Confidentiality / Privacy Policy:

 I,  Dr. Veronica Powell, am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LCP) in the District of Columbia, and am legally and ethically bound to protect your online counseling confidentiality, including the confidentiality of your records, which are stored and secured according to professional guidelines. Your email address and personal information will never be shared with third parties. I employ state-of-the-art technology to ensure your e-therapy privacy. I never see your credit card information when you pay, which is processed through PayPal, the global leader in online payments. For more information about payment security, go to About PayPal Security. For more information on online therapy security, keep reading.

The law protects the relationship between a client and a psychotherapist, and information cannot be disclosed without written permission.

Exceptions include:

• Suspected child abuse or dependant adult or elder abuse, for which I am required by law to report this 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 me by law in order to ensure their safety.
   

Caution: To protect your privacy, be prudent in how you store treatment-related emails and chat room transcripts. Make sure they are protected from unauthorized access by using and guarding your passwords. Consider deleting any emails (sent or received) or chat room transcripts that you do not want others to see, followed by emptying your trash or recycle bins. If you make hard copies of emails or chat transcripts, store them securely. Be aware that emails sent from a workplace computer are the property of the employer. Continue reading to see how I ensure your online counseling confidentiality and privacy.
 

Privacy in Video or Chat Therapy:

1.      I use Skype, a social networking software for making free calls, video calls and instant messaging over the internet to anyone else who has Skype. Skype protects your privacy by using security features like encryption and authentication. It is free from adware and spyware and works with all the major antivirus software providers. Skype allows you to choose different privacy settings to control who can contact you and what information you put in your profile. You must download the program at Download it here to set up a Skype account, which takes five minutes and is free. If you already have a Skype account, then you can use the same screen name for your e-therapy services. I highly recommend Skype and will help you set it up if necessary.
 

2.       I will print out any chat text transcripts at the end of each session before deleting it. I advise that you do the same or save it to your hard drive so you can review the session at your leisure. My hard copy transcript of each session will be locked in a secure filing cabinet and shredded three years after our last contact.

Privacy in E-mail Counseling

When you click the submit button on the “Request a therapy appointment online here” the information you have provided will be sent instantaneously to my Hush-mail address, which utilizes Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption protocol, and thus, is highly secure. However, in the few seconds it takes for your personal information to arrive at my Hush-mail address, it is not encrypted, and, thus, theoretically could be intercepted, although such an outcome is extremely unlikely. Hush-mail uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol for all email transmissions between users who have Hush-mail accounts. Thus it offers state-of-the-art security for online E-mail counseling confidentiality not available through standard email exchanges.

I have a Hush-mail account that I use exclusively for my online counseling practice. Once you email me your Hush-mail address, I will then respond to your first e-mail submission at that address and we will continue to use our Hush-mail addresses for any future e-mail correspondence with complete confidence in privacy and security.

You have two options with respect to how I send my email response to you. (Note: You will be required to specify your choice on the “Request a therapy appointment online here”form) Please read about each option below and then choose the best one for you:

Option 1: Hush-mail – I highly recommend that you choose this option. In less than five minutes you can go to http://www.hushmail.com/ and create your own Hush-mail email account for free. Be sure to email me your Hush-mail address using the “Contact Me” form. (Note: During registration when Hush-mail asks for your email address, it means a new user name of your choice for Hush-mail, not your personal email address.)