Confidentiality & Privacy Policy

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

Everything that is communicated within our session is confidential information and cannot and will not be communicated to any other person or organization without your expressed written consent. This confidentiality applies to any and all records of your identity, diagnosis, session or progress notes, evaluation, treatment or treatment plan, as well as any information communicated by phone, fax, or email.

Please note: confidentiality will not be observed with respect to the following conditions:

1. You direct me by means of a signed and dated written consent form to disclose information to a person or organization of your choice, (please note: if you enter therapy as a married couple, both signatures will be required in order to release confidential information).
2. I determine you are a danger to yourself or others, in which case I am required to inform a medical or a law enforcement agency .I will make every effort to enlist your cooperation in insuring your safety. If you do not cooperate, I will take further measures without your permission that are provided to me by law in order to ensure your safety.
3. I become aware of abusive or neglectful behavior toward a minor.
4. I become aware or abusive, neglectful, or exploitive behavior toward the elderly or disabled persons.
5. I am ordered by a court to disclose information. Please keep in mind that a subpoena is not the same as a court order given by the judge.

 

Confidentiality & Marital Therapy:

If you enter into therapy as a married couple, it is important for you to understand that you, as a couple, are my client. Because you, as a couple, are my client, it is my standard practice to see you both together in my office as much as possible so that any and all issues, concerns, personal information, and behavioral patterns may be disclosed (or have the opportunity to be disclosed) in the presence of each other, as well as within my presence as your therapist.

If, in the course of marital therapy, either of you request an individual session with me, I will agree to this under the following conditions:

1. that your spouse be fully informed of your desire to have such a session and have the opportunity to express their approval, disapproval, thoughts and/or concerns about such a session;
2. that you have the opportunity to understand the potential consequences of having such a session and thus be in a position to take complete responsibility for your own decision,
3. that individual sessions be balanced and do not become the “norm” for our therapy, replacing your time as a couple.
4. that individual sessions, even though beneficial to you on one level, do not become a hinderance to your overall ability to embrace, organize, and manage your own personal growth while you are in the presence of your spouse.

 

The limits of confidentiality as they apply to marital therapy:

If you begin therapy as a married couple and yet, as an individual choose to disclose secret, personal information (such as an affair, some pattern of sexual acting out, or an issue of mismanagement of personal finances) in an individual session with me, that information will be held in confidence between the two of us.

It will not be my duty or personal or professional responsibility to disclose that information to your spouse. Whatever information you choose to disclose will be held in confidence between the two of us. However, because of your decision to enter into marital therapy, my professional responsibility will be to help you:

1. examine the ramifications of your secret behavior,
2. examine the ramifications of the potential disclosure of that information to your spouse,
3. help you to clarify your personal options as to what to do with your life in light of the above potential ramifications of your behavior and the information you have not disclosed to your spouse,
4. help you to live a life of integrity by making courageous choices with respect to your personal values and convictions, and
5. encourage you to take personal responsibility for your own life around these convictions.