PLEASE FULLY READ THIS AGREEMENT BEFORE SIGNING UP FOR COUNSELLINGBC.
YOU MUST AGREE TO THEM IF YOU WISH TO HAVE A LISTING ON THIS SITE.
Please note that policies are subject to change and you are responsible for reviewing them regularly and adhering to them. To access the current policies you may always go to which will also appear as a link on the footer of the website.
http://www.counsellingbc.com/listing-agreement.html
CURRENT LISTING AGREEMENT
Agreement update: Oct 16 , 2023
Please read the following agreement carefully. You may wish to bookmark this as all new policies are in effect from the date of the update.
Ownership of Listing:
Each listing belongs to the member listed and that member must have full access to it. Full access means all emails go directly to the counsellor who has the listing.
CounsellingBC does NOT HAVE group listings. This means that each listing is for ONE PERSON ONLY.
While some agencies/group practices sign up counsellors on CounsellingBC please note that the counsellor who is signed up MUST read the listing agreement and we need to receive written confirmation from them (email) indicating that they agree to the listing agreement. We will not activate a listing until this has been done. Also counsellors who are listed MUST have access to their listing to make changes where appropriate. If you, as an owner, wish to be reimbursed or otherwise compensated by the counsellor you are adding, by that counsellor, you will need to address that with the counsellor in question. FINALLY, if the counsellor is leaving your agency, and you wish to terminate their listing please email that person and cc’ us before we complete that process.
**Please also note that the counsellor's access to the listing paid for by you does not give them access to any of your payment information which is not stored in the system.
Duration of Listing:
Your listing is for 1 year from the day that it appears on the WEB site or 1 full year from your renewal date (Extended by 1 months for each counsellor (not in your agency) that joins as a result of your referral).
If by some chance you rejoin CounsellingBC after having received a free month in the past (even if your listing was paid by someone else) you are NOT eligible for the free month offer again. Note: The free month offer is one time only per member of CounsellingBC.com
Upgrading to Premium:
There is now a one time fee of $60 plus GST to upgrade to a Premium Listing after signing up for a Basic Listing. After that the member will be billed at the usual Premium rate. If you decide to upgrade to Premium when you renew there will be no $60 upgrade charge but we must be notified of your interest in doing so in advance.
Refund Policy:
CounsellingBC.com DOES NOT offer a refund for services provided to professionals on this site. We are also not responsible for any secondary costs incurred by you that relate to changes that you must make to stationary, websites, business cards, etc. which relate to CounsellingBC.com, should the site cease to exist in the future for whatever reason.
Note: Please ONLY sign up if you understand and agree to the above points.
ALSO, if you choose to cancel or put your listing on hold there is no pro-rated refund for the portion of the year that remains on your listing.
Paypal you
Please be aware that when you are paying via Paypal that the payee is Absolute Balance Counselling & Consulting Ltd. or CounsellingBC.
Address Required When you sign up for a listing you must enter a city and postal code in BC where you reside EVEN if you only have an online practice. We will not include listing where this info is not provided.
Terms & Conditions of Blogging
In order to blog as part of my Blogging listing I agree to all of the following:
- I understand that my blog posts must be original content reflecting the professionalism of the Counsellors/Psychologist community.
- I understand that my blog post must be substantive and professional (short poems or “thoughts for the day” are not considered blog posts. (Please think quality/informativeness rather than quantity or frequency).
- I understand that each blog post must appear here first. It can be duplicated for my own site but only after one month has past. (This is to avoid search penalties for duplicate content).
- I understand that I cannot submit more than one blog post per day under any circumstance.
- I understand that I must accurately reference any source materials and obtain consent from other authors where necessary.
- I understand that I may NEVER post any information about my clients and and that includes endorsements of my services.
- I may ONLY include links about groups or courses that I teach if they are listed on CounsellingBC. I will not include links to other sites within my blog posts.
- If you are going to add an image to your post you must own it or have full rights to it. (See section on Prohibited content on our listing agreement page)
- I understand that new requirements may be added from time to time and I will be notified of any changes.
Updates to Directory Listings:
You may update some sections of your listing at any time, without charge, via the user interface.
But please do not put any information in the form boxes other than what is requested. (For example the address box is specifically for the CITY -- NOT a company name plus it's address). This type of error has caused problems with programming which can affect the whole site.
Adding anything other than text to the Name box (for example "parentheses" and/or other symbols) can have can also cause significant problems to the functioning of the site. We will removed any listing where this is an issue. Reinstating the listing will be subject to a $75 fee.
“Content”, which includes “Additional Information”,"1-2 minute audios", or "2-minute videos" may only be changed by logging in to the user interface submitting them there. When you submit your changes they are subject to an approval process.
You may edit your written "content" up to 4 times per year. After that there is a $75 (plus GST charge) if you wish to update the content before your listing renews. Changes to phone numbers, addresses etc are NOT subject to this limit. The reason for the limit is that all changed content is moderated.
NEW NOTIFICATION FEATURE
Please note the notification flag that is available to you is ONLY to be used for a) vacation messages or b) leaves - maternity or otherwise or c) waitlist or caseload full. It is not to be used to say that you ARE taking new clients or that you ARE taking new clients or are now seeing clients in person.
Do NOT add linked text to your site or any other websites within the body of your listing.
Do NOT include your email address in the body of your listing as these email can result in SPAM harvesting (sending out SPAM associated with your email).
All content is subject to review and revisions may be requested by CounsellingBC. Audios and videos must meet the standards set by CounsellingBC.com (which are described in this document) or you will be asked to re-do them. Any submission must accurately describe your background and training information without embellishment. The text information that you submit should be informative and consist of between 165 to 500 words. If you are not clear as to what comprises an effective description, samples will be provided upon request.
The only link that can appear in your listing is the one that one that is automatically generated when you enter your website url (address) in the designated text box specifically for that purpose (it is labelled as such). If we see other links we may remove them without contacting you.
Also we no longer allow links to another directory for reasons which should be obvious. If someone finds your listing and decides not to choose you as a counsellor we would want them to continue to search the PAID listings on CounsellingBC.
Please do not - under any circumstances add information that involves promotions like "You may quality for a FREE initial session. . . " These submissions will NOT be accepted.
In addition do not use ALL CAPS and please do not use exclamation marks in your text. Your content should be able to speak for itself.
We also ask that you not add information about events to the body of your listing. You may, of course, submit information about a course that you are offering in the appropriate section.
****Please do not use the term "specialize", "specialization", "specialist" - alternate wording will be requested. You may say "specialized training in" as an alternate way of wording the above.
Appointment Booking on CounsellingBC.com
You may have an appointment booking link to your page in the place for that link. Please use the full url.
Workshop/Presentation Listings and Classifieds
As part of your listing on CounsellingBC.com you are permitted to submit either one plain text Classified ad or one plain text Workshop/Presentation listing per quarter for each calendar year. These may include up to 350 words of plain text with no active links with the exception of an email link. The content must related ONLY to services that you specifically offer (not an external presenter, for example). Information will be removed either at the end of the 3 months or the start of the course, whichever comes first.
Premium Classified ads or premium workshop ads will be available for a fee. They can include coloured headings, images, and custom url's.) All ads appear for 3 months and can be renewed. (See below for further information.)
Workshop/Presentation Listings and Classifieds
You may have one or more Premium workshop or classified listings ($75 plus GST) per 3 month period that has up to two active links, a couple of images, a "vanity" url (dedicated address that has search engine optimized text specific to your event, and coloured headings.
Premium Classified listings can have images and coloured headings as well as active links. If you are interested in having a premium classified listing please contact Sarah@counsellingBC.com
Credentials as they appear in the listing:
Members of the directory are encouraged to include, in the body of their summary, the credentials that they would normally provide following their name in written correspondence. However, the actual listing that appears on the site will only accomodate a) your highest university degree, i.e. Ph.D. not M.A., Ph.D. and one professional designation ONLY, i.e. R.Psych or CCC or RCC etc.
Email Form vs Email address in your Description
Please DO NOT include your email within your text description. The reason for this is that there are some very sophisticated email harvesting programs that are capable of taking visible eSmails from the site and using them to send SPAM. This is why we have the forms on the site. While there have occassionally been issues with the forms they are easily remedied by the programmers.
Links to Other Websites:
Please note that ALL listings on CounsellingBC.com are INDIVIDUAL LISTINGS NOT GROUP PRACTICE LISTINGS. Please do not link to a site, within your listing, other than the one that is automatically generated when you add your webpage address in the designated location. If you have an individual listing page on your site, your link must go directly to that page. If you do not have an individual listing page on the site, the link may go to the homepage of the website that is part of an association in BC or a group practice site within BC, of which you are a part. CounsellingBC.com will not link to a listing that is hosted on a site intended primarily to provide information, sell products, and/or market the expertise of other professionals who are not listed on CounsellingBC.com.
Note: Please note that the link to your own site originates from the main page of your listing. No links to secondary pages of your site are permitted.
Linking to another counselling directory is not permitted.
Credentials of Members on your Site:
If you have requested that CounsellingBC.com link to your private practice site it is important for you to be aware that the link will only be arranged if all of the colleagues on your site, who are providing counselling services, also maintain the credential requirements of CounsellingBC.com, or are supervised by a credentialed professional who maintains the qualifications required to list on CounsellingBC.com. (You will be required to fax a written statement confirming the above at the time of renewal.)
Upgrading Listings:
It is possible to upgrade from a Basic Listing to Premium Listing at any time, but this change will not be pro-rated. (Again, please note that the Premium Listing includes the blogging option (for free).
It is also possible to add additional areas of practice to your listing at any time. Each additional link to areas of practice, over and above the number designated for the specific listing type (“Basic” or “Premium”) will be billed at $20 per year (again, not pro-rated).
Geographic Areas:
You may be listed under one or two distinct office locations at no additional charge. It is not possible for the system to list a third location but it may be mentioned in the body of the text for your listing. If your office is located in Vancouver please make sure you select the region in the drop down menu so that your name with appear in that specific sub area).
Audio/Video on Website:
You may also have a 2 minute video within your profile provided you have a Premium listing (see specifications below). If you have had a Basic listing before March 2020 you will be grandfathered/grandmothered in IF your already have added an audio/video to your listing. This means that as long as you continue to maintain your listing you will be permitted to have an audio or video as part of your listing.
Video Specification: A video is to be 2 minutes in length (or less). They may be uploaded via the user interface. They can be produced in any standard format.
While audios may be activated within a few days of submitting them videos may involved a much longer delays is there are multiple steps to add them to the site. All changes/additions to listings on the site are in a queue and will be addressed within 10 days.
By submitting a face picture or a video to accompany your listing you recognize that you are doing so entirely at your own risk. Absolute Balance Counselling & Consulting Ltd. (dba " counsellingbc.com ") shall not be liable for any direct of or indirect special or consequential damages, relating to the presence of your photo or video on this site.
Important: Your video can now include music, and text overlay. It may not be about your group practice but only you as an individual practitioner.
Photo Specifications :
For the purposes of your listing on CounsellingBC.com please submit a face and upper body photo in jpg, gif or bmp form only. Do not attempt to upload photo files that are larger than 4 megabytes. The photo you send should include your entire face and upper body (preferably) and show no other individuals, including pets, besides yourself. Do not send a photo that has been previously optimized for another website unless it is more than 50 kilobytes in size.
***Do not post of photo of a logo or other image other than your face.
Please take a look at the photos on the site before submitting yours so that you have some sense of their composition. The photos must be able to be the following proportion - 3:4 (width:height). Finally, do not send a photo that includes only part of your face and/or a photo that has part of your face obscured.
Annual Renewal:
CounsellingBC.com will contact you, about renewal, two months prior to your renew date and then 2 weeks prior to your renew date. prior to your renew date however it is your responsibility to note your renew date and pay before, or on the date of your renew date, if you do intend to renew.
Since there is no automatic renewal process on CounsellingBC.com as we feel that it is important that you decide annually whether the directory is meeting your needs.
******** If you do allow your renewal to lapse your listing with all of it's data may be removed completely from out database.
There is no reinstatement fee if you decide to re-join the directory after you have discontinued the service, however you will be required to re-enter all information.
If you want do no wish to have your information removed you may maintain your inactive status for up to a year at the rate of $50 plus GST per 6 month or less period. Please contact in advance if that is your intent.
Payment Information and Due Date:
You will receive automated emails informing you of renewal in advance of your renew date. In all instances, payment is due prior to THE RENEW DATE. If payment is not made by the renew date your listing will become inactive and then completely removed from the database. Renewing at that point in time will involve completing the application form again.
Content Responsibility:
With respect to the blog portion of the site we do not review the content of the site.
You have no responsibility for any of the content on CounsellingBC.com apart from your own listing. By listing you are not implying that you are endorsing, recommending or approving any of our content. By accepting your listing we are not implying that we are endorsing or recommending you or approving any content in your listing or linked sites. Please also note those who utilize the blogging feature will be posting content that is not reviewed by us. As such those users are fully responsible for that content and its legality.
Forum and Jurisdiction
You and CounsellingBC.com each agree that the Listing Agreement and the relationship between you and CounsellingBC.com shall be governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia without regard to its conflict of law provisions and that any and all claims, causes of action or disputes (regardless of theory) arising out of or relating to the Listing Agreement, or the relationship between you and CounsellingBC.com, shall be brought exclusively in the superior courts of British Columbia. You and CounsellingBC.com agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located within the Province of British Columbia, and agree to waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over the parties by such courts and to venue in such courts.
Place of Residence
All Members of CounsellingBC.com are required to be residents of British Columbia.
Privacy Policy
By entering into this agreement you agree adhere to the privacy policy available at this link:
http://counsellingbc.com/privacy-policy
Use of Control Panel:
The Control Panel is available to all individuals who list their services on CounsellingBC.com. It allows the professionals on the site to add/change some information, ie. demographic information, schedule of availability, etc. You may ONLY use the Control Panel for it's intended purpose. Entering information into any of the text boxes other than what the label requests be entered may result in the removal of your listing from the system. DO NOT USE ANY SYMBOLS such as "/" or "*" or "! or "[" ,etc. in any of the text entry boxes. You may ONLY use numerals, spaces, and letters. If you enter anything other than what is specifically intended for a text box,( i.e. an address) you must contact CounsellingBC.com for approval to do so.
Prohibited Content:
You understand that all information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, tags, or other materials ("Content"), which you provide to CounsellingBC.com in any way, are the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. This means that you, and not CounsellingBC.com, are entirely responsible for all Content that you upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available via CounsellingBC.com. By uploading or posting any Content, you represent and warrant that you are entitled to upload or post that Content, and that you have obtained any and all necessary license(s) or permission(s).
You may not submit content that is owned by others and/or is not in the public domain. You may not submit or transmit anything to this site that is unlawful, threatening, harassing, libelous or offensive. You may not submit materials that would violate any law of the rights of others including copyright infringement and privacy. Infractions may result in the removal of your listing without notice or refund.
You agree that in your use of CounsellingBC.com’s services, including any actions, rights or obligations under this Listing Agreement, you will at all times comply with all applicable local, provincial, state, federal, and international laws.
CounsellingBC does not accept listings that have client testimonials (within your listing or on your own website) unless you can provide us with documentation from your professional body that attests to the acceptability of this practice. Testimonials from fellow colleagues are permitted with the names and credentials provided.
CounsellingBC.com has the right to suspend an account or remove content if it does not meet it's stringent requirements.
You agree that CounsellingBC.com may, without prior notice, immediately terminate, limit your access to, or suspend your CounsellingBC.com account, and any associated services, and access to those services, or may remove any Content from any CounsellingBC.com account. Cause for such termination, limitation of access, suspension, or removal shall include, but not be limited to, (a) breaches or violations of the Listing Agreement or CounsellingBC.com Policies, (b) requests by law enforcement or other government agencies, (c) discontinuance or material modification to CounsellingBC.com (or any part thereof), (d) unexpected technical or security issues or problems, (e) extended periods of inactivity, (f) engagement by you in fraudulent or illegal activities, and/or (g) nonpayment of any fees owed by you to CounsellingBC.com. Further, you agree that all terminations, limitations of access and suspensions for cause shall be made in CounsellingBC.com’ s sole discretion and that CounsellingBC.com shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your account, or access to CounsellingBC.com.
Termination of your CounsellingBC.com account includes any or all of the following: (a) removal of access to all or part of the offerings within CounsellingBC.com, (b) deletion of your password and all related information, files and content associated with or inside your account (or any part thereof), and (c) barring further use of all or part of CounsellingBC.com.
REGISTRATION AND INSURANCE COVERAGE
You agree to maintain ACTIVE status in your professional organization such that you do not allow any professional designation, i.e. R.Psych, RCC, RSW to lapse and become invalid. If, by some chance, this occurs you agree to notify CounsellingBC.com immediately. You are also required to contact CounsellingBC.com if your practice is under investigation and we reserve the right to temporarily remove your listing from the site until such an investigation is completed in your favour. In such an event your listing year will resume once your full active status has been reinstated. Should your original professional status not be reinstated, for whatever reason, no refund will be provided. Listing on CounsellingBC.com does not imply that we are endorsing you or recommending you, your counselling practice or any of the content that you provide for this site or your own business site. These policies are in effect until your annual renewal date and you will be required to accept the version of the policies that are in place at the time that you renew.
If you have a B.S.W. or M.S.W. degree you must be approved for private practice or be approved for clinical registration if you wish to be listed on this site.
LIABILITY INSURANCE
All professionals on the site must carry liability insurance while listed on the site.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:
In no event, including, without limitation, negligence, shall Absolute Balance Counselling & Consulting Ltd, its subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, officers, directors, employees or partners be liable to you or any third party for any special, punitive, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, those resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, whether or not Absolute Balance Counselling & Consulting Ltd has been advised of the possibility of such damages and on any theory of liability, arising out of or in connection with the use of or the inability to use this site, its services, or materials, the statements or actions of any third party on or through this site, any dealings with vendors or other third parties, any unauthorized access to or alteration of your data, any failure in the transmission of your data, any information that is sent or received or not sent or received, any failure to store or loss of data, files, or other content, any services available through the site that are delayed or interrupted, or any web site referenced or linked to or from this site.
All registrants also understand that CounsellingBC.com does not guarantee that the presence of a listing on the site will result in business and/or clients as a result of that listing.
Right to Modify Current Listing Agreement
When using particular CounsellingBC.com services, you shall be subject to this Listing Agreement, as well as any posted guidelines or rules applicable to such services, which may be posted and modified from time to time, at the sole discretion of CounsellingBC.com. All such guidelines or rules are hereby incorporated by reference into this Listing Agreement. Any modifications will be posted on this webpage, and posting on this webpage will constitute sufficient notice to you of any such modifications.
Site Outages:
It is in the interest of CounsellingBC.com to be available to the public at all times. As with any web site technical issues occasionally arise that require a remedy. This may include site outages. CounsellingBC will endeavour to begin the process of recifying any site outages as soon as it has become aware of such an issue. If, for any reason, the site continues to be offline for a 24 hour period, all individuals on the site will have their annual listing by 1 day for any 24 hour period that the site is offline. This extension will appear only in the "off line" database, not in your control panel. Should you ever require information about your renew date you may contact CounsellingBC.com to receive this information.
IMPORTANT : When you renew your listing your are required to review the current listing agreement which may change from time to time. You may always view the current listing agreement by going to the following link:
http://www.counsellingbc.com/listing-agreement.html
PLEASE BOOKMARK IT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
Revised : Oct 16, 2023
Absolute Balance Counselling & Consulting Ltd.
(doing business as “ counsellingbc.com ” )