Terms of service.

Updated: September 2024

Hi there! Welcome to the website of www.somaandsoulnz.com

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact: somaandsoulnz@gmail.com

This document sets out the Terms and Conditions you need to be aware of when using this website or purchasing from us. Please take a moment to read it, as it contains important rights and obligations, and we care about making sure you know what to expect from working with us. 

When you visit this website, use our services or purchase our 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 must not continue to visit this website or purchase from us.

These terms may be changed or modified from time to time. Please check back regularly to ensure you are aware of any changes.

There may be additional specific terms of service provided to you in relation to our services, products and courses. If there is any inconsistency between this document and those specific terms of service, this document is overruled to the extent of the inconsistency. 

All products and services advertised on this website are offered in compliance with the Consumer Guarantees Act, New Zealand.

Content Policy

We take lots of care to provide valuable information, but we cannot be responsible for the use that you make of that information. There is no professional relationship formed by your visit to our website unless you explicitly choose to work with us by purchasing our services or products. 

Any testimonials or promised results we may display on our websites 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 our websites at any time, including altering or deleting it without notice.

Event Attendee Release Agreement

Soma and Soul NZ may use recordings for post event production and marketing purposes. This includes video, audio and photo. If you wish for your identity to remain private, please contact Mel prior to sign up of coaching or courses.

Visitor Responsibilities

You take full responsibility for your implementation of any suggestions that we make on our website or during our training programs. You understand that our advice is always 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 make informed choices about how to proceed. You agree to indemnify us against all consequences arising directly or indirectly from your choices. 

Our training and the information we provide on our website is designed to support you on your healing journey. It is not a substitute for appropriately qualified medical or mental health advice.

Online sessions are approximately 1 -2 hours in length.

You have the responsibility to arrive on time for a session. If you are late, we will wait for up to 15 mins. If you are a no show, you will be charged in full for the session.

Downloads

Where we offer files for download, we make every effort to ensure that they are safe. However, we are not responsible for viruses, other technologically harmful material or any other damage which might occur as a result of downloading material from our websites. It is your responsibility to take your cyber-safety seriously and maintain adequate and up to date internet security.

External Links

We may choose to display links to affiliated sites, and we may receive a benefit if you click on or purchase from these links. We select our affiliates carefully and believe them to be businesses that operate with integrity. However, we have no control over and are not responsible for the content of any external sites that may be linked, and we have no part in or responsibility for any transaction you choose to enter into with a third party after following an external link. 

Disclaimer for Services and or Products 

There are a number of ways you may choose to work with us that are available to purchase through our website, including exclusive memberships and mentoring and online courses. The terms and conditions in this document apply to all of our services and products unless alternative terms are explicitly provided to you. If there is any inconsistency between this document and an agreement specifically provided to you, this document is overruled to the extent of the inconsistency. 

Our Qualifications and Responsibility

The founder of Soma and Soul NZ, Mel Burkhart is certified in the following:

Menstrual Cycle Coach with Cyclical School

Neo Emotional Release Practitioner (i.t) with the Emotional Release Institute 

Spinal Attunement Practitioner with SomaMystica 

We undertake to deliver our content with integrity, be diligent, careful and competent, and to offer our services through appropriately qualified and skilled facilitators.

Our training programs are delivered by expert mentors and guides in the space of holistic health & wellness.  

Your Responsibility

As a participant in any of our training programs and coaching, you must be committed to doing the work, implementing the practices or integration tasks you are given. 

You agree to show up and be present for all training sessions, and you need to attend for the entirety of the session. We ask that you respect the integrity of the facilitator / participant relationship and maintain a professional level of behaviour. This is particularly important to us, given the deeply vulnerable and intimate work we are undertaking with you. Pursuing a personal relationship with one or more of our facilitators while you are a participant in one of our training programs is considered inappropriate behaviour and may result in us terminating your participation in any program you have enrolled in.

Important Information

Our trainings are known for creating inner transformation, but we cannot guarantee this will happen for you. We encourage you to come into this program with a strong intention, as that helps to create your experience. However, it is important to realise that what you achieve depends on a wide range of factors unique to you which are beyond our knowledge and control.  

It is important that you maintain receptivity to advice and stay open to hearing uncomfortable truths. You will need to approach your participation in our training programs from a place of honesty and vulnerability, being authentic about your situation, willing to look at and admit to the narratives underlying your beliefs and actions.

Your results depend on your capacity to follow the expert advice we provide, including following recommendations around nervous system care and integration. If you are not willing to be more internal with the process and engage in self-care there is a chance that you may miss the results you might otherwise achieve.

We are committed to monitoring your safety. If we have genuine concerns about your psychological state, we reserve the right to follow up with next of kin in order to help you process whatever you are experiencing and transition back into a place of calm consciousness. However, this does not extend our duty of care towards you. We are not mental health professionals, and we may miss important signs. You are solely responsible for your own mental health and any adverse physical, mental or emotional reactions you experience as a result of your participation in the training.

It is your responsibility to consult an appropriately qualified professional if you have questions or concerns that go beyond the scope of our services.

Waiver of Liability

We do not make any guarantees or warranties about the accuracy of any material displayed on our websites, with the exception of any non-excludable consumer guarantees and other consumer protection provisions set out in the Consumer Guarantees Act. 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 our services and 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 damages whatsoever, including but without limitation to any direct, indirect, special, consequential, punitive or incidental damages, or damages for loss of use, profits, data or other intangibles, damage to goodwill or reputation, or the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services, arising out of or related to the use, inability to use, performance or failures of our websites, any products or services purchased through it, or any material posted on them, irrespective of whether such damages were foreseeable or arise in contract, tort, equity, restitution, by statute, at common law or otherwise.

Copyright

You may not copy or reproduce any part of our content without our written consent. 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 the website where you located the content. 

You may link to our home pages, 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 Terms

Prices for all our programs are listed on our website. When you book a session or  training program you wish to participate in, this creates your payment obligation. You may choose to pay the full price upfront or enter into a payment plan if one is offered. All payment plans are processed automatically by Stripe, as a direct debit from your nominated account. You must make your first payment at least 7 days before the training program is due to start.

Payment may be made by Stripe on the website platform. If you are paying in full, you may request to pay via direct deposit or Paypal. If you elect to pay by monthly instalments, you authorise Stripe to charge your credit card for the agreed instalment amount each month.

It is your responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient funds in your account to process your payment plan instalments. If payment fails, Stripe will attempt to process the payment twice more. If payment still fails to go through, your access to the program will be paused while we contact you to remedy the situation. All sessions, calls and services are postponed until payment is received.

We reserve the right to charge an administrative fee of $20 NZD on late payments if we must contact you to arrange payment. 

You agree to pay all costs, including debt collection agency fees and solicitor’s costs, that we may incur in taking steps to recover any money that you owe under this agreement, whether or not legal proceedings are issued in relation to the debt.

Delivery 

Our training programs are delivered through a mixture of live online workshops and self-directed learning. There may also be occasional live in-person events held at retreat centres. All online live training is delivered through Zoom. 

Full details about the delivery of the training programs are provided in the online training portal. You will receive access to the portal after you sign or accept the relevant agreement. 

Appointment Policies

Attendance at live online training sessions is compulsory, except in cases of serious illness or circumstances beyond your control. Please give us at least 48 hours’ notice if you are unable to attend a 1:1 training session or if you wish to reschedule. Anything within the 48hr time frame cannot be changed, unless otherwise advised by Soma and Soul NZ.

If a training session must be cancelled due to ill-health of the facilitator or technical issues, a rescheduling email will be sent within 12 hours. 

Refund Policy & Consumer Guarantees

When you choose to participate in one of our programs, you are making a commitment to show up and do the work, and you are asking us to hold you accountable during this process. As a result, it is essential that you conduct your research and confirm that you are ready to undertake this work before you enrol.

There is NO REFUND IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND regardless of when you choose to withdraw from any training program. You understand that once you have paid your deposit, you have committed to doing the work and paying for the full program.

Payment plans are offered solely to assist you in making this investment in your personal or business growth. You are required to complete payment in full, even if you choose to withdraw from the program.

If you are prevented from participating in one of our programs due to extraordinary circumstances beyond your control, please contact us to discuss your situation. You may apply for a credit note up to 2 weeks before the training program commences, which may be granted at our sole discretion. Credit may only be applied to an equivalent program and must be used within 12 months.

We reserve the right to terminate your participation in the program for disrespectful behaviour. If we believe your conduct is unacceptable, we will send you a written warning, outlining the issue and what we require from you in order to remedy the problem. If the conduct is repeated, we will terminate this agreement without refund. You will receive an email explaining our reasons and your access to the online training portal will be revoked so that you no longer have access to the content. We offer you 1 follow up call with our facilitators to discuss the matter with the intention of providing closure. This call must take place within the 2 weeks following the termination.

If you feel that there is any problem with our services, please let us know within 7 days. 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.

Respectful Communication

We reserve the right to delete any comments on our websites or social media accounts which are rude, offensive or which we deem to be unacceptable.

Mutual Non-Disparagement

Everyone participating in our programs or using our services undertakes that they will not publicly or privately disparage us or anyone associated with us, and will act in good faith to refrain from any conduct or communication which might reasonably be expected to interfere with our business or personal interests. We make a reciprocal promise to you.

Any negative public discussion or comments made about us will be considered defamatory, negative, or otherwise damaging, and will be the subject of compensation in any mediation or litigation claim.