Group Coaching Participation Terms & Conditions
These Terms & Conditions (“Terms”) apply to participation in Authentic Public Speaking Club (the “Group”), provided by Spencer Psych Ltd, of 86–90 Paul Street, London, United Kingdom, EC2A 4NE (“we”, “us” or “our”).
By booking, purchasing or attending a Group session, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to these Terms.
1. About the Group
1.1 Nature of the service
The Group is a coaching, skills-development and experiential learning service. Sessions may include teaching, discussion, practical exercises, group activities and opportunities to practise skills in front of, or alongside, other participants.
The Group is intended for personal development, confidence-building and skills practice. It is not psychotherapy, counselling, psychological treatment, psychiatric treatment, medical treatment or any other form of healthcare.
1.2 References to CBT
Any references to CBT, CBT principles or CBT-based techniques within the Group refer to their use within a coaching and educational context only. Such references do not mean that CBT therapy, psychotherapy or any other form of psychological treatment is being provided.
2. The Group is not therapy
2.1 Role of the facilitator
A Group facilitator may also be professionally qualified as a psychotherapist, psychologist, counsellor or other mental-health professional. However, when facilitating the Group, they are acting in their capacity as a coach or Group facilitator and not as your therapist or healthcare provider.
2.2 No clinical relationship
Participation in the Group does not establish a therapist–client, psychologist–client, doctor–patient or other clinical treatment relationship between you and the facilitator, Spencer Psych Ltd, any contractor working with us, or any other person involved in delivering the Group.
The fact that a facilitator holds clinical qualifications does not change the nature of the service being provided.
2.3 No clinical assessment or treatment
Information, comments, exercises and discussions during the Group are provided for coaching and educational purposes. They should not be understood as psychological assessment, diagnosis, treatment, clinical advice, individual case formulation or personalised medical or mental-health advice.
3. Independent facilitators
3.1 Contractor status
Some Group sessions may be delivered by facilitators engaged by Spencer Psych Ltd as independent contractors. Independent contractor facilitators are not employees, directors or partners of Spencer Psych Ltd.
They may be engaged by us specifically to facilitate particular Group sessions or activities.
3.2 Authority of facilitators
Unless expressly authorised by us, an independent facilitator does not have authority to vary these Terms, make contractual promises on behalf of Spencer Psych Ltd, provide therapy or clinical treatment on behalf of Spencer Psych Ltd through the Group, or commit Spencer Psych Ltd to services outside the scope of the Group.
Any personal opinions expressed by an independent facilitator are their own unless expressly stated otherwise.
3.3 Responsibility for contractor conduct
Independent contractors are responsible for their own professional conduct, statements, decisions and actions when facilitating the Group.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Spencer Psych Ltd is not responsible for independent acts or omissions of a contractor which fall outside our reasonable control or outside the scope of the services we engaged that contractor to provide.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any responsibility which the law does not permit us to exclude or limit.
3.4 Complaints about facilitators
If you have a complaint or concern about an independent facilitator, please contact our administration team at hello@sociallyfearless.com.
4. Suitability for participation
4.1 Non-clinical service
The Group is a non-clinical coaching service. It is not suitable for individuals who require crisis support, individual mental-health treatment, psychiatric support or specialist clinical intervention within the Group.
4.2 Your responsibility for suitability
By accepting these Terms and choosing to participate, you confirm that you understand that the Group is coaching rather than therapy or mental-health treatment, that you are not attending for crisis or psychiatric support, and that you currently consider yourself able to participate in a group coaching environment which may involve temporary anxiety, nervousness, uncertainty, embarrassment or emotional discomfort.
We do not carry out a clinical assessment to determine whether the Group is suitable for you.
If you have a diagnosable mental-health condition, or have concerns about whether participation is suitable for you, you should seek advice from an appropriate doctor, therapist, psychiatrist or other healthcare professional before attending.
4.3 Mental-health needs outside the scope of the Group
The Group is not suitable where an individual's mental-health needs require specialist clinical assessment, treatment, monitoring or risk management which cannot appropriately be provided within a non-clinical coaching setting.
This may include, depending upon the individual's current presentation and needs, conditions or presentations involving significant instability, dissociation, mania, psychosis or elevated clinical risk, including some presentations of bipolar disorder, dissociative identity disorder, psychotic disorders or severe personality difficulties.
4.4 Our right to determine suitability
We reserve the right to decline, suspend or end participation where we reasonably consider that an individual's needs fall outside the scope or capabilities of the Group or that continued participation is not appropriate for the Group format.
Any such decision is an operational decision concerning the suitability and scope of the service. It does not constitute a diagnosis or clinical assessment.
5. Eligibility
5.1 Age
Unless we expressly agree otherwise, participants must be 18 years of age or older.
5.2 Refusal of bookings
We reserve the right to refuse or cancel a booking where we reasonably believe that participation is unsuitable for the format or purpose of the Group. This does not constitute a clinical assessment or diagnosis.
6. Experiential exercises and emotional discomfort
6.1 Nature of the exercises
The Group may involve public speaking, speaking spontaneously, being observed by others, receiving attention, tolerating silence, uncertainty, unpredictability, making mistakes, expressing opinions, disagreement, interpersonal interaction, deliberately triggering or allowing anxiety symptoms, interruptions, performing under pressure and other situations which may produce anxiety or self-consciousness.
Some degree of temporary discomfort may therefore be a normal and intended part of participation.
6.2 Voluntary participation
You understand that coaching exercises cannot be guaranteed to feel comfortable or anxiety-free.
You remain responsible for deciding whether and to what extent you participate in any activity. You may decline an exercise, ask to pause, stop participating or leave a session at any time. You do not have to explain your decision.
You remain responsible for monitoring your own wellbeing and personal limits.
7. No individual monitoring or ongoing duty of support
7.1 No individual support relationship
Participation in the Group does not create an individual therapeutic, clinical or support relationship.
The facilitator does not undertake to monitor your mental health or wellbeing, assess changes in your mental state, provide individual risk assessment or crisis support, create safety plans, contact your doctor or therapist, provide therapeutic follow-up or provide psychological support outside Group sessions.
7.2 Communications outside sessions
Unless expressly agreed otherwise, communications outside Group sessions are for administrative purposes only.
Our inboxes are not crisis services and are not continuously monitored. Email, messaging services and other communications with us must not be used for emergency or urgent mental-health support.
8. Mental-health and crisis disclosures
8.1 Scope of the Group
The Group is not designed or equipped to provide crisis support, suicide or self-harm risk assessment, safety planning or emergency mental-health intervention.
8.2 Urgent disclosures during a session
If information is disclosed during a session which reasonably appears to indicate an immediate emergency, the facilitator may pause or end the participant's involvement in the session and direct them towards appropriate emergency, crisis, medical or mental-health support.
This does not mean that the facilitator has undertaken a clinical risk assessment or assumed responsibility beyond reasonable care.
8.3 Information available to us
The Group is not a clinical service and we may hold only limited information about participants. We may not know a participant's current location, address, healthcare providers, emergency contacts or medical history.
We therefore cannot guarantee that we will be able to locate a participant, contact emergency services on their behalf or contact healthcare providers or other third parties.
Participants remain responsible for accessing appropriate emergency, medical or mental-health support where required.
Nothing in participation in the Group creates an undertaking by us or by a facilitator to provide individual risk assessment, crisis intervention, safety planning, clinical monitoring or follow-up support.
9. Our right to manage, suspend or end participation
9.1 Managing participation
We reserve the right to manage participation in the Group where reasonably necessary. This may include pausing or stopping an exercise, asking a participant to modify their behaviour, muting or removing someone from a live session, declining their participation in a particular activity or otherwise taking reasonable steps to protect the proper functioning of the Group.
9.2 Suspension or permanent removal
We may suspend a participant's access, cancel future bookings, refuse future bookings or permanently withdraw a participant's ability to attend the Group.
We may do so where we reasonably consider that continued participation is inappropriate, including where a participant has breached these Terms, interfered with the privacy or experience of others, engaged in harassment, intimidation, unwanted contact or disruption, breached confidentiality, made an unauthorised recording, repeatedly disregarded reasonable instructions, attempted to use the Group for commercial solicitation, or where their needs appear to fall outside the scope of the Group.
We may also withdraw participation where we otherwise reasonably conclude that continued attendance is incompatible with the proper functioning of the Group.
9.3 No clinical implication
A decision to suspend, remove or refuse future participation does not constitute a clinical assessment, diagnosis or judgment about a participant's mental health.
9.4 Refunds following removal
Where we cancel prepaid future sessions because we have withdrawn a participant's ability to attend, we will provide any refund required by law and, where appropriate, refund fees relating to future sessions which will no longer be provided.
Where removal results from serious misconduct or a material breach of these Terms, we may decline to refund the affected session or sessions to the extent permitted by law.
10. Confidentiality
10.1 Participant obligations
Because the Group involves multiple independent participants, confidentiality cannot be guaranteed in the same way that it may be within an individual professional relationship.
Nevertheless, every participant agrees to respect the privacy and confidentiality of other participants.
You must not disclose another participant's identity, repeat or publish personal information they share, tell third parties what an identifiable participant said or did, post about identifiable participants on social media, take screenshots or photographs, record sessions, or otherwise disclose information which could reasonably identify another participant.
You may discuss your own experience, reactions and learning from the Group provided that doing so does not reveal another participant's identity or confidential information.
10.2 Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed
Although participants contractually agree to these requirements, they are independent adults and we cannot physically control what they do during or after a session.
We therefore cannot guarantee that every participant will comply with these Terms or maintain confidentiality.
You participate with this limitation in mind.
If we become aware of a breach, we may take action against the participant responsible. However, we cannot guarantee that information which has already been disclosed can subsequently be recovered, deleted or prevented from being further disclosed.
11. Anonymity and identifying information
11.1 No guarantee of anonymity
Participation in the Group is not anonymous.
Other participants may see or hear your name or display name, face, voice, contributions, opinions, reactions during exercises and information which you voluntarily choose to share.
Other participants may recognise you outside the Group. We cannot guarantee that they will not recognise or remember you.
You should therefore only disclose information that you are comfortable sharing within a group environment. You should not attend if you wish to remain anonymous or are not comfortable with the risks of a group setting.
11.2 Display names
For online sessions, you are responsible for checking the information displayed by your video-conferencing account before entering the Group.
You should avoid displaying information you do not want other participants to see, such as your full legal name, surname, employer, business name, email address, telephone number or identifying profile information.
Where the platform allows, you may use an appropriate first name or alternative display name.
12. Recording
12.1 Recording is prohibited
Participants must not record, photograph, screen-record, screenshot, live-stream, transcribe, reproduce or otherwise capture any part of a Group session without our prior written permission.
This prohibition includes the use of phones, cameras, Zoom or similar recording functions, screen-recording software, AI meeting assistants, AI note-taking services, transcription software, browser extensions, automated bots and similar technologies.
12.2 Unauthorised recording cannot be completely prevented
We take reasonable steps to prohibit and discourage unauthorised recording. However, we cannot guarantee that another participant will comply with this prohibition.
In particular, we cannot prevent someone from secretly using a separate device or technology outside our control.
If we become aware of unauthorised recording, we may immediately remove the participant, terminate their participation, prohibit future bookings, request deletion of the material and take such other reasonable action as is available to us.
We cannot guarantee that an unauthorised recording can ultimately be recovered, destroyed or prevented from being distributed once created.
13. Contact between participants
13.1 No unsolicited contact
The Group is intended to provide a contained group environment.
Unless both participants expressly agree otherwise, you must not independently contact another participant outside the Group simply because you encountered them through the Group.
This includes contacting them by direct message, email, telephone or social media; locating them through their employer or professional website; or using information obtained during the Group to find or approach them.
Participation in the same Group does not itself constitute consent to contact.
13.2 Voluntary exchange of details
Participants may voluntarily exchange contact details where both individuals clearly wish to do so.
You must not collect, retain or use another participant's contact information without their permission.
14. Harassment and conduct outside the Group
14.1 Responsibility for participant conduct
Each participant is responsible for their own behaviour.
We cannot guarantee that another participant will behave appropriately outside the Group or comply with these Terms.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Spencer Psych Ltd or our facilitators are not responsible for independent acts or omissions of participants which occur outside our reasonable control.
14.2 Complaints about another participant
If you tell us that another participant has engaged in harassment, intimidation, unwanted contact, serious privacy violations or similar misconduct arising from the Group, we may take reasonable action available to us. This may include warning, suspending, reporting or permanently excluding that participant and preventing future bookings.
We are not a law-enforcement agency and cannot investigate, police or control another adult's behaviour outside the Group.
If you believe another participant's behaviour amounts to a criminal offence or creates an immediate safety risk, you should contact the appropriate authorities.
Nothing in this section excludes or limits any legal responsibility which cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
15. Behaviour during the Group
15.1 Standards of conduct
Participants are expected to behave respectfully towards facilitators and other participants.
Harassment, intimidation, threats, bullying, discriminatory abuse, sexually inappropriate behaviour, deliberate humiliation, targeted personal attacks, persistent disregard for another person's boundaries, unwanted sexual or romantic advances, deliberate disruption, recording and breaches of confidentiality are not permitted.
15.2 Removal for misconduct
We may remove a participant immediately where we reasonably believe this is necessary.
Where removal occurs because of serious misconduct or a material breach of these Terms, we may decline to provide a refund, subject to any statutory consumer rights.
16. No solicitation or commercial approaches
The Group must not be used as a source of prospective clients, customers or commercial contacts.
You must not use your participation to advertise products or services, solicit business, recruit clients, customers, employees or contractors, promote investment opportunities, add participants to marketing lists, harvest contact details or make unsolicited professional or commercial approaches.
The fact that a participant has disclosed their profession, business or contact information does not mean that they have consented to commercial contact.
17. Intellectual property
17.1 Ownership
Unless expressly stated otherwise, exercises, session formats, teaching materials, worksheets, slides, prompts, frameworks, written materials, training resources, original activities and other content supplied as part of the Group remain the intellectual property of Spencer Psych Ltd or the relevant rights holder.
17.2 Permitted use
Materials are provided for your personal, non-commercial use only.
Without prior written permission, you must not reproduce, distribute, republish, upload, sell, license, substantially copy, teach commercially, provide as part of another paid service, use to create a competing service or represent our materials as your own.
Nothing prevents you from applying the general personal skills or learning you gain through participating in the Group.
18. Personal responsibility and outcomes
The Group provides opportunities for practice and development, but outcomes differ between individuals.
We do not guarantee elimination of anxiety, improvement in mental health, increased confidence, improved public-speaking performance, professional advancement, particular psychological outcomes or any other specific result.
You remain responsible for your own decisions, behaviour and use of anything you learn through the Group. We do not assume responsibility for any negative outcomes or financial loss as a result of techniques or information you learned in the group.
19. Online participation
Where the Group takes place online, you are responsible for attending from an appropriately private environment and for taking reasonable steps to prevent other people from overhearing or viewing the session.
Where appropriate, you should use headphones.
You must not knowingly allow another person who has not booked the Group to watch, listen to, observe or participate in a session without our prior permission.
20. Personal information and privacy
We process personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Because this is a group environment, information which you voluntarily share during a session will necessarily be disclosed to the other participants present.
You are encouraged not to disclose unnecessary medical information, highly sensitive personal information, home addresses, financial information, identifying information about third parties or other information which you would not want another participant to know.
Please see our Privacy Policy at www.sociallyfearless.com/privacy-policy for further information about how we process personal data.
21. Changes to sessions
We may make reasonable changes to the Group where necessary, including changes to the facilitator, exercises, session structure, delivery platform, session date or time, format or other operational aspects of the service.
Where a material change affects an existing booking, we will provide reasonable notice where practicable.
22. Substitute facilitators
We may appoint an appropriately suitable independent contractor to facilitate a session instead of the person originally advertised where reasonably necessary.
A change of facilitator does not automatically entitle a participant to a refund unless the change materially alters the service purchased or a refund or other remedy is required by law.
23. Cancellation or discontinuation by us
23.1 Cancelling or rescheduling sessions
We may cancel or reschedule a session where reasonably necessary, including because of illness, facilitator unavailability, insufficient participant numbers, technical problems, emergencies, operational difficulties or other circumstances which make delivery impracticable.
Where we cancel a paid session and do not provide a reasonable replacement, you will receive a refund or credit for the affected session.
23.2 Discontinuing the Group
We do not guarantee that the Group will continue indefinitely.
We reserve the right to pause the Group, change its frequency, stop accepting new bookings, suspend the programme or discontinue it entirely.
If we discontinue the Group, we will refund fees already paid for sessions which will no longer be provided.
You will not be entitled to compensation merely because we decide not to offer future sessions which you have not purchased.
24. Participant cancellations
Our standard cancellation policy is that cancellations made at least 12 hours before the session may be transferred or refunded. Cancellations made within 12 hours of the session, and non-attendance, are non-refundable.
This policy operates subject to your statutory consumer rights.
25. Statutory cancellation rights
Where you are a consumer and enter into a distance contract with us, you may have statutory cancellation rights.
Where applicable, the statutory cancellation period is generally 14 days from the date the contract is entered into.
If you ask us to begin providing the service during that cancellation period, you expressly request that performance begins before the end of the statutory cancellation period.
Where permitted by law, if you cancel after part of the service has already been provided at your express request, you may be required to pay for the proportion of the service already supplied. Where the service has been fully performed following your express request and the legally required acknowledgement has been given, your statutory right to cancel may end once the service has been fully performed.
Nothing in our own cancellation policy removes statutory cancellation rights which apply to you.
26. Payment
The price payable is the price displayed when you book unless an obvious pricing error has occurred.
Payment must be made using one of the payment methods offered at checkout.
27. Complaints and concerns
Questions, complaints or concerns about the Group should be sent to hello@sociallyfearless.com.
This includes concerns about other participants, unwanted contact, confidentiality, recording, facilitator conduct, payments, cancellations or the administration of the Group.
We will consider complaints reasonably and may take such action as we consider appropriate. However, we cannot guarantee a particular outcome in relation to complaints about the independent behaviour of another participant.
28. Liability
28.1 Matters outside our reasonable control
We will provide the Group with reasonable care and skill.
However, to the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for losses resulting solely from matters outside our reasonable control. This includes independent conduct by another participant, breaches of confidentiality by another participant, unauthorised recording despite our prohibition, unwanted contact initiated by another participant, another participant's statements or opinions, failures in internet connections or third-party technology, decisions you independently make following general coaching or educational discussion, or the outcome of practising techniques, ideas or learning from the Group.
28.2 Ordinary discomfort associated with participation
You acknowledge that temporary nervousness, anxiety, embarrassment, uncertainty or emotional discomfort may be an ordinary feature of voluntary participation in experiential coaching exercises.
28.3 Liability that cannot be excluded
Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts any liability which cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted.
29. Breach of these Terms
We may suspend or terminate your participation where you seriously or repeatedly breach these Terms.
Serious breaches may include harassment, threatening behaviour, unauthorised recording, breaches of confidentiality, unwanted contact with another participant, commercial solicitation, misuse of Group materials or serious disruption of sessions.
Depending upon the circumstances, we may also prohibit future bookings.
Where a participant is removed because of their own serious misconduct, we may decline to refund the affected booking except where a refund is required by law.
30. No waiver
If we do not immediately enforce a provision of these Terms, this does not mean that we have waived our right to enforce it later.
31. Severability
If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable.
If modification is not possible, the relevant provision will be treated as deleted. The remaining Terms will continue in effect.
32. Changes to these Terms
We reserve the right to update these Terms.
The version applying to a particular booking will generally be the version made available when that booking was made, unless a change is required by law, you expressly agree to a later version, or the change does not materially disadvantage you in relation to an existing booking.
33. Entire agreement
These Terms, together with your booking confirmation, the applicable booking page, our Privacy Policy and any other terms expressly incorporated into your booking, form the agreement relating to your participation in the Group.
Nothing in this section limits liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or any consumer right which cannot lawfully be excluded.
34. Governing law and jurisdiction
These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory consumer rights which apply.
35. Informed Consent For International Clients
This service is provided by a UK-based company. We adhere to UK professional standards and ethical codes. The service is not regulated by, nor subject to, the laws or licensing of your country of residence. We are not licensed or authorised in any other jurisdiction.
This service is offered remotely and is intended for clients who understand and accept that the facilitator and company are operating under UK jurisdiction. It is your responsibility to ensure that receiving services from us, as a UK provider, complies with local laws and regulations. This service is suitable for clients seeking support within our UK-defined scope of competence and not for acute or emergency mental health situations.
By engaging in the group, you acknowledge that:
We may not be authorised to practice group coaching your country
The service is governed by the laws of England & Wales and any disputes will be subject to the English courts.
In the event of a crisis, we will encourage clients to contact local emergency or crisis services immediately.
All personal data is handled in accordance with UK GDPR. Secure platforms are used for communication and record-keeping. Clients outside the UK should be aware that data protection standards may differ in their country.
Participant acknowledgement
By booking or attending the group, you confirm that you:
Understand the group is a coaching environment rather than therapy or psychological treatment
Understand that a facilitator is not acting as your therapist, and participation does not establish an individual clinical relationship
Understand that this is not group therapy
Understand that the group is not a mental health support or crisis service
Understand exercises may intentionally involve triggering nervousness, distress, uncertainty, embarrassment or discomfort, and that you are free to decline or stop an exercise.
Understand that participation is not anonymous, that other participants may see your name or display name, face and hear your voice, and that confidentiality is required but cannot be guaranteed.
You will not record, screenshot or transcribe sessions and understand that, despite this prohibition, we cannot guarantee that another participant will never make an unauthorised recording.
Understand that participants are individually responsible for their own behaviour and that we cannot control their independent conduct outside Group sessions
You will not to contact, harass or intimidate another participant without their consent and not to use the Group for commercial solicitation.
You understand that we may suspend, remove or permanently withdraw your ability to attend where we reasonably consider continued participation inappropriate for the Group.
Finally, you acknowledge that participation does not guarantee any particular result and that you remain responsible for deciding whether and how you participate both inside and outside of the session.