HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.

Our responsibilities

We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your PHI, provide this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, follow the notice currently in effect, and notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured PHI as required by law.

Uses and disclosures without written authorization

We may use or disclose PHI for treatment, payment, and health care operations. Examples include coordinating care with another provider, billing you or a health plan, quality review, licensing, training, legal services, and business administration. Business associates that assist us must protect PHI under written agreements when required.

We may also use or disclose PHI when permitted or required by law, including for public health and safety activities; reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence; health oversight; judicial or administrative proceedings; certain law-enforcement purposes; coroners and medical examiners; workers’ compensation; research approved under applicable rules; disaster relief; and preventing or reducing a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

Uses requiring authorization

Uses and disclosures not otherwise described in this notice generally require your written authorization. We obtain authorization for most uses of psychotherapy notes, marketing communications when required, and any sale of PHI. You may revoke an authorization in writing, except to the extent we have already relied on it.

Communications with you

We may contact you for appointment reminders, care coordination, treatment alternatives, or health-related services. You may request a reasonable alternative method or location for confidential communications. Standard email and SMS can carry privacy risks; do not use them for emergencies or send sensitive clinical detail unless specifically directed through an approved secure channel.

Your health privacy rights

Subject to legal limits, you may:

• Inspect or obtain an electronic or paper copy of health and billing records maintained in a designated record set.
• Ask us to correct or amend information you believe is incorrect or incomplete.
• Request confidential communications at a specific address or through a specific method.
• Ask us to limit certain uses or disclosures. We are not always required to agree, except for qualifying disclosures to a health plan when you paid in full out of pocket.
• Receive an accounting of certain disclosures made during the applicable period.
• Receive a paper copy of this notice, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
• Choose someone with legal authority to act for you and exercise your privacy rights.
• File a complaint without retaliation.

We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee or take the time allowed by law to respond. We explain any denial in writing when required and identify available review rights.

Website information

Information you provide

We collect information you voluntarily submit, such as your name, email address, phone number, message, communication preferences, and appointment inquiry. Please provide only the minimum information needed for an initial inquiry.

Information collected automatically

Like most websites, our hosting and technical providers may process limited device and usage data such as IP address, browser type, referring page, approximate location, timestamps, and security logs. We may use essential cookies or similar technologies for site operation, security, accessibility, and performance.

How we use and share information

We use information to respond to inquiries, provide and administer services, schedule appointments, process payment, maintain security, comply with law, and improve the website. We may share information with service providers acting on our behalf, health plans, professional advisers, authorities when legally required, or a successor in a lawful business transaction. We do not sell PHI or personal information.

Links to third-party websites are governed by those parties’ privacy practices. We encourage you to review them before providing information.

SMS privacy

If you opt in, we use your number and consent record to send conversational, appointment-related, or service messages described in our SMS Terms. Consent is optional and is not a condition of receiving counseling services. You may reply STOP to opt out or HELP for assistance. Opting out of SMS does not prevent us from contacting you through another method when legally permitted.

SMS is not guaranteed to be private or secure. Messages may appear on a shared device, and carriers may retain transmission data. Avoid including diagnoses, symptoms, treatment details, or other sensitive information in a text message.

Security, retention, and children

We use reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards appropriate to the information we maintain. No website, email, or transmission method is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide services, meet clinical and legal recordkeeping obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. We then securely delete, destroy, or de-identify it when feasible.

This website is intended for adults and for parents or legal guardians seeking services for a minor. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from a child under 13 through this website without appropriate authorization.

Changes to this notice

We may revise this policy and notice. A revised notice may apply to PHI we already maintain as well as information received after the change. The current version and effective date are posted on this page, and a paper copy is available upon request.