Coaching Agreement
These are the terms of coaching with Compassion Above Love. They are posted here so you can read them before you ever book. By confirming you have read and agree to them before your first paid session, and by paying for that session, you agree to them.
1. What coaching is.
A forward-looking, goal-oriented partnership focused on skills, awareness, and action. It is not therapy, counseling, or mental-health or medical treatment, and it is not a substitute for care from a licensed professional. Your coach does not diagnose or treat any condition. Coaching is one-to-one, not couples together. Your coach will not take on your partner as a separate client while the two of you are working together; your coach's loyalty stays with you. If someone else is paying for your coaching, confidentiality still runs to you, not to them.
2. Not a licensed professional.
Your coach is a trained coach, not a licensed therapist, counselor, psychologist, or medical provider, and does not provide any service requiring a license.
3. No guarantee; your responsibility.
Results depend on your own effort and choices, and no specific outcome is guaranteed. Where a situation involves another person's behavior, that person's choices are theirs alone, and they are not within your control or your coach's. You remain responsible for your own decisions and actions.
4. Ending and referral.
Either of us may end the coaching relationship at any time. Sometimes the most useful step is a referral to a therapist or doctor. That is a normal, responsible part of this work, not a failure. Where it is the right move, your coach will help you find the right person. You can keep working the forward pieces alongside their care if you want to. If a need comes up that is outside coaching's scope, such as a mental-health crisis, immediate danger, or a loss of contact with reality, your coach may pause or end the work and refer you to licensed or emergency support. Your coach will help you find that support rather than simply close the door. Your coach may also end coaching right away for non-payment, or for threatening or abusive conduct. Whenever your coach ends or pauses the work, any prepaid, unused sessions are refunded pro-rata: the package price divided evenly across its sessions, so you are charged only for the sessions you actually had.
5. Not a crisis service.
Coaching happens in scheduled sessions and is not a substitute for emergency or crisis care. If you are ever in crisis, call or text 988. If you are in danger, call 911, or reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (text START to 88788).
6. Confidentiality (to professional standard).
What you share is kept confidential, in line with the coaching profession's recognized ethics, the ICF Code of Ethics and the Global Code of Ethics for Coaches, Mentors and Supervisors. Your coach will not tell anyone that you are a client, or discuss you with a third party, without your permission. And your coach will never share your story, or anything about you, publicly without your separate written consent. Confidentiality has a few limits. Your coach will comply with a valid court order or subpoena, and where the law allows, will tell you before responding to one. If your coach believes there is an imminent risk of serious harm to you or someone else, your coach may contact emergency services. Your coach will also follow any reporting duty the law actually places on them. And if it ever comes to it, your coach may use the minimal information needed to defend or enforce this agreement, such as in a payment dispute. Your coach is not a licensed clinician and does not carry a therapist's duty to warn or treat, but will always follow the law. Coaching is also not a legally privileged relationship the way therapy or legal counsel is. Because of that, your coach keeps only minimal, coded records, a code, a date, a general focus, and a next step, and never the substance of what you share. The coaching itself is done personally by your coach, who never puts your name or anything about you into an AI tool. Running the practice uses only the reputable, everyday services needed to schedule, invoice, and meet with you, such as a booking tool, a payment processor, email, and video. Each of those receives only what it needs to do its job, and never the substance of your sessions. This duty of confidentiality continues after our work together ends, and after your records are deleted. Sessions are not recorded by either of us without the other's consent.
7. Your information (kept minimal, to professional standard).
Your coach keeps only what is needed: your name and contact, a record of your acceptance of these terms (your confirmation, the version, and the date), and a brief, coded record of each session (the date, what you are working on in general terms, and your next step). Your coach never keeps the substance of what you share. Records are kept, stored, and disposed of to protect your confidentiality and privacy, in line with the ICF Code of Ethics and the Global Code of Ethics. Unless you ask sooner, your coach keeps the coded session log for one year after your final session, then deletes it. Your coach keeps the record of your acceptance for at least six years after your final session or last payment, which is Oregon's contract-claim window (ORS 12.080), and until any known dispute is resolved, then deletes it. You can ask at any time to have your session log deleted; the small acceptance record is kept for that window unless you and your coach agree otherwise. Tell your coach the best way to reach you, and that is the only way that will be used.
8. Payment, scheduling, and cancellation.
- Free first call. The initial 20-minute fit call is free, and you can schedule it yourself.
- Sessions. Coaching sessions are 50 minutes.
- Booking gate. A paid session goes on the calendar only after you have accepted these terms and paid for the session or package. Nothing is scheduled before both are done. That gate protects both of us from minute one.
- How you pay. Sessions are billed through a secure payment processor by invoice or a payment link, due before the session. Your coach never stores your card or bank details.
- The First Steps package. First Steps is four 50-minute sessions for $450. Plan to use them within about six weeks, and within 90 days of purchase. After 90 days, your coach closes out the package the same way as ending it early: the sessions you used are billed at the single-session rate ($125), and the unused balance is refunded.
- Rescheduling a package. Each package includes up to two reschedules, each with at least 24 hours' notice, moved to another opening within the package window. A third reschedule counts as a used session.
- Rescheduling a single session. A stand-alone single session may be rescheduled once, with at least 24 hours' notice. A late cancellation or a missed single session is billed in full.
- Late cancel or missed package session. Less than 24 hours' notice, or a missed session, uses one of your reschedules if any remain. Once those are used, that session counts as used.
- If your coach reschedules. If your coach needs to move a session, they will give you as much notice as they can. It will not use one of your reschedules or count as a used session.
- Refunds. Before your first session, you may cancel for a full refund; you are never charged for coaching you have not started. If you end a package after it begins, the sessions you have used are billed at the standard single-session rate ($125), and the unused balance is refunded. You are never charged for sessions you did not have; the package rate ($450) is simply a discount for finishing the package. If your coach ends or pauses coaching to refer you out (section 4), any prepaid, unused sessions are refunded pro-rata, as defined in section 4.
- Payment concerns. If anything about a charge feels wrong, please raise it with your coach directly first; most things are settled in a conversation. Starting a chargeback contrary to this agreement ends the coaching relationship.
9. Between sessions.
Coaching happens in your scheduled sessions. Brief check-ins by text or email between sessions are welcome, and your coach will usually reply within a business day. Real availability, though, stays in the sessions. If something needs more than a quick reply, your coach will fold it into your next session. If it cannot wait and your coach is available, they may offer a short-notice session at the standard rate. Your coach is not a crisis service: if something feels urgent, it often needs a different kind of support than coaching, so please use the resources in section 5.
10. Availability and continuing.
Your coach keeps a small practice, so attention stays real. If your coach is at capacity, they will offer a waitlist spot with an honest estimate, or a referral if you would rather not wait. After your First Steps package, if you would like to continue, ongoing sessions run at the standard $125 rate (or another package), at a cadence that fits your life. These terms keep governing that work, and your rate is handled as described in section 16.
11. Materials.
Any worksheets or materials your coach shares are for your personal use and remain your coach's intellectual property.
12. A few practical notes.
- Receipts. Your card or bank statement is your record of payment; a detailed receipt is available on request. Because coaching is not a medical service, your coach cannot provide documentation for insurance or HSA/FSA reimbursement.
- Transfers. Packages are between you and your coach personally and are not transferable. A new person starts with their own free fit call.
- Accommodations. If you need an accommodation to work together, a different format, extra processing time, anything at all, tell your coach and they will work with you to find something reasonable.
- If something isn't right. As an independent, unlicensed practice, there is no outside credentialing body to appeal to. Raise anything that is not sitting right with your coach directly, or if you need to, use the governing-law process below.
13. Governing law.
This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Oregon, and the state and federal courts located in Oregon have exclusive jurisdiction and venue over any dispute.
14. Limitation of liability.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, your coach's total liability arising from the coaching relationship is limited to the fees you paid. Coaching is provided on a good-faith, reasonable-effort basis, and you accept responsibility for the choices you make and the actions you take.
15. How you accept these terms, and who they are for.
These terms are for adults. By accepting them, you confirm you are 18 or older and able to enter this agreement. You accept them by confirming in writing that you have read and agree to the Coaching Agreement (v1.1). You can do that by replying to your coach's message to say so, or by checking a box that says so, before your first paid session, and by paying for that session. Your coach keeps a light record of that acceptance (your confirmation, the version, and the date), and does not require a stored signed copy. Accepting means you have read this and understand that coaching is not therapy, and that your coach is not a licensed professional.
16. Changes to these terms, and your rate.
These terms are versioned and dated, and the version in effect when you accept is the one that governs your work together. If the terms change, your coach will give you reasonable advance notice by your preferred contact method, and the updated version applies to any new bookings you make after it takes effect. A change never raises the price of a session or package you have already paid for. The founding-client rate you start at is held for as long as you keep working with your coach. Prior versions are kept on record, so it is always clear who agreed to what, and when.
17. If part of this cannot be enforced.
If any part of this agreement cannot be enforced, the rest of it still stands. This document is the whole agreement between you and your coach about your coaching, and it takes the place of any earlier understanding; anything not written here is not part of it. A few parts are meant to outlast the work itself: confidentiality (section 6), how your information is handled (section 7), governing law (section 13), and the limit on liability (section 14) all continue after our work together ends.
This practice follows the confidentiality, records, and technology standards of the ICF Code of Ethics and the Global Code of Ethics for Coaches, Mentors and Supervisors.
Contact: [email protected]