Please review the following information about the risks you assume regarding confidentiality and privacy when using email or texts.
• For your safety, please do not use texts or email for emergencies; it is not possible to guarantee that a particular email and/or text will be read and responded to within any particular period of time.
• If you communicate confidential or private information (including but not limited to your name, appointment information, or that you are a therapy patient) through unencrypted emails or texts, I will assume that you have made an informed decision. I will view it as your agreement to take the risks described here, and will honor your wish to communicate in that manner. You may decide at any time to avoid or limit, in any way, the use of email, texts, phone calls, phone messages, etc.
• The use of email and texts can compromise your privacy and confidentiality.
• Emails, texts, and faxes are vulnerable to unauthorized access; servers or communication companies may have unlimited and direct access to all emails and texts that go through them.
• Emails and texts can be misaddressed and sent to unintended recipients.
• Backup copies of emails and texts may exist even after the sender and/or the recipient have deleted their copies.
• Emails and texts can be intercepted, altered, forwarded or used without authorization or detection.
• Email and texts can be used as evidence in court.
• Emails and texts may not be secure, and therefore it is possible that confidentiality of such communications could be breached by a third party.
• Use your best judgment when considering the use of email or texts for communication of sensitive information. Schedule an appointment to discuss complex and/or sensitive situations rather than send email and/or texts.