Requesting Documentation

CONFIDENTIALITY INFORMATION

You have the right to confidentiality of your sessions and documents related to your treatment.

Calming Communities is concerned about confidentiality. It is the goal of Calming Communities to provide an environment in which our clients may place their trust and confidence. Under both federal and state law, confidentiality means communication with your therapist and any records pertaining to your identity, evaluation, or treatment will be held in confidence. Where federal and state laws differ, we comply with the stricter standard to ensure that your right to confidentiality is respected at all times.Also, beyond the law, we know that a sense of safety and security are necessary to the process of healing in which our clients are engaged Calming Communities will maintain confidentiality to the fullest extent personally and professionally. You have a right to confidentiality. We protect this right by ensuring that session content and all relevant materials to the cli ent’s treatment will be held confidential unless a parent or guardian with psychological record rights consent to release in writing. See limitations to confidentiality and requested records below.

Exceptions:

Both legally and ethically, we are required to break confidentiality in three circumstances related to safety. This type of breech is done so in a limited way. We will only give information to those parties who are able and responsible for maintaining safety.

If you or someone else informs me that someone is abusing or neglecting a child or elderly adult.
If you or you someone else states that you may commit suicide or there is substantial risk of death involved in activities that you are engaging.
If you or you someone else states, there is a risk to someone else’s life or safety.
If a court of law issues a legitimate subpoena only for information stated on the subpoena.
If a client is in therapy or being treated by order of a court of law, or if information is obtained for the purpose of rendering an expert report to an attorney.
On occasion, your therapist may seek to consult with other professionals in their areas of expertise to provide the best treatment for you. Information about you may be disclosed in this context without using your name and with the minimal identifying features necessary.

Minors and confidentiality:

Therapy services differ from other health services in that children do have a limited right to confidentiality. At 18, a teenager can consent to mental health treatment and to the release of information. This means, that you as a parent have no right to any information regarding their treatment unless they authorize me to release specific information, even if you or your insurance are paying for services. Please know that if your child discloses any situation that endangers their life, this constitutes an exception to confidentiality and a parent, guardian, or other authority will be informed in order to protect the child.

Children under 18 also have limited confidentiality. This means that a parent will be informed of their child’s treatment and will be included in treatment planning sessions. In addition, parents are free to communicate openly with the therapist about any concerns and receive as much explanation as possible about what is occurring in session without breeching the child’s sense of safety and security.Parents will not be given a play by play of sessions or told everything that comes up, even if the language or behavior violate the parents’ rules for the child. This confidentiality is necessary for the child to be open and honest when exploring the issues going on and this allows for treatment to be successful. Without this protection, there is no possibility of effective treatment.

Release of information:

We are happy to honor your written wishes to release information to parties you choose but cannot be held liable for the distribution of that information once it has been sent. However, in order to protect your treatment. We do not release my documentation of sessions to directly outside parties. There are times when the technical jargon required by insurance and legal protection does not convey the meaning in away that is therapeutically appropriate. This could potentially be harmful to the therapeutic relationship and to your child’s mental health. Therefore, we are happy to provide treatment reviews in writing and consult verbally with anyone you wish that uses appropriate language for the audience.

Separated Parents and Other Guardians Reciving Parent-Focused Therapy:

In the case of high conflict co-parenting relationships or on-going custody cases, no communication outside of appointment reminders and changes, will occur without both parenting parties copied. This includes text messages, phone calls, and e-mails. Should one parent contact the therapist without the other copied, the therapist will reply with both parents copied and the original contact copied over for both parents to see.

Identity Safety and Confidentiality:

In all paperwork, documentation, and written communication, Calming Communities, PLLC utilizes identity neutral language. This is done to ensure the utmost privacy in identity matters for all clients, even in the event of a release of the medical file. Identity Neutral language includes:

Gender neutral pronouns and nouns only.
Legal names only, unless chosen names or nicknames are specifically requested by the client to be used in the medical file
“Minority Cultural Identity” only, unless specific ethnicity and cultural identity specifically requested by the client to be used in the medical file (I.e. white, Hispanic, Caucasian, African, Migrant, Catholic, Muslim, etc. will not be included unless requested).
No sexual, romantic, or reproductive identity or medical decisions will be named or described in the file unless requested.

Billing insurance:

Insurance does require a limited release of information in order to be billed. If you are uncomfortable with this, you are welcome to deny me the ability to bill your insurance and choose to self-pay.Insurances are given the diagnosis code, appointment dates and times, the type of session, and limited information about what happened in session. This allows the insurance to pay your bill and make sure that I am not charging you for things that do not occur or are not therapy. If you have any questions about this please feel free to ask me or consult with your insurance company.

Video/audio Recording is not permitted:

There is no video or audio recording allowed in the office or on Telehealth and phone communications without prior consent in writing by every party involved in the session and/or phone call. A violation of this is a breech of safety and security for the parties involved and can result in termination of the therapeutic relationship. If you are interested in having a recording for some reason, please discuss this with me. There are times when it is helpful for learning to be able to review sessions and at these times I may request and/or approve a request to do so. We will not approve a request that is done to gather information on a child, another parent, another client, or be used as proof in a custody case.

Calming Communities will not be responsible or accountable to the content of any audio or video recording done on the premises except with prior knowledge of client and therapist.

Requesting Your Records

You have the right to request a copy of your or your child's medical record. Records' requests must be submitted in writing to your therapist. The cost for records requests is set by Texas law as $25 for the first 20 page + $0.10 a page beyond that.

Per the HIPAA federal law requirement that therapists review files before completing and records request or release of information to ensure there is no harm to the physical, mental or emotional well-being of the client, all requests will under go a review by the treating clinician.

Any request for a release of the medical record will be reviewed and discussed with the client thoroughly (even if they are a child). Any guardians will also be consulted upon receiving any records requests. These consultations are designed to ensure the safety and well being of the client, by ensuring the clinician has a thorough understanding of how the information in the file might impact the client if released.

If the therapist determines it would do psychological harm to either the client or a guardian if the record is released, the therapist will explain this denial in writing in compliance with state and federal laws and offer a treatment summary addressing the information the requestor needs according to the minimum necessary rule and the wellbeing of the client and guardian.