Don L. De Lapp, MSW, LCADC, LCSW, SAP, CCS, MAC
Call for an appointment: 732-612-9750
Practice Policies
Don L. De Lapp ddelapp@dldelapp.com 732-612-9750
PRACTICE POLICIES
APPOINTMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS
All intake forms must be completed prior to the first appointment or will need to be rescheduled until such time that the forms are completed.
Please remember to cancel or reschedule 24 hours in advance. You will be responsible for the entire
fee if cancellation is less than 24 hours.
The standard meeting time for psychotherapy is 50 minutes. It is up to you, however, to determine
the length of time of your sessions. Requests to change the 50-minute session needs to be discussed
with the therapist in order for time to be scheduled in advance.
A $10.00 service charge will be charged for any checks returned for any reason for special
handling.
Cancellations and re-scheduled session will be subject to a full charge if NOT RECEIVED AT LEAST 24
HOURS IN ADVANCE. This is necessary because a time commitment is made to you and is held
exclusively for you. If you are late for a session, you may lose some of that session time.
TELEPHONE ACCESSIBILITY
If you need to contact me between sessions, please leave a message on my voice mail. I am often not
immediately available; however, I will attempt to return your call within 48 hours. Please note
that Face- to- face sessions are highly preferable to phone sessions. However, in the event that
you are out of town, sick or need additional support, phone sessions are available. If a true
emergency situation arises, please call 911 or any local emergency room.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION
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. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we meet
and we can talk more about it.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION
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 by the State of California. Under the
California Telemedicine Act of 1996, telemedicine is broadly defined as the use of information
technology to deliver medical services and information from one location to another. 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.
Copyright © 2018 Don L. De Lapp, MSW, LCADC, LCSW, SAP, CCS, MAC
All Rights Reserved.
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