Confidentiality & Privacy Statement

The law protects the relationship between a client and a therapist, and information cannot be disclosed without written permission.

Exceptions include:

• Suspected child abuse or dependent adult or elder abuse, for which I am required by law to report this to the appropriate authorities immediately.

• If a client is threatening serious bodily harm to another person/s, I must notify the police and inform the intended victim.

• If a client intends to harm himself or herself, I will make every effort to enlist their cooperation in ensuring their safety. If they do not cooperate, I will take further measures without their permission that are provided to me by law in order to ensure their safety.

I only release information in accordance with state and federal laws and the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics.

This notice describes my policies related to the use and disclosure of your healthcare information.

Confidentiality:

The law protects the relationship between a client and a therapist, and information cannot be disclosed without written permission.

I treat all information received as confidential, regardless of whether it is in a telephone session, videochat session, or email context.

Should you wish me to disclose anything you have revealed to me in a therapy session, you MUST sign a Release of Information form authorizing me to do so (this includes, but is not limited to, other therapists, and medical and legal professionals).

Exceptions include “Mandated Reporting” described below:

• Suspected child abuse or dependent adult or elder abuse, for which I am required by law to report this to the appropriate authorities immediately.

• If a client is threatening serious bodily harm to another person/s, I must notify the police and inform the intended victim.

• If a client intends to harm himself or herself, I will make every effort to enlist their cooperation in ensuring their safety. If they do not cooperate, I will take further measures without their permission that are provided to me by law in order to ensure their safety.

Privacy:

Providing treatment services, collecting payment, and conducting healthcare operations are necessary activities for quality care. State and federal laws allow me to use and disclose your health information for these purposes:

• Review of treatment procedures with a clinical supervisor to ensure what I am doing is effective

• For the purposes of making referrals

• Process and collect fees

• Certification compliance and licensing activities

Disclosures That May Be Made Without Your Consent:

• Mandated reporting

• Emergencies

For All clients via Telephone, Videochat, and/or Email:

To further protect your confidentiality and privacy, when you submit your request form for services and schedule your appointment, you will receive a confirmation email from me.

That email will contain a password. When we begin our online or telephone session, you will be asked to provide the password sent to you in that email. This will let me know you are, in fact, the individual who signed up for the service, and will be a way for me to authenticate your identity. It is imperative you protect your password!

For email clients:

To further protect your confidentiality and privacy, I strongly encourage you to sign up for an email account at Hushmail.com. Unlike many email accounts that simply transfer information back and forth as standard alphanumeric text, hushmail actually encrypts the email so you have maximum security and privacy. You are, of course, welcome to use any email account you may have. Regardless of how encrypted an email might be, if someone has access to your computer and/or password, they can read anything on your computer you can, so always protect your password, and if privacy is a concern for you, limit the number of individuals who have access to your computer.