Integrated Daily Dialogic Mentorship Customer Agreement

We appreciate the opportunity to work with you, as a client of IDD Mentorship, LLC (the “Company”). This letter confirms our mutual understanding as to the scope and terms of our engagement.

While we would prefer to confirm the terms of our engagement by a less formal method than a written statement such as this, by memorializing the terms of our engagement in writing, you are able to carefully review this agreement and determine if it is consistent with your understanding of our services and our respective responsibilities.

Please take note that many of our Mentors act in both professional and personal capacities outside of the Mentorship experience. These identities are not connected with what is provided for through IDD Mentorship. For example, an individual priest who is acting as a student mentor does not represent the Catholic Church. A mental health professional is not acting as a licensed therapist while providing Mentorship. Please remember that regardless of who is accompanying you with Mentorship through our program, the parameters of that accompaniment are defined within this agreement and no more or less. It should also be noted that any update associated with this Customer Agreement can always be found at the following link: https://catholicpsych.com/terms

We sincerely look forward to working with you.

Please read thoroughly each section before moving on to the next section.

Scope and Terms of Engagement:

We’ve developed a brand new form of professional accompaniment - Integrated Daily Dialogic Mentorship (“Mentorship”). Formed in the Catholic faith, we’ve found that the sciences alone are inadequate to address the true and deepest needs of the human person. Our faith also encourages the open observation of the world around us oered through legitimate science.

We’re bringing faith and science together in a substantially new way, and offering this integration to help you reach your goals in your life.

Integrated Daily Dialogic Mentorship is very different from traditional psychotherapy, as outlined below.

1. Integrated: Reverencing all the dimensions of being human. Humans are Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual beings. We don’t overemphasize one part of your life over another, but recognize how they all play a part together and can speak to any one part. Since we understand a relationship with God to be the source and summit of your lived potential, we help you figure out how to find life-giving richness there instead of disappointment, frustration, or guilt.

a. Interior: Truly human acts require clear awareness of one’s interiority. Mentorship points out patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior that lead to deeper awareness of the presence of unconscious narratives about self, others, and the world in order to move towards your deepest fulfillment. We help people see how their personal narratives create blocks on their path to flourishing and contrast those personal narratives to the objective truth about the human person.

Traditional Psychotherapy may be insight-oriented, but without a full context of our orientation to God, psychotherapeutic insight does not lead to human excellence. The ultimate goal of Mentorship is to move our unconscious narratives to the conscious mind, to facilitate the intellect and will to act with the most truly human freedom possible, removing as many obstacles as possible in the pursuit of human holiness and excellence.

b. Goal-Oriented: Every person is made for Heaven; for eternal union with God. As St. Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Traditional psychotherapy, in contrast, does not accept a uniform belief in the goal of every human person, nor that we have a Creator, nor that our best life will come from acting in accordance with our intended purpose of creation. It does not address the real reason for our restless hearts. Mentorship will help you reorient to your true purpose and facilitate God’s grace to get you there.

2. Daily: Woven into the real experiences of your life. Our model allows you to speak when you have something to say, listen when you have time to reflect, and hold onto the things that are helpful. You don’t have to fit your life around a session - the dialogue fits into your life.

Every new week gives you 10,000 minutes. Traditional models allow you to dialogue for only 45 of those minutes. Our model opens up your dialogue to all 10,000 minutes! Messages can be up to 15 minutes each way, each day, which means over 2 and a half hours of dialogue spread out each day, instead of just 45 minutes once!

This is like playing a well thought-out game of Chess instead of quick ping-pong match simply firing back and forth in a conversation.

Psychotherapy compartmentalizes human interactions in which the most important dimensions of life are discussed in a radically short 45 minute timeframe.

3. Dialogic: You are either speaking or listening. The two modes of dialogue are explicitly mastered through recorded voice. Both are integral skills that help work on any issue. The modality itself provides a major opportunity for growth. When dialogue is spread out throughout the week, time is slowed down. This is a generally healthy practice. What needs to be said should be said well. Thoughtful. Mindful. Woven into real life. More time, more quality, more human.

The frame for typical psychotherapy is often rushed and pressured due to its time constraints.

4. Mentorship: The fourth principle of our new model is that it is relational. Mentorship provides a corrective relationship to overcome mindset hurdles based on misperceptions o fself. Mentor relationships are deeply personal and may feel more supportive at certain times while more challenging at others, depending on what is needed for the person at that moment for a corrective experience. Ultimately these relationships help a person to understand his or her own relational dynamics as they may apply to the ultimate relationship – one with God.

Psychotherapy in contrast is typically patterned on a theoretical orientation that may be more or less challenging or supportive, and personal or impersonal, depending on the framework of origination. It certainly does not understand relationship to be oriented towards communion with the Creator, which gives a purpose and intention to every part of our interactions with you.

What Mentorship Is Not:

Mentorship does not provide evaluation, assessment, amelioration, treatment, modification, or adjustment to a disability, problem, or disorder of behavior, character, development, emotion, personality or relationships as defined by the mental health standards of the APA Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5th ed (DSM5), or the International Classification of Diseases - 10th Edition (ICD10); nor do we use assessment instruments or mental health counseling and psychotherapy to identify, evaluate and treat dysfunctions and disorders for purposes of providing appropriate mental health counseling services.

Further, we do not furnish initial motivation for Mentorship; engage in or sponsor research; keep attendance records or case histories; join “councils” of social agencies; try to control clients; make medical or psychological diagnoses or prognoses; provide outpatient mental health services, hospitalization, drugs, or any medical or psychiatric treatment; provide letters of reference to parole boards, lawyers, court officials, social agencies, employers; provide evidence for custody cases or provide reports for any court of law, governing board, organization, or agency for any reason.

All medical and psychological advice and treatment should come from a qualified professional that offers those services in an appropriate manner. Should your mentor feel these other services would be appropriate, a referral will be offered.

Fees for Service (please read carefully)

1. By signing this agreement, you accept our payment terms and agree to have your checking account or credit card automatically charged once a month until service cancellation.

2. The initial payment will be drafted within one business day to secure your slot on the mentor's caseload. It will cover the first month of services.

3. You will be matched with a mentor upon payment (or you may choose the date you wish to begin). This date will be considered the first day of your mentorship month, and auto-renewals will be charged to your account monthly from this day.

4. You will be emailed a copy of your paid receipt each month.

5. Your courtesy discount rate includes a 4% discount based on using our ACH transfer service.

6. If you prefer to pay by credit card, you will not receive the 4% discount and you must email joanna@catholicpsych.com to set it up.

7. Payments are automatic and non-refundable unless canceled. Cancellations must be requested at least one week (7 days) before the end of your month.

8. Third-party payment for services is possible if you have a third-party source for payments. Please email joanna@catholicpsych.com for further details. Should said party decide to no longer provide financial support, responsibility for payment falls to the client receiving services.

A Special Note About Cancellation

The goal of our program is to help you resolve your difficulties that you come to us for as efficiently as possible. This means we hope for you to “cancel” as soon as possible. We also recognize that there may be circumstances for which you need to cancel sooner than later. Either way we want to make it as easy as possible to end, pause, or otherwise cancel your recurring payments and participation if that is what you desire.

However, it is also a very important part of the work together to have time to discuss wrapping up the work together. The experience of speaking daily with someone can be dicult to end abruptly, and especially without preparation, processing, or notice. Therefore, we require at least one week advanced notice to end the month of Mentorship for the following month’s recurring fee to not be auto-charged. This is a non-refundable policy and by signing this agreement, you are also agreeing ahead of time that you will commit to canceling your Mentorship with a week of notice or more, so that your Mentor has the time to process this transition with you.

Again, this policy is not to make it more dicult to cancel, but to make the transition more appropriate.

In order to cancel, you simply have to send in your notice through www.catholicpsych.com/cancel. This link will be made available to you easily and repeatedly, on each invoice and visible on our website. If you do not cancel through this portal prior to the last 7 days of your month, we will autocharge your payment method for the next month and will not issue a refund.

Refund Policy - The Mentorship Model Promise

As advertised, you are entitled to a full refund after your first two weeks of joining our program if you are not satisfied after giving it a try. In order to be eligible for this refund, you must use the Voxer app to leave messages for 2 full weeks (10 days). At the end of the 2 weeks, please fill out the cancellation form found at www.catholicpsych.com/cancel and indicate that you are in your refund period and would like a refund. (2 weeks notice is not required as described above for a refund according to this paragraph.)

The Month-Long “Frame”

Mentorship is offered in a manner that is more easily integrated to the normal ebb and flow of your life. You can leave messages and listen to messages when it’s convenient for you, and when it is important for you. We are therefore stretching the normal conceptualization of the “therapeutic frame” (which is a technical term for the timeframe and space where growth can happen).

Instead of aiming for growth to occur as a result of 45 minute sessions, the frame is stretched across the full month. This means there might be a certain ebb and flow to the way the messages are utilized across the month, just as there may be periods of silence, deep reflection, charged emotion, and more or less talking by the client or the professional within a 45 minute session. There are no specific expectations or requirements for the client within this frame.

At the same time, we do not piece-meal the exact or specific days of a month to try to calculate the cost. For instance, if one month has 29 days and another month has 31 days, there is no dierence in the fee. If weekends happen to fall in such a way that the month has fewer weekdays, there will be no dierence in the fee. Also, a Mentor may omit leaving a message on a particular public or religious holiday.

Therefore it is understood as a part of this agreement that a Mentor may have up to two days unavailable during the month due to a holiday or personal reason. If a Mentor is unavailable for more than two normal work days in a given billing cycle, however, the date of autopay will be moved ahead accordingly.

Special Notes for Voxer Access

1. Mentorship requires use of a phone/tablet app called Voxer, available for download from the Apple and Google Play Stores. It is a free app. Voxer allows for recorded audio messages or typed chat-type messages. This platform provides a private channel for you to have ongoing dialogue with your Mentor separate from the normal chat or voice apps you typically use. The dialogue becomes an ongoing and integrated source for reflection, insight, and processing, without having to artificially start and stop once a week. It also allows you to have the convenience of voicing your part of the dialogue at any time of the day or any day of the week, 24/7.

2. There is also a paid upgraded version of the app you may choose to pay for. The paid version of the app allows for deletion (recall) of the messages you leave. It also allows you to retain messages for longer than 30 days. The free version deletes messages after 30 days. It is not necessary to use the paid version but you may if you wish.

3. The Voxer platform may also be accessed through a web browser at http://web.voxer.com/

4. Your mentor will respond to your messages once per day, Monday through Friday.

5. You may message your mentor as frequently as you would like. There are no strict limitations placed on the frequency of the messages you send.

6. We ask that you generally aim to not leave more than one 15-minute message per day (or a combination of messages that equal more than 15 minutes.) This limit allows your Mentor to respond to a short enough duration of message(s) to give you the proper and due attention and reverence that anything you have to say deserves.

7. Voxer stops recording audio messages after 15 minutes. Please be aware of this so that you don't continue speaking once the recording has stopped.

PRO-TIP: Once you have opened Voxer, go to the settings, click "Audio and Notifications" and then you'll see a feature called "Tap-to-Talk." This feature allows you to tap the speak button (the one with a walkie-talkie logo) instead of holding it down to record your voice and send your message. Ask us for help - we'll be happy to assist you.

Confidentiality

We will not share any information you provide to us with any third-parties without your permission unless legally compelled to do so. Third-party payers, however, will implicitly be aware of whether or not you are using the service, as they will be paying for it.

Your Mentor may discuss your information with other Mentors and occasionally your information will be reviewed by the IDDM team for the purposes of supervision and training. Any identifying information is omitted from information shared with the IDDM team for training purposes or being used for educational purposes.

Mentorship is not protected by the same laws that govern the practice of psychotherapy. Please be aware that this service is not psychotherapy and does not fall under the jurisdiction of state licensing boards or HIPAA regulations. We have intentionally separated ourselves from state jurisdictions that we believe are moving further and further away from the truth of the human person and what constitutes human flourishing. We do have an internal ethics code we practice governed by Catholic principles of social teaching and human dignity.

If you have any particular concerns about confidentiality, please bring them up with your Mentor. Additionally, the information discussed in our work together is not protected by any legal privilege and is meant for your own personal education, not legal proceedings. Hence, by signing this agreement, you agree not to subpoena your Mentor to testify for you or against someone else. If the purpose of your work with us involves legal aims, we will be happy to refer you to another professional.

Additional Considerations Related To Confidentiality:

Message Recordings

Recorded messages are saved within the Voxer app, and can be accessed by anyone with access to your phone. If there is sensitive information that you would like protected from the possibility of anyone else hearing, it is recommended that you utilize the paid version of the app so that you can "recall" or delete the sensitive messages. On occasion the messages will be reviewed by the IDD Mentorship team for the purposes of supervision and training. Identifying information is omitted from shared audio.

Educational Use

Additionally, the recordings of the mentor's messages are the property of the IDD Mentorship and may be used for training or educational purposes, including but not limited to social media posts, blogs, or podcasts. Identifying information will always be omitted.

Supervision and Consultation

We may consult with other professionals and share recordings or other data. During consultation and supervision, identifying information is omitted from case descriptions. Additionally, those involved in consultation have the same ethical obligations and will preserve confidentiality of your information to the extent permitted by law.

Suicidal and Homicidal Ideation

To be clear, we believe that we have a responsibility to protect your life and the lives of others. While we do not provide medical or psychological services, if you make us aware of suicidal or homicidal ideation we will immediately make a phone call to 911 and to your emergency contact if we feel your life or someone else's is in danger.

The threat level is assessed by considering:

1) Ideation: The suicidal or homicidal thought;

2) Plan: Thinking through how to actually carry it out;

3) Intent: Extent to which you believe you will carry out your plan to its lethal end, including the presence of intended means to carry out the action;

4) Past Behavior: Assessment of how these thoughts fit into the overall conceptualization of what you are suffering from and what has occurred in the past.

If any level of this assessment is not clearly articulated and we feel there may be a real and lethal threat, we will immediately make a phone call to local authorities.

Other Reasons For Reporting

Other exceptions to confidentiality which we believe oblige your Mentor to provide information to the proper authorities include:

1) When there is reasonable suspicion of child, elder, or dependent adult abuse or neglect;

2) When there is reasonable suspicion that a client is a threat to national security.

Emergencies.

Your mentor does not provide emergency services. It is important, then, for you to call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room if you are in an emergency situation. We request that you do let us know as soon as you are able to inform us of the situation, and we will respond as soon as possible. This may be 24 to 48 hours later.

Entire Agreement.

This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties and there are no other promises or conditions in any other agreement whether oral or written. This Agreement supersedes any prior written or oral agreements between the parties.

Amendment.

This Agreement may be modified or amended if the amendment is made in writing and is signed by both parties.

Severability.

If any provision of this Agreement shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the remaining provisions shall continue to be valid and enforceable. If a Court or Arbitrator finds that any provision of this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable, but that by limiting such provision it would become valid and enforceable, then such provision shall be deemed to be written, construed, and enforced as so limited.

Arbitration.

Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this contract, or the breach thereof, shall be settled by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, in Stamford, Connecticut and judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, the Parties to this Agreement reserve the right to seek injunctive relief before any court of competent jurisdiction.

Applicable Law

This Agreement shall be construed under and in accordance with, and interpreted under, the laws of the State of Connecticut without regard to the conflicts of laws principles thereof.

As indicated above, the Parties to this Agreement may seek injunctive relief before any court of competent jurisdiction in the State of Connecticut. Additionally, in the event that any dispute is not resolved through arbitration, any legal proceeding regarding this Agreement shall be instituted in a court of competent jurisdiction located within the State of Connecticut.

Limitation of Liability.

IDD Mentorship, LLC, its agents, independent contractors, employees and officers’ liability for damages for any claims including any alleged incidental or consequential damages, is limited to and shall not exceed the total compensation paid by you to IDD Mentorship, LLC over three months preceding the termination of the parties’ agreement.

In Conclusion

Your mentor is committed to honoring and respecting each client and providing the best service possible. If you feel that you have been treated unfairly in any way or have questions on any aspect of the Mentorship, please let your mentor know immediately.

Counterparts.

This Agreement may be executed in more than one counterpart, each of which when so executed shall be deemed to be an original and all of which when taken together shall constitute one and the same instrument. Facsimile or scan copies of signatures shall be deemed originals for all purposes. Please sign below to indicate that you have fully read and understand everything written above. Statement of Understanding: By signing below, I indicate that I have reviewed and understand the above information and that I have had my questions answered, and that I agree voluntarily to its terms. I understand that I may withdraw from this program at any time, but if I decide to do this, I will discuss my plan with my mentor before acting on it.