Office Policies
Deep Canyon Counseling (DCC)
OFFICE POLICIES
For therapy to work, it must be stable. Your part in this stability is to keep your appointments, be responsible for your fee, understand confidentiality, and appropriately handle cancellations, phone calls, and the termination of therapy.
1. APPOINTMENTS: Most appointments are 50 minutes long (unless your therapist deems it otherwise). Sessions start and end on time. Please take care of payment, scheduling, and other business at the beginning of each session. You are encouraged to arrive early, so that you can settle and reflect before your session. Length of appointments for some insurance companies is 45 minutes. Please check with your therapist for clarification.
2. CANCELLATIONS: Once you have scheduled an appointment, it is your responsibility to keep and pay for it. It is each DCC therapist’s policy to charge for any sessions not cancelled within 24 hours of the scheduled appointment time. You can always reach us at (760) 674-4790.
3. FEES: Please pay for each session as you go. Money issues and conflicts can come up during therapy. It is important for you to discuss business aspects of any such issues with your therapist.
4. THE PHONE: You can leave a message for your therapist at any time. Therapists check their messages during the day, evenings, and on weekends although your specific therapist may have more explicit hours which will be discussed with you. Crisis phone calls are accepted, however, if this becomes a regular pattern, it may be an indication that more sessions/per week are needed. If you are in crisis and your therapist is unable to return your call within 15 minutes, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
5. CONFIDENTIALITY: All information between the client and therapist is held strictly confidential. Exceptions to this confidentiality are when:
a. The client authorizes the release of information in written form with his/her signature.b. The client presents a physical danger to him or herselfc. The client presents a danger to othersd. Child abuse/neglect or elder abuse/neglect are suspected *In “c” & “d” above, we are required by law to inform potential victims & legal authorities,
so that protective measures can be taken in such cases.
6. ENDING THERAPY: When you decide that it is time to take a break or to end therapy, please openly discuss this with your therapist and give him/her at least two session’s notice. This allows you and your therapist to give each other positive feedback and end treatment on a positive note. The door will remain open to you, so that you may come back any time in the future.
I, ____________________________, hereby declare that I have read and understand the above statement and agree to abide by all office policies.
Signed: __________________________________ Date: _________________
Date: _________________Downloadable form not currently available. Please cut, paste, & print to sign & bring into your first session
Deep Canyon Counseling
