Privacy Policy

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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law that provides privacy protections and patient rights with regard to the use and disclosure of your Protected Health Information (PHI) used for the purpose of treatment, payment, and health care operations. HIPAA requires that I provide you with a Notice of Privacy Practices (the Notice) for use and disclosure of PHI for treatment, payment, and health care operations. The Notice, which is available for you upon emailed or written request, explains HIPAA and its application to your personal health information in greater detail.

I highly value the confidentiality of information that you share with me, and I will make every effort to ensure that information about you remains confidential.  Please note, however, that there are legal and ethical exceptions to your right to confidentiality. If you have any questions about these limitations, you are welcome to ask me about them at any point during treatment.  I will attempt to inform you in those rare cases that I would have to break confidentiality for the following reasons:

1. If I believe you are in imminent danger of harming yourself or that you are incapable of caring for yourself, I legally may break confidentiality. First, I will attempt to contact you and work with you to explore other options before needing to break confidentiality.  If at that point you are unwilling or unable to take steps to guarantee your safety, I will contact the police and/or mobile crisis team to ensure your safety and protection.

2. If I have good reason to believe that you present a specific and immediate threat of serious bodily injury to a specifically identified or a reasonably identifiable person or group of people, and you are likely to carry out the threat or intent, I am required to take protective actions, such as warning the potential victim(s), contacting the police, or initiating proceedings for hospitalization. If such a situation arises, I will make every effort to fully discuss it with you before taking any action and I will limit my disclosure to what is necessary.

3. If I have good reason to believe you are abusing or neglecting a child or vulnerable adult, or if you give me information about someone else doing so, I am obligated to inform Child Protective Services within 48 hours and Adult Protective Services immediately.

4. If you tell me of the behavior of another named health or mental health care provider who has either engaged in sexual contact with a client, including yourself, or is impaired in practice in some manner by cognitive, emotional, behavioral, or health problems, then the law requires me to report this to her/his licensing board in the state in which he/she is licensed.  I will try to inform you before taking this step. If you are my client and are seeing me because you are an impaired health or mental health care provider, however, your confidentiality remains protected from reporting under the law.

5. If I am ordered by a court to release your records, which sometimes happens when clients are plaintiffs in lawsuits in which psychological records are subpoenaed as part of that process, then I have no legal choice but to release your record to the court.

6. As part of the treatment process and to ensure that you are getting the best care that I can provide, I may discuss your case with my peer consultation group, but your name and other identifying information will be kept confidential in those discussions.

7. In the event that I die or become incapacitated, I have made arrangements for a colleague to review my records and ensure that clients I am working with receive notification and continued care.

Telehealth:

All psychotherapy and psychiatric services are provided via video visits or Telehealth.

1. There are potential benefits (e.g., convenience, accessibility) and risks (e.g., limits to patient confidentiality, miscommunications due to technical interference) of video-conferencing that differ from in-person sessions.

2. Confidentiality still applies for tele-therapy services, and nobody will record the session without the permission from the other person(s).

3. It is important to use a secure internet connection rather than public/free Wi-Fi.

4. It is important to be in a quiet, private, and intentional space that is free of distractions during the session.

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Use of Services, Registration and Member Account:

When you provide me with your contact information and communicate to me via email, phone, or text, you explicitly consent to receive communications from me in connection with providing you the Services. By signing up for my Services, you acknowledge and agree that I will send you emails or other forms of communication relating to your Services.

By consenting to the receipt of calls, texts, and emails, you acknowledge and agree that I may be transmitting certain protected health information (“PHI”) to you. I agree to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) and all related and applicable laws during the provision of my Services.

I use a secure email portal for client communications to protect your PHI and the content of these communications. If you send any information, including PHI, outside of the secure portal, you do so at your own risk.

Please log into the Secure Messaging Portal at least 48 hours before your first appointment to fill out intake forms, to review and sign practice policies, Telehealth Consent Form, and to enter your credit card information into the Secure Portal.  Please give yourself 20 minutes or more to fill out the intake forms. There will be questions about your current symptoms, stressors, lifestyle factors, and past history - this information will be an important part of your comprehensive evaluation. When you provide me information of any kind, you hereby represent and warrant that all such information is true and correct to your best knowledge and belief and that should you discover any inaccuracies, you agree to make such changes in a reasonable timeframe.

My Services are only available to those individuals who are at least eighteen (18) years of age and who permanently reside in the state of California or Pennsylvania.

It is your sole responsibility for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your client account and password. You are also responsible for any and all activities that occur under your password and account. I am not responsible for any actions or transactions that occur on your account by you or any third-party using your account.