Introduction

This website is owned and operated by The Natal Naturopath Pty Ltd (ABN 62 656 709 698). If you have any questions or need further information, please contact: hello@thenatalnaturopath.com.au

This document sets out the Terms and Conditions you need to be aware of when using this website. Please take a moment to read them, as they set out your important rights and obligations and I care about making sure we both know where we stand. When you visit this website, use my services, book a consultation or purchase my products, you agree that you are over the age of 18 and willing to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. If you don’t accept this agreement, you should not continue to visit this website, purchase from me or book an appointment.

If you are under 18, you agree that you are here with your parent or guardian’s full knowledge and permission, and that they are responsible for any purchases made on your behalf. 

All products and services advertised on this website are offered in compliance with Australian Consumer Law.

Content Disclaimer

On this website and in my social media accounts, I provide information about health and well-being from a naturopathic perspective. This content is provided solely for your education to help you develop a greater understanding of your own general health and well-being through a naturopathic lens.

• We take lots of care to provide valuable information but we cannot be responsible for the use that you make of that information. 
• Please be aware that the generalised information we provide is not a substitute for specialist advice tailored to your individual circumstances. It is important that you understand that generalised information about health and well-being is never a substitute for professional advice specific to your own health or a substitute for seeking medical help.  
• There is no professional relationship formed by your visit to our website unless you explicitly choose to work with us by purchasing our services.
• Any testimonials or results we may display on this website are based on our experience and those of our previous clients. They are not guarantees that anyone else will achieve the same results. 
• While we take all reasonable care to ensure that the information we provide is accurate, relevant and up to date, we make no guarantees in this regard and disclaim any legal liability for any inaccuracy,  incompleteness or error. If you find something that seems problematic, it would be very helpful if you let us know!  
• We may modify the content provided on this website at any time, including altering or deleting it without notice. If for some unforeseen reason we need to delete our e-courses of which have a lifetime access for members, we will give appropriate warning so you have an opportunity to download the ecourse.

Visitor Responsibilities

You are responsible for your own safety and well-being while browsing the internet. The information I provide in my content is generic and is not a substitute for specialised advice tailored to your unique circumstances. Do not take action or make major life decisions without first seeking independent, appropriately qualified professional medical advice specific to your individual needs.

Downloads

This site may offer paid and free downloads. While every effort is made to ensure these downloads are safe and hassle free, I am not responsible for any viruses or other damage which might occur as a result of you downloading material from this site. Please make safety your priority and ensure you have adequate protection against viruses and other malicious attacks that may occur without my knowledge or consent.

External Links

Any external links provided on this website are intended to redirect you to my booking system, to go to PayPal or Square to pay, to sign up for my newsletter, or to redirect you to other health-related websites. These links are provided to you for convenience and you visit these external websites at your own risk. I do not take responsibility for the content of any of these external websites.

Disclaimer for services and products

There are a number of ways you may choose to work with [me/us] that are available to purchase or book through our website. The terms and conditions in this document apply to all of our services and products unless alternative terms are explicitly provided to you. 

We offer:

Services: Naturopathic appointments with Melanie, and appointments with qualified practitioners sub-contracted by Melanie.

Products:

• Ebooks and webinars: Downloadable PDF’s on specific health topics.
• Supplements: TGA-approved complementary medicine supplements.

Our intention in offering these services and products is to support you in learning and improving your own health and well-being.

Why work with me?

Melanie Nolan holds a Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy) obtained from Southern School of Natural Therapies in 2019. Melanie Nolan has a professional responsibility to complete Continuing Professional Development or CPD. As a member of NHAA, Melanie Nolan must complete CPD yearly. Melanie Nolan promises to take all reasonable care and due diligence to have up to date naturopathic knowledge for best practice.

Your responsibility

For purchase of appointments: I will always strive to provide you with the best naturopathic care possible. However, if you do not provide me with accurate information about your health, I may not be able to offer you the most appropriate treatment for your condition and therefore you may not see the results you desire. You must provide me with full and accurate information about your diagnosed medical conditions, medications or supplements, known allergies and intolerances, so I can ensure safety of treatment and check for pharmacological interactions with any herbs or nutrients I prescribe.

For purchase of products: In buying any supplements, it is your responsibility to check with a health practitioner that the purchased product is safe for you, and going to benefit you, in your own particular health circumstances. You must adhere to the supplement’s label, including dosage and storage. The Natal Naturopath will not be held liable for any outcomes that arise from taking a supplement without advising your doctor or medical professional, or from taking a supplement incorrectly. 

Important information

• While I’ve put a lot of time and energy into creating website content which is broadly applicable for many people, you need to use your common sense and take responsibility for your own health, safety and wellbeing. All content on this website is created and published for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice, especially if you have a diagnosed medical condition. 
• Any advice given to you by Melanie Nolan after the completion of an appointment together will require you to adhere to the advice given to you. This requires patience as results do not happen overnight. Time to time, Melanie Nolan will provide you with specific instructions on your health journey like tweaking your diet and lifestyle. If these instructions are not adhered to by you, you will be unlikely to receive your desired outcomes. Your health is ultimately your responsibility, and you must take ownership of your health journey.

• Any treatment/supplement related advice given via Melanie Nolan's social media is general in nature and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. It can be dangerous to make health changes without asking whether it is safe to do with a medical practitioner.
• Melanie Nolan aims to provide her clients with as much support as possible but will be unable to provide answers to any of your questions outside of appointments. Any discussion that involves reviewing your treatment plan - testing results, change in symptoms, new symptoms, new enquiries, adjusting your treatment plan, any treatment-plan related question (symptoms, progress, testing results, changes), new questions - will not be answered outside of appointments. This is to ensure duty of care and appropriate follow-up discussion. 
• Any personalised prescription that you receive after an appointment with Melanie Nolan, is yours alone. It is not to be shared with others as it doesn’t take into account their own specific health circumstances and could pose a health and safety risk to them. 
• Before your appointment with Melanie Nolan, we recommend you get a blood test as listed on our ‘Book Now’ page. If you do not have the results of the blood tests ready for your appointment, Melanie Nolan will be unable to go over these until your next appointment. 
• We strongly recommend that before changing your diet, making lifestyle changes or taking herbal/nutritional supplements that you speak to your medical practitioner, i.e your GP/doctor, about these specific changes. It is imperative that they are informed as to any new changes you are making to your health, to ensure correct duty of care and that none of the changes will affect any current medical treatments your doctor has prescribed to you.
• It is your responsibility to advise your practitioner as to any new health changes such as pregnancy, breastfeeding or starting a new medication. 
• Never stop existing medical treatment without consulting with the practitioner who prescribed that medical treatment to you. 
• We want to provide as much care for you as possible. We cannot foresee any adverse reactions, so if you do suffer from an adverse reaction we ALWAYS recommend seeking medical advice or treatment from a doctor or hospital. If an adverse reaction happens to you, please email us on hello@thenatalnaturopath.com.au with the subject line “URGENT” and explain what has happened so we can help you as best as possible. We will not be held accountable or liable for any adverse reactions to any herbal or nutritional supplements as we always have done our duty of care to make sure the supplement was safe for you, however reactions can sometimes be unforeseen and unexpected. If you have a particular concern with a supplement, always stop it immediately. The quality and integrity of the supplement is the responsibility of the manufacturer, not Melanie Nolan. 
• The Natal Naturopath employs other health practitioners such as naturopaths and nutritionists. These practitioners are employed on a subcontracting basis and are a part of their own associations, with their own professional insurance. The Natal Naturopath will not be held liable for any actions, behaviour or services performed by these practitioners. 
• Examples include but are not limited to; inaccurate or incorrect advice, providing you with out-of-date knowledge, errors, not upholding their duty of care to you, or prescribing treatment that wasn’t suitable for you. If you have concerns about their services, please contact them directly. If you are unsure of how to contact them directly, please email us on hello@thenatalnaturopath.com.au so we can direct you to them.
• Naturopaths are not medical professionals. None of the information provided is a substitute for mental health support or medical treatment.
• If any concerns arise, I strongly recommend you seek advice from a medical health professional. 
• It is important to get clearance from your doctor before making major changes to your health, diet and lifestyle.
• My naturopathic services are for people who are interested in improving their health and are motivated to make changes to their lifestyle and diet. I work with clients to make small, incremental and sustainable changes to their diet and lifestyle, and we can move as slowly as the client likes. But if you are not ready for change, or have significant emotional challenges which are affecting your ability to enact change, I am happy to help you identify and accept this is where you are at and recommend another practitioner who can help you work through this.
• You might not be a good fit for our services if you have cancer, or have a diagnosed mental health condition such as schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder, substance abuse or PTSD as we do not have experience in these conditions.

Limitation of Liability

I take my obligations under Australian Consumer Law seriously and will do [my/our] best to address any issues that arise. However, even if there is a major problem, my liability is strictly limited to: 

- replacing the goods or providing the services again; or 

- if we unable to do so within a reasonable time, paying the cost of having the relevant goods or services supplied to you again. 

If you feel that there is any problem with your purchase, please let us know within 24 hours of your appointment. We are keen to understand what has gone wrong if you are unhappy so that we can address your concerns and try to find a mutually acceptable solution.

We do not make any guarantees or warranties about the accuracy of any material displayed on this website, with the exception of any non-excludable consumer guarantees and other consumer protection provisions set out in the Australian Consumer Law. We are human and errors creep in despite the best of intentions. If you see something that doesn’t seem right, please let us know. 

While we make all reasonable efforts to ensure that this website and our services/products meet with the highest standards of best practice, if something does go wrong that is not a direct result of our negligence, misrepresentation or deliberate fault, you agree that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any loss or damage arising out of or related to our website, any products or services purchased through it, or any material posted on it, irrespective of whether such damages were foreseeable, and regardless of the nature of the claim. 

You take full responsibility for your implementation of any suggestions that we may make while providing my services. You understand that our advice is limited to providing you with options for your consideration, and that you are solely responsible for any actions that you choose to take. Always consult your own values and vision, do your own research, and check with appropriately qualified professionals before making major decisions or making significant changes. You agree to indemnify us against all consequences arising directly or indirectly from your choices.

You expressly agree that if this limitation of liability is unenforceable for any reason, our total cumulative liability for all causes of action of any kind shall not exceed the amount that you have paid to us for our products/services.

Intellectual Property

• The content of this website [and in all my/our courses / resources / ebooks]  is protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world, with all rights reserved. 
• You may not copy or reproduce any part of our publicly available content without our written consent. (This means no copying or downloading under any circumstances except for the one below.)
• If you are a student participating in our training, course content may be printed or downloaded to a local hard disk strictly for your personal and non-commercial use. Course content contains my trade secrets that are offered exclusively to students. It is an essential condition of participation that you agree that you will not provide extracts of any course content to anyone else under any circumstances.
• Commercial exploitation of our content in any way that competes with our business is strictly prohibited. 
• You are welcome to share blog posts or other publicly available content through social media, but you must provide a link back to this website or our Instagram page @thenatalnaturopath. 
• You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair  and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of  association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists. 

Payment of Terms

All payments made through this website are processed using Stripe. We do not have access to your account details. Any financial information you enter is stored under Stripe’s security policy: https://stripe.com/docs/security/stripe.

Payment for consultations (except for return consultations), ecourses, ebooks, and supplements is required at checkout. 

For return consultations, we take payment on Square EFT at the end of the consultation. This invoice is due within 7 days of the date on the invoice. If an invoice is more than 90 days overdue, you agree to pay all costs, including debt collection agency fees and solicitor’s costs, that [I/we] may incur in taking steps to recover any money that you owe to [me/us], whether or not legal proceedings are issued in relation to the debt.

Delivery & Shipping

All of our consultations are delivered via Zoom. We will email you instructions on setting up Zoom and the consultation meeting link in an email after you have booked. 

Sickness on the day of a consultation - If I am unwell and am unable to conduct your consultation, I will aim to give you 24 hours’ notice, but when this is not possible, I ask for your understanding in me letting you know on the morning of the consultation. I will call or text you as appropriate. I will aim to reschedule the appointment for you as soon as I am well again. You can request a refund for the appointment if you wish.

Appointment Policies

CANCELLATION POLICY

"The Natal Naturopath" has a strict cancellation policy. Cancellation of consultation requires 24 hours notice. Cancellations which are received within 24 hours of the scheduled consultation, will incur 100% of the total fee. Failure to attend a consultation or event will result in booking forfeit and 100% of the fee. If unforeseen circumstances arise, and the practitioner is unable to proceed with the appointment, a full refund or rescheduling will be offered.

This policy is in place as we value our time and are likely to be unable to fill appointments with less than 24 hours notice. As we strongly value your time, we appreciate a mutual value for our time and the time of other clients. If you would like to discuss or dispute a cancellation, please contact us. 

APPOINTMENT CHANGES

Re-scheduling appointments requires a minimum of 24 hours notice. Re-scheduling appointments within 12 hours of the consultation will be based on our discretion, and may incur 50% of the fee. 

LATE FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT

We understand that sometimes clients may be late for their consultation. We appreciate your understanding that we will not be able to extend your appointment time and will still finish at the designated end time. If there is any portion of the consultation that wasn’t able to be completed, it will have to be re-booked in or completed next time (if time allows).

Any supplement carries the risk of being dangerous or unsafe for you, if it is misused. Always follow the label instructions and adhere to the dosage recommendation outlined by your practitioner if you have had a consultation.

Respectful Communication

We reserve the right to delete any comments on our website or social media accounts which is rude, offensive or which we deem to be unacceptable. Keep it polite and play nicely, please!

Any social media posts or blogs written by our employed practitioners are their opinions only, and we are not responsible for their content or advice.

Dispute Resolution and Jurisdiction

If you have any concerns, issues or complaint arising out of your use of this website, our products or services, or these terms and conditions, you agree to communicate with us with the intention of making a genuine effort to seek a win/win solution and trying to resolve the dispute in good faith through negotiation and discussion. Please email us at hello@thenatalnaturopath.com.au and expect a response within 4 business days.

“We” below refers to everyone involved in the dispute.  

If the dispute cannot be resolved by negotiation and discussion within 14 days, we agree to proceed to mediation with the assistance of an independent accredited  mediator, seeking mediation online or by telephone if we are not both  geographically located within 100kms of each other.  

The mediator is to be appointed by agreement between us or, failing agreement  within 21 days of the negotiation period ending, the person initiating the dispute  will seek the appointment of a dispute resolution professional by the President of  the Law Society of VICTORIA or similar neutral authority.  

We agree to share all the costs of mediation equally between us. 

We agree that neither of us will commence legal action until, in the opinion of theindependent mediator, the potential for negotiation and mediation have been exhausted.

If a dispute arises, we all agree that we will not engage in any public discussion about the issues, we will behave politely towards each other, and we will avoid any conduct or communication which might reasonably be expected to unreasonably interfere with any other person’s business or personal interests or be seen as defamation.

This agreement is subject to the governing law of Victoria. Regardless of where you live in the world, you irrevocably agree that if the dispute resolution processes fail, the courts of Victoria, and the Commonwealth of Australia, will have exclusive jurisdiction.

Business Policies

Code of Conduct

Melanie Nolan (BHSc Naturopathy) acknowledges health practitioners who are not within the ambit of the Australian Health Practitioners’ Regulation Agency (AHPRA) will have to comply with a Code of Conduct. View the full Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner (HCSCC) Code of Conduct here.

Privacy Policy

Melanie Nolan (BHSc Naturopathy) recognises and follows the requirements of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles. The Privacy and Confidentiality Policy ensures security and safety of all personal details of clients in clinic, and online. Breaches of Privacy will not be accepted by this business. Client information and data will be not be shared, discussed or acknowledged outside of consultations, and all online information will be protected. Information is only to be accessed by Melanie Nolan. View our full privacy policy here.