LEGAL
Service Agreement and Informed Consent
Adult individual and couples psychotherapy · Accepted online at booking
Version 2.0 · Effective 1 October 2026
This document sets out the terms on which The Psychology Collective (by Teneal Burger
Psychology) provides psychological services to you, and records your consent to receive them.
It is both a contract and a consent document.
Please read it before you complete your booking, and only book if you are comfortable with this
document’s contents.
1. The practice and your clinician
1.1 The Psychology Collective (by Teneal Burger Psychology) is a private psychology practice at 3 Breda
Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001, practice number 1194801. In this agreement “the practice”
means that entity, and “we” and “us” mean the practice.
1.2 All clinicians practising at the practice are registered with the Health Professions Council of South
Africa (HPCSA) in the category in which they practise, and are bound by the Health Professions
Act 56 of 1974, the HPCSA’s Ethical Rules of Conduct and the guidelines of the Professional
Board for Psychology.
1.3 This agreement is entered into with the practice, not with an individual clinician. Which clinician you
will see is confirmed when your appointment is confirmed. In this agreement “your clinician”
means the practitioner named in that confirmation.
1.4 If your clinician changes — because of a transfer of care, a referral within the practice, or cover during
absence — you will be told in advance. This agreement continues to apply. You are free to
decline the change and end treatment.
1.5 Clinicians at the practice work within their own theoretical orientations, which include psychoanalytic
and self-psychology approaches, schema therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and
mindfulness-based work. Your clinician will discuss their approach with you in your first sessions,
and it may develop as the work goes on.
1.6 The practice does not provide psychiatric medication, medico-legal opinions, custody or care-and-
contact evaluations, fitness-to-work assessments or disability assessments unless separately
agreed in writing at the outset. Where such a service is requested, a separate agreement and fee
applies.
2. Who this agreement is for
2.1 This agreement is for adults. The practice ordinarily treats patients aged 18 and over, and does not
ordinarily provide treatment to children or adolescents, except where agreed to in writing when
the practice is able to accommodate the needs of a minor.
2.2 It applies to individual and couples psychotherapy.
2.3 By accepting this agreement you confirm that you are 18 or older and are booking for yourself.
3. How you accept this agreement, and what that means
3.1 You accept this agreement electronically, as part of the booking process on our website. There is no
paper form and no handwritten signature.
3.2 Electronic acceptance is legally effective. Sections 11 and 12 of the Electronic Communications and
Transactions Act 25 of 2002 provide that an agreement is not without legal force merely because
it is in electronic form, and that a requirement of writing is met by a data message that is
accessible for later reference. Section 13(3) provides that where the parties require a signature
and no particular form is prescribed, an electronic signature is valid if a method is used to identify
the person and to indicate their approval, and that method was appropriate in the circumstances.
The confirmation steps described below are that method.
3.3 When you accept, our system records: the version of this agreement displayed to you, its effective
date, the date and time of acceptance, the name and email address you entered, the
confirmation boxes you ticked, and the IP address from which the acceptance was sent. We keep
that record with your file as proof of what you agreed to and when.
3.4 Before you submit, you can review what you have entered, correct it, or leave the booking without
completing it, as section 43(2) of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act requires.
Nothing is binding until you submit.
4. What therapy involves, and its limits
4.1 Psychotherapy is a collaborative process. Its usefulness depends substantially on your engagement,
your willingness to speak openly, and regular attendance.
4.2 No outcome can be guaranteed. Psychological treatment is generally effective for the difficulties this
practice treats, but response varies between individuals and some people do not improve.
4.3 Therapy can involve discomfort. Discussing painful material may temporarily intensify distress, disturb
sleep, or surface memories and feelings you had not anticipated. Some people experience strain
in close relationships as they change. These reactions are common and are worth raising in
session rather than managing alone.
4.4 Alternatives exist, including medication (via a psychiatrist or general practitioner), group therapy, other
therapeutic modalities, and no treatment at all. Your clinician will discuss alternatives where
relevant and will refer you on where another service would serve you better.
4.5 Psychological assessment may form part of the work. The purpose, nature and cost of any
assessment will be explained to you beforehand, and you may decline. Declining will not affect
your access to therapy, though it may limit what can be clarified.
5. Voluntary participation
5.1 You are attending voluntarily. You may ask questions, decline any intervention, seek a second
opinion, or end therapy at any time, without needing to justify the decision and without adverse
consequence.
5.2 Where you decide to stop, a closing session is encouraged so that the work can be brought to a
considered end and any onward referral arranged. This is a recommendation, not a condition.
5.3 Your clinician may recommend referral or transfer of care where a different level or type of care is
clinically indicated, and will assist you with that referral.
6. Appointments
6.1 Sessions are 50 - 55 minutes long and start at the scheduled time. If you arrive late, the session still
ends at its scheduled time and the full fee applies.
6.2 Frequency will be agreed with you and reviewed periodically.
6.3 Please do not attend a session under the influence of alcohol or other substances. Clinical work is not
usefully done in that state, and your clinician may end the session, in which case the full fee
applies.
6.4 If your clinician must reschedule, you will be notified as soon as possible and offered an alternative
time or a refund of any fee already paid for that session.
7. Fees and payment
7.1 Fees may differ between clinicians according to their category of registration and experience. The fee
that applies to you is displayed on the booking page before you confirm, and is repeated in your
booking confirmation. That is the fee you are agreeing to.
7.2 Fees for other services are charged pro rata at the same hourly rate, in 15-minute units, and include:
written reports and letters requested by you or a third party; completion of insurance, medical
scheme or employer forms; telephone or video contact beyond 10 minutes outside a session;
consultations with other professionals at your request; and preparation for or attendance at any
legal proceeding.
7.3 Payment is due in advance or on the day of the session, by card or through the electronic payment
options presented on your invoice.
7.4 The practice is registered with the Board of Healthcare Funders, which means a claimable invoice can
be issued. The practice does not submit claims to medical schemes, except for cases where
sufficient PMB sessions are available. You are responsible for the full fee irrespective of whether your
scheme reimburses you, of the rate at which it reimburses, and of whether your benefits are exhausted.
7.5 It is your responsibility to establish what your scheme covers before treatment begins, and to submit
your own claims.
8. Cancellation and missed sessions
8.1 A session may be cancelled or moved without charge if at least 24 hours’ notice is given. Notice given
within 24 hours, and non-attendance, are charged in full. Medical schemes generally do not
reimburse missed-session fees.
8.2 This is not a penalty for inconvenience. The session time is reserved for you and cannot realistically
be reallocated at short notice.
8.3 Your clinician may waive the fee where the cause was genuinely beyond your control. This is at their
discretion and does not create a precedent.
8.4 Where two consecutive sessions are missed without contact, the standing appointment slot may be
released and the file treated as dormant. You are welcome to make contact again at any point.
9. Overdue accounts
9.1 Where payment has not been made as required, the outstanding amount is payable within seven days
of the statement date.
9.2 Interest on overdue amounts is charged at 2% per month, calculated from the date the amount fell
due. In accordance with the in duplum rule, accumulated interest will not exceed the outstanding
capital amount.
9.3 Accounts unpaid 60 days after statement date may be handed to a registered debt collector or
attorney. You will be liable for reasonable collection costs actually incurred, recoverable to the
extent permitted by the Debt Collectors Act 114 of 1998 and the National Credit Act 34 of 2005.
9.4 Before an account is handed over you will be given written notice and at least 7 days to make
payment or an arrangement. If you are in financial difficulty, please raise it early — a payment
arrangement or a reduced fee can often be discussed.
10. Confidentiality
What you say in session is confidential. Your clinician is bound by professional and legal duties of
confidentiality, and information about you will not be disclosed except as set out below.
10.1 Where disclosure may occur without your consent
10.1.1 Risk to your life or serious harm to yourself. Where there is a real and imminent risk that you
will end your life or cause yourself serious harm, and the risk cannot be managed within the
therapy, disclosure may be made to those able to help — which may include a person you have
nominated, your general practitioner or psychiatrist, or emergency and hospital services.
10.1.2 Risk of serious harm to an identifiable other person. Where you disclose an intention to
seriously harm someone, disclosure may be made to that person and to the South African Police
Service.
10.1.3 Abuse or neglect of a child. Section 110 of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 obliges a psychologist
who concludes on reasonable grounds that a child has been abused in a manner causing
physical injury, sexually abused or deliberately neglected to report this to a designated child
protection organisation, the provincial Department of Social Development or a police official. This
duty is mandatory and is not subject to your consent.
10.1.4 Sexual offences against a child or a person who is mentally disabled. Section 54 of the
Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 obliges a
person with knowledge of such an offence to report it to the police. This duty is mandatory.
10.1.5 Abuse of an older person. The Older Persons Act 13 of 2006 requires reporting where an older
person is suspected of having been abused or of suffering deliberate neglect.
10.1.6 Trafficking in persons. The Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act 7 of 2013
imposes reporting duties where trafficking is suspected.
10.1.7 Court order, subpoena or other legal compulsion. Where a court orders disclosure or a
subpoena is validly served, your clinician must comply. Where possible you will be informed, and
reasonable steps will be taken to limit disclosure to what is legally required and to oppose
disclosure that is not.
10.1.8 Involuntary care. Where the criteria in the Mental Health Care Act 17 of 2002 are met, information
may be shared with those involved in an application for assisted or involuntary care.
Wherever it is safe and practicable to do so, your clinician will discuss any intended disclosure with you
first, will tell you what is being disclosed and to whom, and will disclose the minimum necessary.
10.2 Routine disclosures within the practice
10.2.1 Clinical supervision and peer consultation. Clinicians are ethically expected to consult about
their clinical work. Where your material is discussed, it is discussed with another registered
professional who is themselves bound by confidentiality, and identifying details are minimised.
10.2.2 Administrative support. Practice-nominated administrative support personnel may have access
to your name, contact details and account information, but not to your clinical notes, and is bound
by a written confidentiality undertaking.
10.2.3 Billing and collection. Where an account is handed over, only the information necessary to
recover the debt is disclosed — your identity, contact details and the amount owing, not the
content of your sessions.
10.2.4 Cover during absence. Where your clinician is on leave or unable to work, cover may be
arranged with another clinician at the practice or a suitably qualified locum. You will be told who
is covering, and only the information necessary for safe care will be shared.
10.2.5 Clinicians at the practice do not have access to one another’s clinical records except where care is
transferred or cover is arranged as described above.
10.3 Disclosures you authorise
10.3.1 Any other disclosure — to your general practitioner, psychiatrist, another treating professional, a
family member, an employer, an insurer or a school — occurs only with your written consent.
Consent is specific: it names the recipient, the purpose and the information to be shared, and you
may withdraw it at any time. It is taken separately, not through this agreement.
11. Your records and your personal information
The practice processes your personal information as a responsible party under the Protection of
Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Information about your physical or mental health is “special
personal information” under section 26. Section 32(1)(a) permits its processing by a health practitioner
where necessary for the proper treatment and care of the patient. Our Privacy Notice sets this out in full;
the following are the essentials.
11.1 What is collected and why
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Identifying and contact information: name, identity number, date of birth, address, telephone
number, email address, medical scheme details, and an emergency contact.
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Clinical information: presenting difficulties, relevant history, session notes, assessment results,
correspondence with other professionals, and treatment plans.
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Financial information: invoices, receipts and payment records.
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Your record of acceptance of this agreement, as described in clause 3.3.
This information is used to assess and treat you, to keep the records required of a health practitioner, to
bill you and recover fees, and to comply with legal obligations. It is not used for any other purpose
without your consent, and it is never used for marketing.
11.2 Note-taking and recording
11.2.1 Contemporaneous notes are made during and after sessions. This is a standard and required part
of clinical practice.
11.2.2 Sessions are audio- or video-recorded only where you have given separate written consent. You
may refuse, and may withdraw consent at any time. Consent to recording is not obtained through
this agreement.
11.2.3 Where an automated transcription or note-generation tool is used, this will be disclosed to you and
your separate consent obtained.
11.3 Where your information is held
11.3.1 Records are held electronically in iCloud storage and occasionally in paper form, stored in a safe
location in line with HPCSA requirements. Electronic records are protected by encryption at rest,
individual access credentials, multi-factor authentication and encrypted backups. Paper records
are held in a locked cabinet in a locked room.
11.3.2 The practice uses service providers that act as operators and process your information on our
written instruction under a confidentiality obligation: Wix, Google (Gmail), Apple (iCloud), Zoom,
HealthBridge, and Yoco.
11.3.3 Some of these providers store information outside South Africa. Section 72 of POPIA permits this
where the recipient is subject to a law or binding agreement providing substantially similar
protection.
11.3.4 Where a security compromise affecting your personal information occurs, we will notify the
Information Regulator and you, as section 22 of POPIA requires.
11.4 How long records are kept
11.4.1 In line with the HPCSA’s Guidelines on the Keeping of Patient Records (Booklet 9), clinical records
are retained for at least six years from the date the record becomes dormant, that is, from your
last consultation.
11.4.2 Records of patients who were mentally incapacitated are retained for the duration of their lifetime.
11.4.3 Financial records are retained for five years under the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011.
11.4.4 Records are securely destroyed at the end of the retention period — paper by shredding, electronic
records by secure deletion.
11.5 Your rights
Under POPIA and the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 you may ask what we hold about
you and request access to it; request correction of information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive,
out of date, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained; object to processing on reasonable grounds;
withdraw a consent you have given, where processing rests on consent; and complain to the Information
Regulator.
Two limits are worth stating plainly. We generally cannot delete a clinical record on request, because the
retention periods above are legal and professional obligations. And access to a clinical record may be
limited in the narrow circumstances contemplated by section 14 of the National Health Act 61 of 2003
and section 63 of PAIA — principally where disclosure would cause serious harm to your health — in
which case we will tell you why and will normally offer a summary or a supported disclosure through
another practitioner instead.
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Information Officer: Teneal Burger, contactable through the Contact page of this website
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Information Regulator (South Africa): complaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za · inforegulator.org.za ·
010 023 5200
12. Communication between sessions
12.1 The practice operates during office hours, Monday to Friday 09:00 – 17:00. Email and telephone
messages are attended to within two working days.
12.2 Email, SMS and WhatsApp are not secure. Messages may be intercepted, may be seen by others
with access to your device, and are stored on servers outside our control. Where you use these
channels you accept that risk. Please keep such contact to practical matters — appointments and
accounts — and raise clinical material in session.
12.3 Clinicians at the practice do not engage clinically over social media or messaging platforms, and do
not accept connection requests from patients. This protects the professional boundary and is
consistent with HPCSA guidance, which discourages the use of social media platforms for clinical
contact.
12.4 This practice does not provide a 24-hour or on-call service. Between-session contact is not a
substitute for emergency care.
12.5 In an emergency
If you are in immediate danger, or you are concerned that you may act on thoughts of harming
yourself, go to the nearest emergency unit or contact:
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Emergency services: 10111 (police) · 10177 (ambulance) · 112 (from a mobile phone)
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SADAG Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0800 567 567 (24 hours)
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SADAG Mental Health Line: 011 234 4837
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LifeLine South Africa National Counselling Line: 0861 322 322 (24 hours)
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Netcare Akeso Crisis Line: 0861 435 787 (24 hours)
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GBV Command Centre: 0800 428 428 (24 hours) · “please call me” *120*7867#
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Nearest public emergency unit: Groote Schuur Hospital, 021 404 9111
13. Video consultations
Where sessions are held by video, the following applies:
13.1 Video consultation is not clinically appropriate for everyone. Your clinician will discuss whether it is
suitable, and may recommend in-person work instead.
13.2 Sessions are held on Zoom over an encrypted connection. Confidentiality nonetheless depends
partly on you: please attend from a private space where you will not be overheard, and use a
secure network.
13.3 Please give your physical address at the start of each video session, along with the name and
number of a person who can be contacted in an emergency, so that emergency services can be
directed to you if necessary.
13.4 Where the connection fails, your clinician will attempt to reach you by telephone on the number on
file, and the session will continue by telephone or be rescheduled.
13.5 You may not record a session without your clinician’s written consent, and they will not record
without yours.
13.6 Where you are outside South Africa at the time of a session, local regulation may restrict cross-
border practice. Please tell your clinician in advance.
14.1 Boundaries. Your clinician cannot enter into a social, business, financial or personal relationship
with you, and cannot treat someone with whom they have a pre-existing close relationship. If you
discover a connection, please raise it — where appropriate, care can be transferred to another
clinician at the practice.
14.2 Gifts. Small tokens are received graciously; substantial gifts cannot be accepted.
14.3 Termination by the practice. Treatment may be ended where your clinician is not the appropriate
practitioner for your needs, where the therapeutic relationship is not workable, where the account
remains substantially unpaid after notice, or where the clinician’s own health or circumstances
prevent them continuing. Reasonable notice will be given, closing sessions offered where
appropriate, and assistance with referral provided.
14.4 Clinician departure or incapacity. If your clinician leaves the practice, becomes incapacitated or
dies, the practice will notify you, will take custody of your records, and will assist with continuity of
care — either with another clinician at the practice or by referral. Records continue to be held
confidentially and for the retention periods in clause 11.4.
14.5 Concerns and complaints. Please raise any concern directly with your clinician, or in writing
through the Contact page of this website. Concerns are taken seriously and will be responded to
within 10 working days. If a matter cannot be resolved with the practice, you may lodge a
complaint with the Professional Board for Psychology, HPCSA, PO Box 205, Pretoria 0001, 012
338 9300, complaints@hpcsa.co.za.
14.6 Marketing. Your details will not be used to send you marketing material unless you have specifically
asked for it, and you may opt out at any time.
14.7 Governing law. This agreement is governed by South African law. Nothing in it limits any right you
have under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008, the National Health Act 61 of 2003 or
POPIA.
14.8 Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remainder continues to apply.
14. Ending, complaints and other matters
In a crisis
If you need help now, contact SADAG on 0800 567 567, or your nearest emergency room.
The Psychology Collective is the trading name of Teneal Burger Psychology, a private clinical psychology practice registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa and the Board of Healthcare Funders.
Practice no. PR 119 480 1
Teneal Burger — Clinical Psychologist — HPCSA PS 0 156 833
Khanyisile Thusi — Clinical Psychologist — HPCSA PS 0 162 361