Please read all of the the information below before you schedule an appointment. It is very important!
Before you schedule an appointment, you must do these 4 things:
1. You must pay for it. Because our counseling is conducted through online video conference, our clients might be hundreds or even thousands of miles away. This greatly increases the temptation not to pay and can make bill collecting very difficult. For this reason, we require that you purchase counseling before you schedule it. If you schedule an appointment you have not paid for, it may be removed from the calendar. Click here to purchase a course of seven sessions (recommended in most cases to help ensure success) at a cost savings of $105.00, or to purchase a single session.
2. You must have signed our Terms, Conditions, and Privacy Notice/Agreement. Click here to read and sign it.
3. You must have filled out and submitted our intake form first. Before you can schedule an appointment for the first time, our New Client Data Inventory Form must be filled out by all parties who will be receiving biblical counseling. We require this so that our Biblical counselors will have time to review the case, pray about it, and prepare for it. Please click here to fill out the form. If you schedule an appointment but have not filled out this form, your appointment will be removed from the calendar and you will have to reschedule it. Anyone who is simply going to be an observer of the counseling process does not need to fill out this form. However, that person must sign Peacebrooke's Terms, Conditions & Privacy Notice/Agreement. Click here to read and sign it.
4. You must have installed and tested Skype. You must enter your Skype Name when scheduling a session. This is because we conduct counseling by Skype video session. Skype sessions are secure and confidential because they are encrypted. Please install Skype and test it to make sure everything is working properly before scheduling your appointment. Here's how:
- Check Skype hardware requirements: Click here for a list of Skype hardware requirements. Your computer, phone, or tablet will need to have a built-in speaker, microphone, and webcam in order for Skype to work. If it does not, you must purchase these items before installing Skype.
- Install Skype: If you do not have Skype installed already, please go here to download it, install it, and set up your Skype name. If you are not comfortable installing and setting up Skype, please ask a friend or family member to help. Or you may call a local IT or computer expert to come and set it up for you.
- Please make a note of your Skype name and password and keep it in a handy place. When you schedule your appointment, you will be asked for your Skype name.
- Test Skype: Please test Skype to make sure everything is working properly prior to each session. Click here for instructions on how to test your Skype video and audio.
- What if I do not have the hardware or the internet service to run Skype, and cannot afford it? If you can borrow a private room and computer at a friend or family member's home who has the needed internet service, that is best. If you can't, while Skype is much preferred so that your counselor can see your non-verbal communication, we can also counsel you by phone. You can enter your phone number instead of your Skype name when scheduling your session.
Rescheduling: If you must reschedule an appointment, please be considerate and do it as far in advance as possible. This gives us time to refill that slot. When you schedule your appointment, you will receive a confirmation email. It will contain a link so that you can reschedule your appointment if you need to. However, if your appointment is in less than 24 hours, you will not be able to reschedule it.
Please be aware that you must reschedule an appointment at least 24 hours in advance. Should you fail to do so, or forget your appointment, you will forfeit the cost of that session, so that our counselors, who must pay their bills and support their families, can still be compensated for the time they had set aside to spend with you. We don't want that to happen any more than you do, so please make a note of your appointment in your calendar and schedule or post reminders of it for yourself. If you forget or are late for your appointment, your counselor will attempt to contact you by Skype, and leave messages by phone, email and text. After that, the counselor will be on call waiting for you to call or text back. During this waiting time, your money will not be wasted, however. Your counselor has been instructed to still be working for you - reviewing your case information, praying for you, preparing homework for you or Bible verses to meditate on, or doing reading, research and continuing education related to your case, for the entire time of your scheduled session, while waiting for you to call back. If you call back during the session time, though you will forfeit the time missed, you can have a counseling session for the rest of your scheduled time.
When you schedule your sessions, if at all possible please schedule all of the sessions that you have purchased at once. Try to make them all at the same recurrent time: all on Monday at 11:00 AM, for instance. Here's the easiest way to do that: when you select your first appointment, just choose the "recurring" option.
On the appointment day: Please be logged into Skype and waiting for your call. Please also have an extra phone on hand if possible. That way, if we have audio technical difficulties, we can use the phone for audio and the computer screen for video.