.

Scope

This policy applies to anyone using the platform, including:

  • Partner (or Vendor): The qualified therapists who provide services through our platform.
  • Client (or User): You — the person using the site to find and book therapy sessions.
  • Therapist Services: The therapy or counselling sessions provided by independent professionals.
  • Therapist: A registered and qualified professional with the right experience to offer therapy.
  • Privacy Policy: How we collect, use, and protect your personal information

By using the Now You’re Talking platform, you agree to follow this AUP. This sits alongside our Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, and any other policies that apply to you.

Our policy is designed to align with UK law and professional standards, including (but not limited to) UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act, the Equality Act, and professional guidance from relevant bodies such as the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Feedback and Updates

We welcome feedback on this policy. If you have suggestions or concerns, please contact us via the contact form on our website.

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect legal requirements or best practice. If we make significant changes, we’ll make this clear on our site.

Definitions

Here’s what we mean by a few key terms:

  • Terms and Conditions (T&C): This agreement between you and us that outlines how our website and services can be used.
  • Partner (or Vendor): The qualified therapists who provide services through our platform.
  • Client (or User): You — the person using the site to find and book therapy sessions.
  • Therapist Services: The therapy or counselling sessions provided by independent professionals.
  • Therapist: A registered and qualified professional with the right experience to offer therapy.
  • User Account: The account you create to access and manage services.
  • Booking: Scheduling a session with a therapist through our online system.
  • Cancellation: Cancelling a booked session.
  • Refund: Returning payment for a cancelled session, in line with our policy.
  • Payment Processing: Securely managing your payment when you book.
  • Privacy Policy: How we collect, use, and protect your personal information

These definitions are here to avoid any uncertainty in how this policy applies. 

    1. User Obligations

    General Conduct

    All users are expected to act respectfully, professionally, and lawfully. The following behaviour is not permitted on the platform:

    • Confidentiality breaches: Sharing or disclosing confidential information about another person without their consent, unless required by law or safeguarding duty.
    • Harassment or abuse: Any form of harassment, bullying, abuse, intimidation, coercion, or threatening behaviour.
    • Discrimination: Behaviour, language, or content that discriminates against someone based on race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief, age, nationality, or any other protected characteristic.
    • Illegal activity: Using the platform to carry out, encourage, or assist unlawful activity.
    • Improper use of technology: Attempting to hack, spread malware, bypass security controls, access another user’s account, or otherwise interfere with the platform.
    • Substance use: Accessing or providing services while under the influence of alcohol or drugs in a way that affects safety, judgment, or professional conduct.

    We reserve the right to take action if behaviour on or around the platform places others at risk, breaches confidentiality, or undermines trust.

    Account Security

    To keep everyone safe, we ask all users to:

    • Account creation: Provide accurate and complete information when creating an account.
    • Accuracy of information: Keep your personal information and, where relevant, professional credentials up to date.
    • Security: Keep login details confidential and take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised access to your account or device.
    • Report issues: Let us know immediately if you believe someone else has accessed your account or there has been a security breach.

    Confidentiality

    Confidentiality is central to therapeutic work.

    • Partner or Vendor:
      • You must maintain strict confidentiality in line with the law, ethical guidelines, and your professional standards.
      • You must handle all personal and sensitive information with care, and only share it where you are legally permitted to do so (for example, safeguarding concerns or where required by law).
    • Client or user
      • You are expected to respect the privacy and personal boundaries of your therapist.
      • You must not share, publish, record, or misuse sensitive information from sessions, unless you are legally entitled to do so or have explicit consent.

    1. Specific Obligations for Partners (Therapists)

    All Partners on the platform are expected to work to high professional, ethical, and legal standards. The following applies to all therapists using Now You’re Talking

    Professional Standards

    Partner or Vendor must:

    • Avoid conflicts of interest that could affect professional judgment or objectivity.
    • Accurately represent their qualifications, experience, and areas of practice.
    • Not engage in inappropriate relationships with clients, including romantic or sexual relationships.
    • Not request or accept gifts, payments, favours, or other benefits from clients where this could create pressure, dependency, or influence clinical judgment.
    • Follow all relevant codes of ethics, standards of practice, and regulatory requirements.
    • Not use therapy sessions to promote or sell products or services that have not been approved or that fall outside of the therapeutic work.

    Qualifications and Professional Standing

    Transparency and honesty

    • Partners must present their professional background honestly.
    • Any claims about specialisms, training, accreditation, memberships, or experience must be accurate and able to be evidenced.

    Maintaining credentials

    • Partners must keep all required registrations, memberships, insurances, safeguarding training, clinical supervision requirements and other professional credentials valid and up to date.
    • Profiles on the platform must be updated promptly if there are changes (for example: new qualifications, lapsed memberships, changes in scope of practice, restrictions, suspensions).

    Verification

    • Partners agree to take part in periodic verification checks carried out by Now You’re Talking Therapy.
    • Any documents we reasonably request to confirm identity, qualification, insurance, safeguarding training, DBS, supervision arrangements, or ongoing professional status must be provided in a timely manner.

    Professional development

    • Partners are encouraged to continue professional development and reflective practice.
    • Relevant training, continued professional Development , supervision, and updated competencies should be accurately reflected in their profile.

    Regulatory issues

    • Partners must inform us immediately if they become subject to investigation, sanction, suspension, restriction, or disciplinary action by any professional body, insurer, or regulator.

    Service Delivery

    To protect clients and uphold good practice, Partners or Vendors must:

    Communication methods

    • Clearly state which formats they offer (for example, in-person, video, phone).
    • Ensure that any chosen method of communication is delivered in a way that protects confidentiality and meets professional and legal standards.

    Scope of services

    • Clearly describe the type of support offered, including any limits linked to their training, competence, insurance, or modality.
    • Make it clear where online or telephone work may not be clinically suitable.

    Limits on advice

    • Partners must not provide advice outside their area of competence.
    • Partners must not present themselves as giving medical, legal, financial, or other regulated professional advice unless they are qualified and authorised to do so.

    Professional conduct

    • All interactions should be respectful and clinically appropriate.
    • Partners should avoid any behaviour that could compromise the therapeutic relationship or client trust.

    Client safety and wellbeing

    • Partners or Vendors are responsible for assessing whether remote work (for example, video or phone sessions) is appropriate for each client, taking into account privacy, risk, and presenting needs.
    • If there is an immediate risk of harm to the client or to someone else, Partners (or Vendors) must act in line with safeguarding and duty-of-care obligations. This may include directing the client to emergency or crisis services.

    Documentation and record keeping

    • Partners (or Vendors) must keep accurate, secure records of sessions in line with legal, clinical, and professional requirements.
    • Records must be stored safely, retained appropriately, and accessible only to authorised individuals.
    • Records should include consent, session notes (where clinically appropriate), safeguarding actions, referrals, and professional recommendations.

    1. Specific Obligations for Clients

    Clients play an important role in maintaining safety, respect, and appropriate boundaries on the platform.

    Interaction with Therapists

    We expect all communication to remain respectful and appropriate. Clients must not:

    • Misrepresent their personal circumstances in order to influence clinical decision-making.
    • Offer gifts, money, or favours in a way that could be seen as pressuring or influencing the therapist’s judgment.
    • Attempt to begin or pursue a romantic or sexual relationship with a therapist.

    Personal Responsibility

    To keep the therapeutic process safe and supportive:

    Use of guidance

    • Therapists provide professional guidance within their area of training.
    • How you choose to act on that guidance is your responsibility. Decisions you make in your personal, medical, legal, financial, or relational life remain your own.

    Limits of therapy

    • Therapy provided through the platform may not be suitable in urgent, high-risk, or crisis situations, or in situations requiring medical or specialist intervention.
    • If your needs go beyond what can safely be offered, you should seek additional or alternative support. Your therapist may advise you to do this.

    Informed engagement

    • You’re encouraged to ask questions, seek clarification, and raise concerns if you’re unsure about anything discussed in a session.
    • Please share relevant information honestly and in good faith. This helps your therapist understand risk, context, and appropriate next steps.

    Outcomes

    • Every person’s process is different. Outcomes vary and can’t be guaranteed.
    • By using the platform, you agree not to hold either the therapist or Now You’re Talking Therapy responsible for outcomes that are outside of our direct control.

    Reporting concerns

    • If at any point you feel uncomfortable with a therapist’s behaviour, boundaries, or professional conduct, please report this to us using the contact form on our website.
    • We treat all such concerns seriously.

    1. Content Standards

    The quality, safety, and integrity of content shared through the platform matters. This applies in particular to professional materials and communications from Partners (or Vendors)

    Creation and Sharing of Content

    Partners (or Vendors)  must ensure that all content shared with clients or on the platform is:

    • Relevant and professional: Content must relate to therapeutic work and be clinically appropriate.
    • Accurate and honest: Information and guidance should be based on sound professional knowledge and current good practice.
    • Respectful of intellectual property: Partners must only share materials they have created themselves or have permission/licensing to use. Copyright must be respected at all times.

    Prohibited Content

    The following content must not be created, shared, uploaded, or circulated through the platform:

    • Offensive or harmful content: Anything abusive, threatening, shaming, degrading, or discriminatory. This includes hate speech, harassment, or sexually explicit content that is not clinically and ethically appropriate.
    • Illegal content: Anything that promotes or instructs criminal activity, or violates local, national, or international law.
    • False or misleading content: Including fabricated qualifications or misleading claims about outcomes, methods, or effectiveness.
    • Unapproved promotional content: Direct advertising, upselling, or solicitation that is unrelated to legitimate therapeutic services or not agreed with Now You’re Talking.
    1. Use of the Platform

    Permitted Use

    The platform is here to support genuine therapeutic work. Appropriate use include or could be used for:

    • Booking, paying for, and receiving therapy services.
    • Communicating professionally between Partners and Clients (for example, arranging sessions, clarifying practical details).
    • Sharing clinically relevant materials and agreed follow-up resources.
    • Leaving fair, respectful feedback on services received.

    Prohibited Use

    To protect the platform and its users, the following are not allowed:

    • Unauthorised commercial activity: Using the platform to sell unrelated goods or services, or to solicit business outside of agreed therapeutic work.
    • Taking Clients off the platform: Using the platform to attract clients and then moving them into your own private practice.
    • Impersonation or misrepresentation: Pretending to be someone else, or claiming qualifications or experience you do not have.
    • Security breaches: Attempting to bypass security, access another user’s account, deploy malware, or otherwise compromise the platform.
    • Interference with operations: Overloading the system, using bots, creating duplicate accounts to disrupt services, or otherwise interfering with normal use.
    • Illegal activity: Using the platform to plan, encourage, or carry out unlawful acts.

    1. Enforcement Actions

    We actively work to protect the safety and integrity of the platform. This includes monitoring, responding to reports, and taking proportionate action where needed.

    Monitoring and Enforcement

    • We carry out routine checks and audits to make sure activity on the platform complies with this AUP.
    • We use automated systems to help detect activity that may signal misuse or risk.
    • We encourage users to report behaviour that may breach this policy.
    • We stay in contact with Partners (or Vendors) to ensure ongoing compliance with professional standards.

    Consequences of Violations

    If we believe this policy has been breached, we may take one or more of the following actions:

    • Warning: A written notice explaining the issue and what needs to change.
    • Suspension: Temporary suspension of an account while we review the situation.
    • Legal or regulatory action: Where required, we may involve external authorities, safeguarding bodies, or professional regulators.

    Transparency and Appeal

    • If an action is taken against your account, we will explain why, wherever we are able to do so.
    • You have the right to appeal. You can contact us through the support channels provided on our website, and we will review your appeal fairly.

    1. Reporting and Grievance Procedures

    We want all Clients (or Users) to feel safe raising concerns.

    Reporting Misuse

    You can report policy violations, unprofessional behaviour, safety concerns, or any other issues by:

    • Using the “Contact Us” form on our website.
    • Emailing us via the support contact listed on the website.

    Reports are handled confidentially and sensitively wherever possible.

    How We Handle Reports

    • Initial review: We assess the information provided to understand the nature and seriousness of the concern.
    • Investigation: If needed, we’ll gather more detail, which may include speaking with those involved.
    • Resolution: We’ll decide and act based on what we find. That may include mediation, feedback to the relevant person, or enforcement action under this policy.
    • Outcome: We’ll confirm that your concern has been addressed. To protect privacy, we may not always be able to share full details of any action taken.

    Our Commitment to Ongoing Care

    • We routinely review how we handle complaints and reports to make sure the process is fair and effective.
    • Our support team receives ongoing training to respond to concerns professionally and appropriately.

    1. Amendments to this Policy

    We may update this Acceptable Use Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, clinical standards, technology, or how our platform operates.

    • The most current version of this policy will always be available on our website.
    • Significant updates that affect how you interact with the platform will be highlighted clearly.
    • By continuing to use the platform after an update, you are agreeing to the updated terms.

    If you do not agree with any part of the updated policy, you should stop using the platform.

    1. Acceptance of Terms

    By accessing or using the Now You’re Talking Therapy platform, you confirm that:

    • You agree to follow this Acceptable Use Policy.
    • You understand that this policy works alongside our Terms and Conditions and other applicable policies.
    • You acknowledge that failure to follow this policy may result in action being taken, up to and including suspension or permanent removal from the platform.

    This Acceptable Use Policy is a binding part of your agreement with us. It exists to protect clients, protect therapists, and protect the integrity and safety of the therapeutic space.