As a professional counselor, it is very important to me that I keep client information private. Please read my policy to clarify confidentiality and the exceptions.

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PRIVACY POLICY
I am committed to maintaining the confidentiality of my counseling clients. I do not share, sell, or otherwise disclose information about my clients to any other party except as requested by the client in writing. The law protects the relationship between a client and a counselor however, and none of your information will be distributed to individuals or agencies with the exception of the following situations:
Suspected child abuse or dependent adult or elder abuse, for which I am required by law to report to the appropriate authorities immediately.
If a client is threatening serious bodily harm to another person/s, I must notify the police and inform the intended victim.
If a client intends to harm himself or herself, I will make every effort to enlist their cooperation in insuring their safety. If they do not cooperate, I will take further measures without their permission that are provided to us by law in order to ensure their safety.
I abide by HIPAA practice standards.

 

COMMUNICATING OVER THE INTERNET
There are limits to protecting your confidentiality over the internet. While I do my utmost to preserve your confidentiality, I cannot guarantee privacy. Please consider the information you submit over the internet prior to sending.
I strongly discourage using email to send messages of a personal or confidential nature. Even though I do my best to keep email confidential, email is copied, archived, and retransmitted continuously as part of normal processing. Because of this, please use email only to request information about services.
There are several ways you can communicate with me without having to send information over the Internet:
• in person
• by phone
• by mail

 

INFORMATION GATHERED ON THIS SITE
This site generally stores no information about its visitors, with the exceptions of basic logging for site statistics (and then only machine addresses, not personal email addresses), and information provided by visitors who fill out online applications, surveys, or requests.

 

On certain pages, , we give visitors the option of providing us with names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, personal information, and various other kinds of details. This more personal information is not gathered without visitors knowing and providing active permission and participation.
This site does not monitor private communications or make any use of such communications.
This site does not display or make available visitors’ personal information, such as contact information, even if it is already publicly available, to any person except the user himself or herself, except at the request of the user.
This site does not retrieve personal information from the visitor’s computer that was not originally sent to us or by us.

CONTACT
Questions about our privacy policy? Please contact me for further information.
Social Media and Technology Policy
This document outlines the social media and technology policy of Brian J. Lindner. Please read it to understand how you can expect to interact with me through the internet.

 

FRIENDING ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
I do not accept Friend requests from current or previous clients on social networking sites (Facebook, LinkdIn, etc.) on personal accounts. Any friend requests will be maintained through my Facebook fan account (www.facebook.com/makesomewonderful) Adding clients as personal friends can compromise your confidentiality and my respective privacy. I also strive to keep the therapeutic relationship boundaries clear.
I have no expectation that a client will want to follow my blog. However, if you use an easily recognizable name and I happen to notice that you’ve followed me there, we may briefly discuss it and its potential impact on our working relationship.

Clients may choose to follow or not the postings of Brian J. Lindner. I will not follow my counseling clients via social networking. I believe that this can create confusion in regard to whether it is being done as part of your treatment or to satisfy personal curiosity. In addition, viewing of 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 those to session with you where they can be shared and explored together.

 

INTERACTING
Please DO NOT contact me via Chat or messaging on sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn These methods are not secure and I may not respond in a timely manner. If you need help immediately, please call emergency services (9-1-1) You can contact me via phone or private voice mail. Do not use wall postings, @replies or other means of engaging with me in public online if a client/counselor relationship has been established. Engaging with me in this way could compromise your confidentiality.
Again, if contact is required between sessions, please do so by telephone.

 

EMAIL
I prefer to use email for blog responses or suggestions only.

If you chose to communicate via email, be aware that emails are retained in the logs of your and my internet service providers. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are in theory available to be read by the system administrator(s) of the internet service provider. Please be aware that any emails received from you and any responses sent to you become part of your legal record.

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DO NOT email any personal information about yourself, or someone else, or describe a situation you need help with. If you are a current or former counseling client please do not email me. If contact is required between sessions, please do so by telephone.

 

CONCLUSION
Thank you for taking the time to review our Social Media Policy. If you have questions or concerns about any of these policies and procedures or regarding our potential interactions on the Internet, bring them to my attention so we can discuss them by phone 208-996-3433.