Practice Policies

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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.

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