Between: Ashton Shaw Specialist Psychology Services Ltd, trading as The Mental Fitness Dr (“I”, “me”: services delivered personally by Dr Kerry Ashton, BSc MSc DClinPsy, Consultant and Chartered Clinical Psychologist, registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as Kerry Shaw, registration number PYL28586, which you can verify at hcpc-uk.org) and you, the client named in your schedule.
1. What this work is, and is not. My services are clinical performance work: assessment, formulation and structured change, delivered by a clinician in a group or 1:1 format. They are not traditional therapy, though clinical methods (for example EMDR) may be used within programmes where your formulation indicates them. They are not an emergency or crisis service: if you are ever at immediate risk, contact 999 (or your local emergency number), your own doctor, or the Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK (or their equivalent in your area), at any hour. Your general medical care remains with your own doctor throughout.
2. Confidentiality, and its limits. Everything you share with me is confidential to full clinical standards. Anything you share with me directly, in 1:1 work, in your assessments, or through your written channels, is protected to those full clinical standards. In group settings it works differently: every member commits to keeping everything shared in the group completely confidential (your schedule sets this out, and breaching it means removal), and I hold that boundary firmly, but I cannot control other members the way I can control myself. So in group sessions, share at the level that feels right for you. The law and professional duty also place a small number of limits on confidentiality. I may need to share information, ideally with you and with your knowledge first, if: (a) I believe you or someone else is at serious risk of harm; (b) a child or vulnerable adult is at risk; (c) a court orders it or the law requires it. Otherwise, nothing about you, including that you are a client, is shared with anyone.
3. Your data. Your information is handled under UK GDPR as special category health data, under my Privacy Policy. Clinical records are retained for 20 years after our last contact, in line with that policy, and then destroyed. Consent is layered: consent to assessment is required for the service; consent for your data to be used in aggregate research and service improvement, with your name and contact details removed, is optional, is asked separately, and can be withdrawn at any time without affecting your service in any way.
4. How we communicate. Every service includes written channels, and your schedule sets out which ones and my response times. Where your service includes live sessions, those run as clause 5 describes; everything between sessions stays written, deliberately, so you always have time to think and a record that keeps. Written channels are never an emergency route (see clause 1). I do not discuss clinical matters over social media.
5. Sessions (where your service includes them). Sessions happen remotely by secure video at times agreed in advance. In 1:1 sessions you are welcome to record or use note-taking tools: the session is yours, for your personal use. In group sessions, recording by members is not permitted: that single rule is what makes every member's confidentiality real. Official recordings of group masterclasses and Q&A sessions are made and shared instead, so take part at the level of disclosure you are comfortable with. Rescheduling with 48 hours' notice or more is free (handled directly in your members area); sessions missed or cancelled inside 48 hours are forfeited, though I apply discretion for genuine emergencies. If I ever need to move a session, you get the same courtesy and priority rebooking.
6. Money. Fees, payment methods and any instalment terms are in your schedule. You have a statutory 14-day cooling-off period from purchase; if you ask the service to begin inside those 14 days (for example by starting the assessment), you agree that work delivered before any cancellation is chargeable. Service-specific refund terms are in your schedule.
7. Your part. The work depends on honest information, including about your health, medication and history, and on telling me if things change, especially anything that affects your safety. Where your service includes direct clinical work, I will also ask for your doctor's details as part of onboarding: in the rare situation where I had serious concerns about your safety and could not reach you, your own doctor is the right person for me to contact. Your doctor is never contacted for any other reason without your knowledge.
8. My materials. Everything I provide (the Founder Performance Library, your reports and formulations, playbooks, programme materials, masterclasses and their official recordings, templates, handouts, assessment content, and members-area materials) is for your personal use. Please do not share, copy or publish it. Your own data, your own formulation and your own reports are, of course, yours to keep forever and share at your discretion.
9. Ending the work. Your schedule sets out notice terms. I may also end the work where it is clinically right to do so, in which case I will say why, point you to appropriate alternatives, and refund any prepaid, undelivered portion pro rata. Nothing in this agreement limits either party's statutory rights, and nothing limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
10. Governing law and jurisdiction. This agreement is governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from it or from the services, wherever in the world you are based: any claim may be brought only in those courts. I am not able to work with clients living in countries under UK trade sanctions.
Service: the written clinical assessment: online assessment, my written clarification questions within 2 working days of your completed assessment, your full written formulation and recommendations within 5 working days of your replies, one round of up to ten written questions from you within 14 days of receiving your report (answered within 5 working days), and six months' access to the Founder Performance Library from submission.
Fee: £1,125, paid in full to secure your place for your chosen month. (Founding rate £750 for the first five clients, in exchange for completing the structured feedback form.)
Completing your assessment: I will ask you to complete your assessment within 2 weeks of me sending your link, and I will remind you along the way. If those 2 weeks pass, nothing is lost and your fee is untouched: get in touch and we will agree a month that works. Nothing in this paragraph affects your cancellation rights under clause 6 of the Core Agreement.
Refunds, kept simple: before you start the assessment: every penny back, no questions, no forms. Started the assessment but my clinical work has not begun: half back, immediately. Once I have begun working on your results, the fee is committed, because the work happens regardless.
Credit: the full fee is credited against the Founder Reset or Founder Reset 1:1 if you enrol within 3 months of receiving your written formulation. If the programme you want is not yet open for enrolment when those 3 months end, your credit is held for you and stays available for 3 months from the date that programme opens. The credit is applied to your first payment for that programme.