Website Terms of Use

Effective Date: July 21, 2026

Welcome to the Looking Glass Counseling LLC website.

These Website Terms of Use govern your access to and use of lookingglass-counseling.com, including its written content, contact forms, consultation-scheduling links, resources, and links to third-party platforms.

Throughout these Terms, “Looking Glass Counseling,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Looking Glass Counseling LLC. “You” refers to any visitor or user of the website.

By accessing or using this website, you agree to these Terms. Please discontinue use of the website if you do not agree with them.

1. Website Purpose

This website provides general information about:

  • Looking Glass Counseling LLC

  • JoAnn Ristau, LPC

  • Counseling services for children, teens, and families

  • The practice’s areas of focus

  • General counseling and mental-health topics

  • How adults may contact the practice

  • How to schedule an initial consultation

  • How active clients may access the SimplePractice client portal

The website is informational and administrative. It is not intended to provide counseling, diagnosis, treatment, crisis intervention, or individualized clinical advice.

2. No Therapist-Client Relationship

Visiting the website, reading its content, submitting a contact form, sending an email, or scheduling an initial consultation does not create a therapist-client relationship.

A therapist-client relationship begins only after:

  • Looking Glass Counseling LLC determines that services are appropriate and available

  • The prospective client or legally authorized representative completes the required intake process

  • Applicable consent and financial documents are completed

  • Looking Glass Counseling LLC formally accepts the individual as a client

  • Counseling services begin

Looking Glass Counseling LLC is not obligated to accept every person who contacts the practice.

3. Website Information Is Not Counseling or Medical Advice

Website content is provided for general educational and informational purposes only.

It is not a substitute for:

  • Counseling or psychotherapy

  • Mental-health assessment, diagnosis, or treatment

  • Medical care

  • Legal advice

  • Emergency or crisis services

  • Advice from another appropriately qualified professional

Website content should not be relied upon to make decisions about a specific person’s diagnosis, treatment, medication, health, safety, or legal rights.

Consult an appropriate licensed or qualified professional regarding individual needs and circumstances.

4. Emergencies and Crisis Situations

The website, contact form, regular email, Calendly, and SimplePractice messaging are not monitored continuously and should not be used for emergencies or urgent crisis communication.

Looking Glass Counseling LLC cannot guarantee that an electronic message will be seen or answered immediately.

Anyone experiencing an immediate safety concern, life-threatening emergency, or risk of harm should call 911, go to the nearest emergency department, or contact an appropriate emergency resource.

5. Adult Use of Website Forms

Looking Glass Counseling LLC provides counseling services to children, teens, and families. However, the public website contact form and initial-consultation scheduling process are intended to be completed by:

  • A parent

  • A legal guardian

  • Another legally authorized or responsible adult

  • An adult prospective client

Children and teens should not independently submit personal information through the website or schedule a consultation without appropriate adult involvement.

6. Contact Forms and General Email

The website contact form and regular email are intended for general inquiries only.

Do not submit:

  • Medical records

  • Mental-health diagnoses

  • Medication information

  • Detailed treatment or trauma histories

  • Crisis or emergency information

  • Social Security numbers

  • Insurance identification numbers

  • Complete financial information

  • Other highly sensitive or confidential information

Submitting information does not guarantee an appointment or acceptance as a client.

Looking Glass Counseling LLC may choose not to respond to messages that are abusive, threatening, deceptive, unlawful, unrelated to the practice, or reasonably believed to be spam.

7. Initial Consultations Through Calendly

The website may link to Calendly for scheduling an initial free consultation.

Scheduling a consultation does not:

  • Establish a therapist-client relationship

  • Guarantee that counseling services will be offered

  • Reserve an ongoing appointment time

  • Constitute a clinical assessment

  • Create an obligation for either party to begin treatment

The information provided through Calendly should be general and limited to what is reasonably necessary to prepare for the consultation.

Use of Calendly is also subject to Calendly’s own terms, policies, availability, and technology practices.

8. Active Clients and SimplePractice

Once someone becomes an active client, Looking Glass Counseling LLC may use SimplePractice for:

  • Intake paperwork

  • Clinical forms and records

  • Appointment scheduling

  • Secure messaging

  • Billing and payments

  • Insurance administration

  • Telehealth sessions when requested

  • Other clinical-practice functions

Active clients should use the SimplePractice client portal for routine clinical forms and secure communication instead of the public website form or regular email.

Use of SimplePractice is also subject to its terms, privacy practices, security procedures, availability, and technical limitations.

SimplePractice secure messaging is intended to provide a more secure means of routine client communication, but it is not an emergency-response service. (SimplePractice Support)

9. Counseling Services and Client Agreements

These Website Terms apply only to use of the public website and related website features.

Actual counseling services are governed by separate documents, which may include:

  • Informed Consent for Clinical Counseling Services

  • Consent for Treatment

  • Financial and Insurance Agreements

  • Client Rights and Responsibilities

  • Cancellation and attendance policies

  • Telehealth consent

  • Release-of-information forms

  • The Notice of Privacy Practices

  • Other client-specific agreements or notices

When a clinical document directly conflicts with these general Website Terms regarding counseling services, the applicable clinical document controls.

10. Notice of Privacy Practices

Protected Health Information and active-client clinical records are governed by the separate Looking Glass Counseling LLC Notice of Privacy Practices, not solely by these Website Terms or the Website Privacy Policy.

The Notice of Privacy Practices explains how health information may be used and disclosed and describes applicable client rights.

11. Privacy Policy

Use of this website is also subject to the Looking Glass Counseling LLC Privacy Policy.

The Privacy Policy explains how information may be collected and handled through:

  • The public website

  • Website forms

  • Google Drive

  • Regular email

  • Calendly

  • Squarespace analytics

  • Cookies

  • Third-party services

12. Counseling Location and Telehealth

Counseling services, including telehealth services, are provided only when the client is physically located in South Carolina at the time of the counseling session, unless another arrangement is specifically permitted under applicable licensing laws and professional requirements.

Viewing the website or scheduling a consultation from another state or country does not establish eligibility to receive counseling services.

13. Payments

The public Looking Glass Counseling website does not currently process counseling payments directly through Squarespace.

Active-client billing and payments are handled through SimplePractice or another payment method communicated directly to the client.

Fees, insurance arrangements, payment responsibilities, cancellation charges, and other financial terms are governed by the applicable client financial agreement and fee schedule.

14. Third-Party Platforms

The website and counseling practice may use or link to independent third-party platforms, including:

  • Squarespace

  • Google, Google Drive, and Gmail

  • Calendly

  • SimplePractice

  • Payment processors

  • Insurance or billing platforms

  • Professional directories

  • Other administrative or technology providers

These providers maintain their own terms, privacy policies, security practices, and service limitations.

Looking Glass Counseling LLC does not control and cannot guarantee the continued availability, security, accuracy, or performance of third-party platforms.

15. External Links and Resources

The website may contain links to external websites, professional resources, articles, organizations, directories, or services.

Providing a link does not necessarily mean that Looking Glass Counseling LLC:

  • Endorses every statement on the external website

  • Guarantees the accuracy of its content

  • Controls its privacy or security practices

  • Accepts responsibility for its services

  • Guarantees that the resource will remain available

Visitors should independently evaluate third-party information and review the provider’s terms and privacy policies.

16. Acceptable Website Use

You agree to use the website only for lawful purposes.

You may not:

  • Submit false, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, or unlawful information

  • Impersonate another person

  • Attempt to obtain unauthorized access to the website or related systems

  • Introduce malicious code, viruses, or harmful technology

  • Interfere with the website’s operation or security

  • Collect information about other visitors without authorization

  • Use the website to harass or harm another person

  • Use automated tools to copy, scrape, or overwhelm the website

  • Violate another person’s privacy or intellectual-property rights

  • Use website content for unauthorized commercial purposes

Looking Glass Counseling LLC may restrict or block access when reasonably necessary to protect the website, practice, visitors, or others.

17. Intellectual Property

Unless otherwise stated, the website and its original content are owned by or licensed to Looking Glass Counseling LLC.

Protected content may include:

  • Written text

  • Counseling-resource descriptions

  • Graphics

  • Illustrations

  • Photographs

  • Logos

  • Branding

  • Page layouts

  • Downloadable resources

  • Original educational materials

Website content is provided for personal, noncommercial informational use.

It may not be copied, reproduced, republished, sold, distributed, modified for commercial use, or used to create another website or service without written permission.

Limited quotations may be used where legally permitted, provided appropriate credit is given and the use does not imply endorsement.

18. Website Accuracy and Availability

Looking Glass Counseling LLC makes reasonable efforts to provide useful and accurate website information.

However, website content may become incomplete, outdated, unavailable, or affected by technical issues.

The practice does not guarantee that:

  • The website will always be available

  • Every page will be error-free

  • All information will remain current

  • External links will continue to work

  • Technical problems will be corrected immediately

  • Website content will be appropriate for every person or circumstance

Service availability, insurance participation, fees, office hours, and scheduling options may change. Visitors should contact the practice directly to confirm current information.

19. No Guaranteed Clinical Outcomes

Counseling is an individualized process, and outcomes vary.

Nothing on the website guarantees:

  • Acceptance as a client

  • A particular diagnosis

  • A specific treatment recommendation

  • Insurance coverage or reimbursement

  • Improvement within a particular period

  • A particular counseling result

Any descriptions of possible counseling benefits are educational and are not promises of individual results.

20. Limitation of Website Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Looking Glass Counseling LLC will not be responsible for indirect, incidental, special, punitive, or consequential losses arising from:

  • Use of or inability to use the public website

  • Reliance on general website content

  • Website interruptions or technical errors

  • Third-party links or platforms

  • Unauthorized or inappropriate submission of sensitive information

  • Decisions made solely from general website information

These website limitations do not alter rights or responsibilities that arise from an established therapist-client relationship, applicable professional standards, or liability that cannot legally be limited or excluded.

21. Informal Resolution of Website Disputes

Before beginning a formal legal claim concerning use of the public website, you and Looking Glass Counseling LLC agree to make a good-faith effort to resolve the matter informally for at least 30 days.

Questions or concerns may be submitted using the contact information at the end of these Terms.

This section does not prevent anyone from exercising rights that cannot legally be waived or from seeking urgent relief when reasonably necessary.

22. Governing Law

These Website Terms are governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Nothing in these Terms limits rights or remedies that cannot legally be waived.

23. Changes to These Terms

Looking Glass Counseling LLC may update these Website Terms to reflect changes in:

  • Website features

  • Technology providers

  • Business practices

  • Counseling-practice operations

  • Legal or professional requirements

The revised Terms will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.

Continued use of the website after revised Terms are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised Website Terms.

24. Severability

If any provision of these Website Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in effect to the fullest extent permitted by law.

25. No Waiver

A failure by Looking Glass Counseling LLC to enforce a provision of these Terms does not waive the right to enforce that provision later.

26. Contact Information

Questions about these Website Terms of Use may be directed to:

Looking Glass Counseling LLC
JoAnn Ristau, LPC
289 Highway 90 E, Unit H
Little River, SC 29566-9298
Email: jristaulpc@gmail.com
Phone: 843-274-5010
Website: lookingglass-counseling.com