Getting Started (Part 2): The Informed Consent
Please
read carefully everything stated below.
If you find the terms and conditions stated herein to
be fair and reasonable, you must "Accept"
all of the terms and conditions herein to continue to
the next section.
The
Client's Responsibilities
Before E-Counseling can begin, you will need to have
read completely the text on the about
e-Counseling page and this Informed Consent
and have clarified with me any concerns you might have,
and will agree to abide by all the expectations of the
contract.
You
must be over 18 years of age.
If
you want to work with me by e-mail or real-time chatting,
you will need to be comfortable writing informally,
expressively and in some detail.
You
must be willing to reveal your feelings to me. Withholding
information about yourself will be counterproductive
to our work together. If you conceal important thoughts
or feelings, you'll be wasting your money and time.
Because I won't have any visual clues, I will need you
to work a little bit harder.
You
aren't a good candidate for this type of work if you
have been told that you need to be under a doctor's
care for the treatment of a major mental illness, are
receiving counseling or psychotherapy from another practitioner
and have not discussed this with your primary therapist,
or are at present feeling suicidal or homicidal.
You
will be responsible for locating the psychological emergency
services providers in your area and will need to commit
to calling on them in the event of a clinical emergency,
as
the therapist may often be geographically quite far
away from the client.
If
you decide to use another e-mail provider or chat name,
you will please inform me in advance.
You will need to select the type of service you want
from the service's menu.
All
services will need to be paid for in advance.
In order to avoid paying for missed sessions, schedule
changes will require 24-hour notice.
All
new clients will need to fill out the assessment questionnaire,
which will be sent to you after you have selected and
paid for my services. This together with my evaluation
will constitute our first piece of work together and
our first session.
Confidentiality
And Privacy
Confidentiality is not an absolute. It will be broken
under certain specific conditions.
- If
a court subpoenas your files, I am obligated by
law to provide them, although I will intend to keep
as much of them confidential as possible.
- When
a client's life is in danger or the client threatens
to harm someone else, the client's rights to privacy
are set aside.
- I
will break confidentiality when I become aware that
child, elder or other abuse is being perpetrated
to protect the client or to protect the victim.
According
to figures quoted in the February 1999 issue of Internet
Week, 3.4 trillion e-mail messages were delivered
in the US in 1998. 2.1 billion e-mail messages are
sent daily by US mail users. Unless you are doing
so from your place of employment, interception of
your e-mail by an unauthorized user appears to be
an incredibly small risk. Still, it would be impossible
to ensure absolutely no risk in such a transaction.
All e-mail based risks can be virtually eliminated
through the use of readily available technology. Encryption
is available for most newer e-mail clients. These
services can protect against unwanted access to your
e-mail communications.
I use pop3now.com to protect against illegitimate
access to e-mail communication and I recommend for
those of you who have concerns about privacy do this
too.You may need a free Yahoo e-mail account to activate
this. To set one up, just go to yahoo.com
and register. The pop3now account is only $5.00 per
year. Go to pop3now.com
and you can purchase this.
Privacy
can be more of an issue online than in person. As
your therapist, I want to preserve my privacy too
and wish to restrict the use of copies or recordings
you may make of our communications.
Potential
Risks And Benefits of Internet Counseling
Potential
benefits of e-mail counseling may be:
-
Being
able to send and receive messages at any time day
or night.
-
Never
having to leave messages with intermediaries
-
Avoiding
telephone tag
-
Being
able to take as long as you want to compose, and
having the opportunity to reflect upon, one's messages
-
Automatically
having a record of ones communications to refer
to later
-
Feeling
less inhibited than in person.
There
are also potential risks to receiving mental health
help online. Potential risks of e-mail may include:
-
Messages not being received and,
-
Confidentiality
being breached. E-mails could fail to be received
if they are sent to the wrong address (which might
also breach confidentiality) or if they are simply
not noticed by counselor. Confidentiality could
be breached by hackers or internet service providers
or at either end by others with access to e-mail
account or the computer. Extra safeguards should
be considered when computer is shared by family
members, students, library patrons, coworkers, etc.
As with any personal development process, you may
experience some uncomfortable emotions in the process
of becoming more self aware and whole.
Alternatives
To Using E-Therapy
There
are of course many alternatives to receiving mental
health counseling online. I prefer counseling in person.
The energetic exchange simply can’t be beat! if you
are anywhere near Phoenix when I am in town, and want
to schedule an in-person appointment, please call
(602) 234-6506. If you are near Atlin, BC, Canada,
when I am there, please call (250) 651-7768 for an
appointment. As alternatives to online counseling,
you can get mental health services in person, individually
or in a group setting, talk to friends or family members,
or clergy, exercise, practice Yoga, or meditate, see
a nutritionist or physician, or even do nothing at
all.
My
Promise To You
Although
I cannot guarantee your desired results, I can promise
a few simple things:
-
I
will post and update my Bio, qualifications and
and credentials (about ilene) so that you can make
an informed choice about whether I will likely be
the best therapist for you.
-
Standard
operating procedure includes my commitment to remain
within the boundaries of my expertise; to meet the
appropriate requirements to practice; (using my
home state of Arizona's standards of practice) to
provide an accurate evaluation of client before
beginning online counseling services; to agree with
client on frequency, mode of communication, fees,
method of payment, etc.; to protect client's confidentiality
by releasing his/her personal information only with
client's prior permission. (see limitations of confidentiality)
and to maintain good records of sessions.
-
I
will make every effort to return e-mails within
48 hours and, to make your planning a little easier,
will attempt to keep my scheduling plans posted.
In anticipation of computer crashes, server congestion,
phone line outages, and other technical difficulties,
I promise every effort to provide the service you
have requested in the most timely manner possible.
If necessary, I will phone, fax, or quick mail my
service response when internet technology fails.
Disclaimer
Ilenehart.com
reserves the right to modify any of these terms and
they will continue to apply, as modified, to your
current, previous or future use of this site; you
agree to periodically review this "Informed Consent"
and, if you do not wish a recent modification to apply
to you, then you may discontinue use. If you will
be seeking online professional services, then you
hereby state and warrant that you are 18 years of
age and that you will not misrepresent your identity.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless ilenehart.com,
from and against any claims, actions, demands, liabilities
or settlements including without limitation, reasonable
attorneys fees and costs, resulting from any violation
by you of these conditions of use.
In
pressing the "Accept" button below, I agree to all
of the above.
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