Terms and Conditions.

If you need anything clarified, write to marta@serpaciente.pt.

Service provider

Marta Fonseca, sole trader (empresária em nome individual). NIF (Portuguese tax number) 234454997. Contact: marta@serpaciente.pt.

Nature of the service

Ser Paciente brings together four kinds of work: cancer support (emotional support), Family Constellations (a complementary practice), The Maps (authored documents written to order) and Career Guidance (sessions). Each has its own framing and its own way of being booked, and they do not stand in for one another.

None of these services is a psychology consultation, a psychological assessment or psychotherapy, and none of them replaces clinical care.

Paying for the Maps

The Maps are paid for in full before production. Production starts when you answer the questionnaire.

Changing your mind

Buying at a distance gives you 14 days to withdraw, without having to explain why. The period runs from the conclusion of the contract, in the case of services, and from delivery, in the case of goods. To exercise the right of withdrawal, all it takes is an unequivocal statement by email to marta@serpaciente.pt, or the model withdrawal form, which you are not obliged to use. I refund what you paid within 14 days, by the same means of payment.

If you ask me to start before the 14 days are up, and I do start, you pay the part that is proportionate to the work already done on the date you withdraw. That request is express: it is made at the moment of purchase, and it is not presumed.

Until you send the questionnaire, I have not started anything and the refund is full. Once the written Map has been delivered, the work is done and there is no refund.

The printed version is made to measure and ordered from a third party. In those cases the right of withdrawal does not apply to the printed object, although everything above still stands as regards the document itself. There is still a replacement at no cost if there is a printing defect or if the parcel is lost in transit.

Printed version

The Maps are normally delivered digitally, as a PDF. The printed version is made on request, against a prior quotation that includes printing and postage.

If the printed version arrives with a printing or binding defect attributable to the printer, or if it is lost or damaged in transit with CTT (the Portuguese postal service), it is printed and sent again at no cost, once the situation has been assessed. This guarantee covers the physical object and its transport, not the content of the Map nor how satisfying it is to read.

Cancer support

Cancer support is emotional support for someone who is being treated, or has been, and it is not medical treatment, psychotherapy or psychological assessment. It does not replace or interfere with the care of the team treating the illness: clinical decisions belong to that team. Sessions are held by Marta Fonseca, and they are held in Portuguese.

The first session lasts 2 hours and is booked on this site. It is longer than the others on purpose: it is the first time the whole story gets told, and rushing it does not sit right with me.

Later sessions are arranged directly with me and do not go through the site. There is no minimum number of sessions and no imposed rhythm: it is decided session by session, with each person.

Family Constellations

Family Constellations are a complementary practice of systemic exploration, not validated as a therapeutic model by psychological science (opinion of the Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses, the professional body of psychologists in Portugal, 2019). They do not replace psychotherapy or clinical care. Sessions are facilitated by Marta Fonseca as a Family Constellations Facilitator.

Intellectual property

The content of the Maps is personalised for each client. The copyright in the document and in the method belongs to Marta Fonseca. The client may use the document personally; the client may not publish, distribute or reproduce it commercially.

Complaints and dispute resolution

You can complain by email to marta@serpaciente.pt, or through the Livro de Reclamações Electrónico, the official electronic complaints book in Portugal, available for any service provider. For consumer disputes that are not settled directly, the competent alternative dispute resolution body will be named here as soon as it is confirmed. You can also turn to the European Online Dispute Resolution Platform.

Last updated: 3 September 2026.