Practice Policies

APPOINTMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS

LATE POLICY 

In counseling, regular sessions help clients work more consistently towards their goals and also allows me to provide effective support. This policy is just a small way to ensure that both you and I stay accountable to this aspect of your life and make your growth a priority. 

The Counselor and Client agree to adhere to established appointment times and agree to begin and finish all appointments on time. If the Client is more than 15 minutes late to an appointment, the Counselor will assume that the appointment is canceled and the Client will be responsible for the full session fee unless the session is rescheduled within the allowable time (see Generous Rescheduling Policy). 

If the Counselor is more than 15 minutes late to an appointment, the Client may assume that the session is canceled and the Client shall not be responsible for any payment for that session. The session can be rescheduled at the full fee within the allowable time (see Generous Rescheduling Policy).

GENEROUS RESCHEDULING POLICY

The Client agrees that session fees for cancellations or no-shows are not waived, no matter the reason. Clients may reschedule their appointment anytime during the week before, during, or after the absence. 

The Client will use the online scheduler to reschedule their appointment within this time frame. The Counselor assumes no responsibility for rescheduling the Client for cancellations or no shows. The Client may move an appointment at any time with no penalty, as long as the rescheduled appointment falls within the 3 week timeframe. If a package or program is time-limited, this policy allows rescheduling outside of the allotted time-frame.

This policy also applies to the Counselor. When illness or necessity requires the Counselor to cancel a session, the Client will be notified and will have the opportunity to reschedule within the next 3 weeks when it is convenient for the Client. This means the Client does not have to miss a session. 

If the appointment is not rescheduled by the Client, whether the cancellation was on the part of the Client or the Counselor, the Client is charged the full fee. However, Clients have two “freebies” per calendar year. Fees are waived for two absences per year for vacations or other types of extended leaves. Freebies must be communicated with the Counselor as soon as possible via the client portal or via email.

This policy aims to create flexibility for the Client while also honoring the commitment necessary for change. It also aims to create equity and fairness for both Counselor and Client and be aware of the realities of everyday life. 

TELEPHONE ACCESSIBILITY If you need to contact me between sessions, please email me or message me via Signal. I am often not immediately available; however, I will attempt to return your message within 24 hours. If a true emergency situation arises, please call your local emergency number or any local emergency room.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Due to the importance of your confidentiality and the importance of minimizing dual relationships, I do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). I believe that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship.

All of my social media is for my coaching and not linked to my counseling. I publish a blog on substack and I post on Instagram/LinkedIn/Facebook for those accounts. I have no expectation that you as a client will want to follow my coaching blog or social media. However, if you use an easily recognizable name on social media and I happen to notice that you’ve followed me there, we may briefly discuss it and its potential impact on our working relationship.

My primary concern is your privacy. If you share this concern, there are more private ways to follow me on social media (such as using an RSS feed), which would eliminate your having a public link to my content. You are welcome to use your own discretion in choosing whether to follow me.

Note that I will not follow you back. I do not follow current or former clients on blogs or social media. My reasoning is that I believe casual viewing of clients’ online content outside of the therapy hour can create confusion in regard to whether it’s being done as a part of your treatment or to satisfy my personal curiosity. In addition, viewing your online activities without your consent and without our explicit arrangement towards a specific purpose could potentially have a negative influence on our working relationship. If there are things from your online life that you wish to share with me, please bring them into our sessions where we can view and explore them together, during the therapy hour.

It is NOT a regular part of my practice to search for clients on Google or Facebook or other search engines. Extremely rare exceptions may be made during times of crisis. If I have a reason to suspect that you are in danger and you have not been in touch with me via our usual means (coming to appointments, phone, or email) there might be an instance in which using a search engine (to find you, find someone close to you, or to check on your recent status updates) becomes necessary as part of ensuring your welfare. These are unusual situations and if I ever resort to such means, I will fully document it and discuss it with you when we next meet.

You may find my psychology practice on sites such as Yelp, Healthgrades, Yahoo Local, Bing, or other places which list businesses. Some of these sites include forums in which users rate their providers and add reviews. Many of these sites comb search engines for business listings and automatically add listings regardless of whether the business has added itself to the site. If you should find my listing on any of these sites, please know that my listing is NOT a request for a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from you as my client. The American Counseling Association & other Ethics Codes state that it is unethical for counselors and psychotherapists to solicit testimonials. Of course, you have a right to express yourself on any site you wish. But due to confidentiality, I cannot respond to any review on any of these sites whether it is positive or negative. I urge you to take your own privacy as seriously as I take my commitment of confidentiality to you. You should also be aware that if you are using these sites to communicate indirectly with me about your feelings about our work, there is a good possibility that I may never see it. If we are working together, I hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to our work directly into the therapy process. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide we are not a good fit. None of this is meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy with me wherever and with whomever you like.

Confidentiality means that I cannot tell people that you are my client and my Ethics Codes prohibit me from requesting testimonials. But you are more than welcome to tell anyone you wish that I’m your therapist or how you feel about the treatment I provided to you, in any forum of your choosing. If you do choose to write something on a business review site, I hope you will keep in mind that you may be sharing personally revealing information in a public forum. I urge you to create a pseudonym that is not linked to your regular email address or friend networks for your own privacy and protection. If you feel I have done something harmful or unethical and you do not feel comfortable discussing it with me, you can always contact the Wyoming Mental Health Board in the US or the Federal Public Health Service in Belgium, which oversees licensing, and they will review the services I have provided.

Wyoming Mental Health Professions Licensing Board,

2001 Capitol Ave Emerson Building, Room 104

Cheyenne, WY 82002 (307-777-7788)

Directorate-General Healthcare Galileelaan 5/2 – 1210 Brussel T. +32 (0)2 524 97 97 

If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we meet and we can talk more about it.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION & TELEMEDICINE

I cannot ensure the confidentiality of any form of communication through electronic media, including text messages. If you prefer to communicate via email or text messaging for issues regarding scheduling or cancellations, I will do so. While I may try to return messages in a timely manner, I cannot guarantee immediate response and request that you do not use these methods of communication to discuss therapeutic content and/or request assistance for emergencies.

Services by electronic means, including but not limited to telephone communication, the Internet, facsimile machines, and e-mail is considered telemedicine. If you and your therapist chose to use information technology for some or all of your treatment, you need to understand that:

(1) You retain the option to withhold or withdraw consent at any time without affecting the right to future care or treatment or risking the loss or withdrawal of any program benefits to which you would otherwise be entitled.

(2) All existing confidentiality protections are equally applicable.

(3) Your access to all medical information transmitted during a telemedicine consultation is guaranteed, and copies of this information are available for a reasonable fee.

(4) Dissemination of any of your identifiable images or information from the telemedicine interaction to researchers or other entities shall not occur without your consent.

(5) There are potential risks, consequences, and benefits of telemedicine. Potential benefits include, but are not limited to improved communication capabilities, providing convenient access to up-to-date information, consultations, support, reduced costs, improved quality, change in the conditions of practice, improved access to therapy, better continuity of care, and reduction of lost work time and travel costs. 

Effective therapy is often facilitated when the therapist gathers within a session or a series of sessions, a multitude of observations, information, and experiences about the client. Therapists may make clinical assessments, diagnosis, and interventions based not only on direct verbal or auditory communications, written reports, and third person consultations, but also from direct visual and olfactory observations, information, and experiences. When using information technology in therapy services, potential risks include, but are not limited to the therapist’s inability to make visual and olfactory observations of clinically or therapeutically potentially relevant issues such as: your physical condition including deformities, apparent height and weight, body type, attractiveness relative to social and cultural norms or standards, gait and motor coordination, posture, work speed, any noteworthy mannerism or gestures, physical or medical conditions including bruises or injuries, basic grooming and hygiene including appropriateness of dress, eye contact (including any changes in the previously listed issues), sex, chronological and apparent age, ethnicity, facial and body language, and congruence of language and facial or bodily expression. Potential consequences thus include the therapist not being aware of what he or she would consider important information, that you may not recognize as significant to present verbally the therapist.

MINORS

If you are a minor, your parents may be legally entitled to some information about your therapy. I will discuss with you and your parents what information is appropriate for them to receive and which issues are more appropriately kept confidential.

TERMINATION

Ending relationships can be difficult. Therefore, it is important to have a termination process in order to achieve some closure. The appropriate length of the termination depends on the length and intensity of the treatment. I may terminate treatment after appropriate discussion with you and a termination process if I determine that the psychotherapy is not being effectively used or if you are in default on payment. I will not terminate the therapeutic relationship without first discussing and exploring the reasons and purpose of terminating. If therapy is terminated for any reason or you request another therapist, I will provide you with a list of qualified psychotherapists to treat you. You may also choose someone on your own or from another referral source.

Should you fail to schedule an appointment for three consecutive weeks, unless other arrangements have been made in advance, for legal and ethical reasons, I must consider the professional relationship discontinued.