Limits of Confidentiality

All information you disclose to your clinician is kept strictly confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside of the practice, except under the following circumstances. In cases 1 through 4 below, mental health professionals are required by law to break confidentiality in order to protect you and/or others who may be in danger.

1.      There is reasonable suspicion of child, dependent adult, or elder adult abuse or neglect. Examples include but are not limited to: sexual abuse, any physical contact that leaves bruises or scars, driving or caring for a child or dependent adult while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, a child witnessing domestic violence, or providing illicit drugs or alcohol to a child or adolescent.

2.     You reveal to your clinician that an alleged perpetrator (sexually, physically, and/or emotionally abusive) is in contact with minors and there is reasonable suspicion he or she may still be abusing minors.

3.     There is reasonable suspicion you may present an imminent danger of violence to others.

4.     There is reasonable suspicion you are likely to physically harm yourself — including seriously injure yourself or attempt suicide — in the near future unless protective measures are taken.

5.     You currently or have previously received relevant treatment from another healthcare provider and have signed a Release of Information form so your clinician may consult with that provider. This will help better coordinate your care. While it is your decision whether to provide this consent, in some cases (such as eating disorders or substance abuse), your clinician may not be able to treat you without such consent. In such cases, your clinician will need to terminate treatment and provide referrals to other providers.

6.     With a completed and signed Release of Information form, your clinician can reveal all or portions of your records to any person or entity you specify. In advance of any disclosure, you have the right to inspect and know any records or information to be shared. Your clinician will inform you whether releasing certain information to a specific party might be harmful to you.

7.      If a court of law issues an order (not a subpoena) for release of your records, your clinician is legally required to comply with that order. However, it is rare for a court to issue an order overriding clinician-client confidentiality.

8.     If you file a malpractice complaint against your clinician and their attorney determines it is in their best interest to use all or parts of your treatment records for legal defense.

Adolescents and Parents or Guardians

Although an adolescent client's guardians hold the right to review the client's records and to know about all aspects of the client's treatment and what is discussed in sessions, your clinician requests that guardians refrain from exercising this right. Instead, your clinician requests guardians' agreement that confidentiality will only be breached if and when your clinician becomes aware of the adolescent client being in — or placing others in — imminent danger of physical harm. Examples include but are not limited to: suicidal or homicidal thoughts, medically serious self-injury or eating disorder symptoms, substance abuse with potentially dangerous medical consequences, or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Participants in Couples or Family Therapy

In working with a couple or family, your clinician considers that couple or family as a whole — the 'treatment unit' — to be the client. During therapy, your clinician may see a smaller part of the treatment unit (such as an individual or two family members) for one or more sessions. These sessions should be viewed as part of the work with the whole family or couple. Information gathered in these sessions is generally held confidential. However, with secrets that would otherwise impede treatment, it may be necessary to share information learned in one of these sessions with the entire treatment unit. Your clinician will use professional judgment as to whether, when, and to what extent such disclosures need to be made, and will first give the holder of the secret the opportunity to make the disclosure themselves.

If your clinician is not free to exercise clinical judgment in this regard, they may need to terminate treatment and provide appropriate referrals. If you need to discuss matters you absolutely do not want shared with the treatment unit, you should consult with another clinician who can provide unbiased guidance. Please contact us for referrals; your request will remain private.

Communication Between Sessions

Unless you sign consent for a specific form of communication, LT Clinical will not use that form of communication to contact you. When your clinician leaves a message for you in any form, they will attempt to be as vague as possible while conveying necessary information.

Email: Email accounts may be accessed by unauthorized parties, and companies on whose servers you access your email may have the right to review your messages. Even if you do not explicitly provide consent for email communication, if you initiate contact with your clinician via email, your clinician will — unless you request otherwise — assume you are willingly accepting this risk and that email may be used to contact you in the future.

Text Messages: While text messaging is convenient, it is not a fully confidential form of communication. Text messages may immediately appear on a device screen even when password-protected and may be visible to anyone nearby. Anyone with access to your phone may view your text message history. If you initiate contact with your clinician via text message, unless you subsequently request otherwise, your clinician will assume you are accepting this risk and that text messaging may be used to contact you in the future.

IMPORTANT: Email, voicemail, and text messaging are not to be used in emergency or crisis situations. In such situations, please call 911 immediately.

Public Encounters

To protect your privacy, if your clinician encounters you in public outside of the office environment, they will not in any way acknowledge knowing you unless you do so first. If you acknowledge your clinician, they will not disclose to anyone else present how they know you. It is your decision whether or how to introduce your clinician to anyone present.

Client Records

Your clinical file will consist of: (1) legal forms including this document, (2) clinical progress notes, and (3) a record of visits and payments. Clinical progress notes will contain sufficient information about your treatment to justify it, should such justification ever become necessary. You have the right to view your records at any time. However, your clinician reserves the right to provide you with the completed records or a summary of their contents, and to require a meeting in which they can review the records with you for the first time to prevent any potential misunderstanding.

Online Applications and Telehealth Platforms

Like virtually any electronic media, online applications may not be completely secure. A system may be compromised, and any company on whose server you connect may have the right to record or review your activity. Please keep privacy risks in mind and make informed decisions about when and where to access any of these services.

LT Clinical employs HIPAA-compliant scheduling, telehealth, and payment platforms selected to minimize privacy risk. Your clinician does not record and does not give permission to clients to record any telehealth sessions or interactions. Telehealth sessions are conducted over encrypted platforms to maximize security.