By working with me you are agreeing to the following terms and conditions.
‘Wisdom Nutrition’ and ‘Tom’ or ‘Tom Sokolowski’ are used interchangeably, but ‘Wisdom Nutrition’ may also refer to Tom’s administrative assistant, who will be your main point of contact in between consultations.
The necessity of these terms and conditions
These terms and conditions have been carefully considered and repeatedly reassessed over 10 years of clinical practice. These most fundamental requirements that you must agree to in order to work with me are designed to protect not only my interests but yours.
If some of these terms seem harsh or strong, it is because a very small minority of clients have previously proven that with more lax terms and conditions they can, for example, unnecessarily take up appointments in my diary that you my client may be more in need of (before cancelling at a late date) and take up hours of my admin time and thus both detract from the service I can offer you and make my business less financially sustainable.
As a sole trader I manage my accounts, marketing, website maintenance and the many administrative tasks of running a nutritional therapy, functional medicine and naturopathy business, and these require my personal work time and financial input.
On top of these responsibilities a key aspect of my being able to support you effectively is to make the time to study and research and keep up to date with the latest developments not only in the rapidly growing body of research literature but clinical developments and changes in lab testing, supplements and other products.
Therefore to serve you best it is absolutely essential that the limits of my services to you are recognised and these terms and conditions are adhered to.
Safety considerations
You agree to let Wisdom Nutrition/Tom Sokolowski know of any new medical diagnoses you receive and of any new medications you take at your next consultation.
You agree to let your General Practitioner or medical specialist know about the nutritional supplements and herbs you are taking before being prescribed any medication or given any surgical treatment. You also understand that by working with Wisdom Nutrition you consent to your GP being contacted by Wisdom Nutrition/Tom Sokolowski if necessary.
You agree to not take any nutritional or herbal supplements additional to Tom’s treatment protocol for the length of time that I am his client without consulting with him on the matter (this may be by e-mail).
You agree to let Tom Sokolowski know if you are pregnant or seeking to become pregnant.
You understand that Tom will notify you of any ‘red flag’ symptoms you may have that would require you to inform my general practitioner before Tom can continue to work with you.
Tom Sokolowski also has your full permission to contact your General Practitioner.
You are aware that when Tom gives dietary advice and recommends supplements unless he tells you otherwise these recommendations are intended to be followed for a finite period of time until your subsequent consultation. You understand that certain recommendations may be dangerous to follow indefinitely. Therefore for your own safety you will not follow the advice long term unless you have booked a final consultation with Tom to outline a long-term diet and supplement regimen. If you decide to stop working with Tom and do not book a final consultation Tom cannot be held responsible if you continue to follow advice that was not meant for the long term.
The level of our scientific understanding is dwarfed by the complexity of the body, mind and spirit. Even if you could could complete all of the hundreds of available lab tests they would not provide a complete picture. Therefore you understand that results cannot be guaranteed and that trial and error is involved in the process of nutritional therapy. You understand that this may mean you sometimes feel worse before feeling better. Sometimes some negative reactions to dietary and lifestyle changes and supplements are a necessary part of the healing process and sometimes they may arise from having an incomplete picture of your state of health and may provides clues as to how to most effectively support your health.
Computer/software access and computer literacy
You have access to a computer and will send questionnaires and diet diaries in digital format. This may involve downloading the latest versions of supporting software. You will not print and scan the questionnaires. If this is not possible you accept that Tom will fill in the form for you during consultation time and this will reduce the time to go more in depth in your first consultation and possibly the second consultation.
Communication, e-mail and telephone support and any questions you may have
Communication in between consultations needs to be very limited. For this reason, and to work effectively and to make the best use of my time and your money I also require some essential communication from you during each consultation. Please read my e-mail policy and guidelines, where this is covered in more detail.
Privacy policy
You agree to my privacy policy.
Availability of consultations
You are aware that I aim to make a consultation available for you every 6-8 weeks but that occasionally this may not be possible. If you prefer more regular support and would like to book more frequent consultations you can book more than one consultation at a time to ensure availability. You understand that if you postpone a consultation I will usually not be able to offer a new appointment for another 6-8 weeks unless other clients cancel or postpone and that if you want to ensure continuity of support it is therefore your responsibility to ensure the dates you originally book are ones that you will be able to commit to.
Booking, cancellation fees and consultation & lab test expiry
Payment
Payment for consultations is made on booking or within 3 working days of booking.
Payment is by bank transfer, sometimes with the option of using an online payment processor, such as Stripe (this option is likely to end soon with the exception of London clients booking online).
Cancellation and postponement of London consultations
If your ideal consultation slot is not available you can book a consultation on a date that you can make work, and ask me to put you on a waiting list in case a better slot for you becomes available. If a slot does become available you will not be charged an admin fee.
A £30 administration fee will be charged for every other cancellation or postponement of a London consultation at more than 3 weeks notice.
A 50% refund will be offered for cancellation or postponement of a London consultation at 3 weeks notice or less or no refund with less than 1 week of notice. If there is a genuine reason absolutely beyond your control why you cannot make the consultation I may offer you an online consultation instead, but this decision is at my discretion.
In the case of a postponement the refund would be taken out of the fee for the consultation on the new date, meaning that you would pay the full fee for the consultation on the new date minus the refund specified above.
Postponing a consultation before you have paid for it will not change the payment due date.
Packages are non-refundable but postponements are charged at the normal rates.
In case I am unable to make a consultation I will offer you a reduction on your next consultation equal to the fee you would have been charged if you had cancelled or postponed at the same time that I did.
Cancellation and postponement of consultations in Devon, online or by telephone
If your ideal consultation slot is not available you can book a consultation on a date that you can make work, and ask me to put you on a waiting list in case a better slot for you becomes available. If a slot does become available you will not be charged an admin fee.
A £20 administration fee will be charged for every other cancellation or postponement of a Devon, online or telephone consultation at more than 2 weeks notice.
A 50% refund will be offered for cancellation or postponement of a Devon, online or telephone nutritional therapy consultation at 2 weeks notice or less or no refund with less than 72 hours notice. If there is a genuine reason absolutely beyond your control why you cannot make the consultation I may offer you an online consultation instead, but this decision is at my discretion.
In the case of a postponement the refund would be taken out of the fee for the consultation on the new date, meaning that you would pay the full fee for the consultation on the new date minus the refund specified above.
Postponing a consultation before you have paid for it will not change the payment due date.
Packages are non-refundable but postponements are charged at the normal rates.
In case I am unable to make a consultation I will offer you a reduction on your next consultation equal to the fee you would have been charged if you had cancelled or postponed at the same time that I did.
Expiration of consultations and lab tests
Consultations expire 6 months from booking (in case of postponement).
Packages expire 12 months from booking.
All lab tests expire 9 months from payment of invoice so please make sure to do the tests promptly so that you do not lose money on them. If you do not complete a test in time for your consultation we will discuss results at a later consultation.
Free 20 minute phone call
Only one free phone call is offered per client. If you are calling on behalf of a potential client please note that I will not offer a further phone call directly to the potential client.
For legal reasons I cannot offer dietary and lifestyle advice in this short phone call.
Prices
I reserve the right to increase prices.
Making your own changes not recommended by me
You may also be keen to make many changes as soon as possible and to try different potential remedies with the allure of a quick solution to resolve your symptoms. If you make too many changes at once, especially if you have many sensitivities/reactions, we won’t know what is having which effect,
Also if you make changes in between consultations that I have not approved your consultation time can be spent on dealing with the consequences of changes you have made that are not compatible with my overall plan for you. This can leave little time to make progress using my approach.
and you already have plenty to get on with from the consultation that we want to be clear about the effects of. In this work it really is a case of the ‘tortoise winning the race’.
Although this is not a term or condition as such I strongly recommend that whilst working with me you limit yourself to the recommendations I offer you in terms of changes you may make to your diet and supplements regimen. Some lifestyle changes, such as beginning to exercise when recovering from CFS/ME, may also be best left until after discussing the changes with me. If you have suggestions of directions you would like to explore please bring them up at the beginning of your consultation together with any other questions you may have so that I can allocate some time to discuss them with you.
Spectracell Micronutrient Test terms and conditions
It is your responsibility to follow the Spectracell Micronutrient Test instructions which include how and when to carry out the test, and when to post your sample. This will reduce the chances of your sample delivery being delayed and of your sample being rejected.
Blood samples can sometimes spoil and the courier might on occasion not deliver your sample to Spectracell Laboratories in time. In such cases you will be sent a replacement test kit but you will need to pay for a 2nd blood draw, even though this may be through no fault of your own.
In the unlikely case of a 3rd blood draw being needed Spectracell Laboratories do not generally offer a 3rd test or a refund, though Wisdom Nutrition will advocate on your behalf.
These terms and conditions for the Micronutrient Test are set by and are subject to change by Spectracell Laboratories, Inc. Wisdom Nutrition merely acts as an intermediary and cannot be held responsible for any grievances you may have with Spectracell Laboratories, Inc.
Miscellaneous
Any exceptions to the above are at my discretion. You understand that if you do not honour these terms and conditions I may choose to stop working with you and that this would be at my discretion.
