- E-mail Policies & Confidentiality Statement

Sorry to swap you to a different web page just to e-mail me, but there are a few things you need to know before sending me or any other therapist an electronic communication.

While I wish the world of hackers, surreptitious monitoring of employees' computer behaviors, stolen laptops, and other such evils did not exist, for the sake of the confidentiality and security of any who come to this site looking for help, the following points need to be made:  

• E-mail is not a secure or confidential medium. 
• I cannot guarantee that any e-mail that you may send to me will remain confidential. 
• E-mail names, including my own, can be copied and used to misrepresent the identity of the sender. This is a very easy thing to do. Do not assume that any unsolicited e-mail you receive from me is authentic unless we have previously had contact or correspondence.
• I will never send you an e-mail with an attachment, unless this is something we have discussed beforehand.

I have adopted the policies discussed on this web page to prevent risk to clients, breach of security, breach of confidentiality, and to assure compliance with ethical and legal standards of health care delivery.

Click here to e-mail me: sfpsych at gmail dot com

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Do you give advice or therapy via e-mail or telephone?

Clinical services will not be delivered through email. Clinical services include counseling, psychotherapy, testing, consultation, and group therapy. All clients are advised to contact clinicians by telephone or in person to receive clinical services. There are web sites that claim they offer on-line counseling. As I am not aware of their effectiveness or legitimacy, I can not at this time recommend any particular one. Still, if you are somehow unable to see a therapist (say, you live in a very remote area), you may wish to try such a service, but in this as in other areas of purchasing or obtaining services and products, the buyer should research carefully and be cautious. 

Click here to e-mail me: sfpsych at gmail dot com

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Links on E-mail Security and Telehealth

How Private is Net Counseling? L.Holmes, About.com, 1997

Practicing Pychotherapy on the Internet, M. Maheu, Telehealh.com, 2001

Ethical Issues in Providing Online Psychotherapeutic Interventions, C.A. Childress, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2000

The Perils of Sending Unsecured E-mails
(The above site is sponsored by a firm that sells encryption software. I do not endorse this or any other software product or website, and offer them for informational purposes only.)

Last modified: July 08, 2009
Copyright © 2001 Jeffrey Kaye, Ph.D.
Site created by Psychcom Web Design
All material provided on this website is for educational and/or informational purposes only. Direct consultation of a qualified, licensed health care provider or therapist should be sought as necessary for any specific questions or problems. This web site should not be construed as offering either medical advice or online professional services; no therapeutic relationship is established by use of this site. Please do not send emails to this site or anyone associated with it that may include confidential information. A link to any other web site from this site does not necessarily imply any approval, recommendation, or endorsement of such site.