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 LearningMethods
Online / Distance Sessions
(by Skype or telephone)
Below is the complete text of my Policy for
Online Sessions.
Last updated 12 January 2017
Policy for Online or Distance Sessions (by Skype or Telephone)
It is always best to be clear from the beginning about practical details, so below is
my policy about how the Skype and phone sessions work, about fees, cancellation, and so on.
Who can Benefit | Confidentiality |
Student-Teacher Expectations
Scheduling Sessions | Fees and Session Length |
Starting the Session
Cancellation and Re-scheduling | Being on
Time | Recording the Session
LearningMethods is usually helpful for any sort of problem you may experience, from physical
pain, tension, or stress to anxiety, panic, stage-fright or phobias to compulsive habits like
smoking, over-eating or over-spending to relationship conflicts, difficulty raising children,
abuse or self-esteem issues, to learning blocks, and more.
You will benefit greatly from the LearningMethods work if you want to learn how to solve your
own problems, to understand the way your thinking and emotions work, and to learn a set of
practical tools to explore and discover how to navigate successfully through your life.
If, after a course of sessions, I cannot help you directly, I will be glad to refer you to
another teacher or someone who works with a different method who may be able to help you.
As with any LearningMethods session, confidentiality and trust is very important. It is your
session, so you are free to tell anyone you like about what happens, but be assured that on my
side everything we say and do is kept in the strictest confidentiality.
The first session begins with a short period where you can ask any questions about this policy
and we will discuss why you have come and what are your goals for the sessions (if we have not already done that in
an initial talk or e-mail exchange).
When you have a session, your feelings of privacy are always respected. You are free to bring up
any issue you wish and also free to stop at any time or to refrain from answering any question
if you'd rather not.
During a session you are encouraged to stay in touch with your responses and inform me if
anything makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, either physically or emotionally. If
anything like this happens, please speak up immediately. I want to know as soon as possible.
If the issue you bring up is full of emotion, you will have whatever time you need to go through
any strong feelings. Usually this does not take long, but remember, the sessions are for you and
you are in the driver's seat.
Scheduling Sessions
Once you decide to go ahead and book one or more distance sessions, we will communicate to schedule
a mutually workable day and time.
You are in control of the length of the session. Unless otherwise agreed in advance, each session
will normally be at least 1 hour, but you can extend that time if you wish to keep exploring (assuming that I have free
time in my schedule).
If I choose to extend the session so we can finish something we are in the middle of there will be no
extra charge for the extended time.
If at some point you wanted to schedule ongoing sessions for a while to work through an issue or
series of issues, we can arrange a regular slot, that is, the same day and time each week or
every other week, etc.
My fee for distance sessions is an hourly rate (currently
US$ 120 per hour, though this may
change without notice). The hourly rate will be
pro-rated to the nearest quarter-hour. That is, US$
120 for one hour, US$
130 after the session lasts 1¼ hours,
US$ 160 after the session lasts 1½ hours, and so on.
Fees must be paid directly after the session.
The easiest way to pay is online via the LearningMethods web site at this address:
www.learningmethods.com/fees-session.htm
Payment online is through secure encrypted servers. You
can fund your payment from any major credit card, some debit cards, via PayPal
if you are a member, or direct from your bank account (in the USA only). If you
are outside the USA, your credit card statement will
show the amount in your local currency after conversion from
US dollars. If you are in Canada, GST or HST at the rate applicable in your province
will be added to the fee.
If you cannot pay on-line, it MAY be possible to pay by mailing a personal bank check or
international money order in any of the above currencies. Within the Euro zone it is possible to
pay via direct bank-to-bank transfer without charge, though sometimes banks take a fee for this
transfer. In any case, we will sort out details of fees and payment before or during the session.
Normally, I will call you for the session at the appointed time at the
prearranged Skype address or phone number.
Skype-to-Skype calls are free. If we are doing a phone session and you are in Canada or the USA, I can call you for the
session with a toll-free line so there will be no phone charge for you. Unfortunately, I cannot
offer this service free outside of the USA or Canada, s
you will be responsible for making the call to me for the session.
Cancellation: Once the day and time of the session is set up and agreed, my policy is that you can freely
cancel any time UP TO 48 HOURS before the session, but if you cancel WITHIN the 48 hours before
the session you will still need to pay for the session. The 48 hours is longer than normal for
in-person sessions, but takes into account the difficulties of reaching each other
internationally across different time zones as well as the erratic delivery of e-mail, delays
due to answer machine tag, etc., and of course, of me being able to then reach someone else to
fill your space at short notice.
Re-scheduling: Up to 24 hours before the scheduled session you can also request to change the day or time of
the session with no penalty assuming we can find a mutually workable new time within 2 days of
the currently scheduled date. Any changes closer than 24 hours to the scheduled session time
will usually not be possible.
At the scheduled time for the session I will call you or be available at the prearranged number
for you to call me. If, for any last minute reason, I am not able to be there for the session (that is,
if missing the
session is my fault),
we will re-schedule a new session which will be free of charge to you.
It is your responsibility also to be available at the appointed time for the session. If you are
not, you will still be charged for the session. If you are late, the session fee will still
run from the appointed start time and we may need to end the session at the appointed time even if this means the
session ends up being shorter than the appointed time (this depends on my schedule and whether I have free time to
extend the session).
It is often very valuable for you to be able to listen again to the session afterwards when
you have a little more perspective and wish to recall all the detail and richness of the
unfolding dialog and the progression of learning. Therefore, as part of the session fee, I
can make an audio
recording in MP3 format which will be available to you within a day or so after the session to download from a
private address on my website.
It is entirely up to you whether or not a recording is made of the session, so feel free to
decline if you do not wish to receive a recording (please mention this as the session starts). You can also change your mind at any
time and stop a recording or request that an existing recording be erased. I'll be happy to comply with your wishes.
You are also free to audio-record the
session yourself to your computer, a cassette tape recorder, minidisk, digital voice recorder, etc. for your own use
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as long as you agree to not make copies or to distribute it in any form to others.
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Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to working with you.
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DAVID GORMAN