phone, you can call your therapist but if your therapist does not respond immediately or within a short period of time, you should contact local emergency services (for example, call 911 or go to your local hospital’s emergency room, or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline number -1-800-273-8255 or Netcare at 1-614-276-CARE. Also, other local hotline crisis phone numbers may be available to call, and you can check on the internet to find those.
b) Should service be disrupted: Try to regain contact using the same medium. If that does not work, attempt to make contact using text or e-mail. Your therapist will also make every effort to regain contact. If service is disrupted during a therapy session before the pre-agreed time frame has ended, you will have the opportunity to use the remaining time as soon as contact is made. If contact is not re-established within one hour, you will have the choice to end the session and be charged a pro-rated amount or allowed to schedule an additional session to use the remaining
c) For other communications: Your therapist and you may agree to communicate via a phone call, videoconferencing, e-mail, text, fax, or mailed letters.
(8) The potential benefits of online counseling include flexibility in scheduling and allowing you to engage in counseling outside of the office, which eliminates issues like transportation and other psycho-social barriers that might make it difficult for you to handle in a traditional office setting. The provision of online counseling may include risks related to the technology used, the distance between you and your therapist, and issues related to timeliness. For example, the potential risk of confidentiality may pertain to your accessing the internet from public locations. You should consider the visibility of your screen and being overheard when in public settings. It is recommended that you be in a private setting when engaging in online counseling. You should also always use strong passwords to protect any information shared with your therapist. Never use a work computer for therapy as your employer may have access to the information shared in electronic communications. Be cautious when using a shared network with others.
(9) Although the internet provides the appearance of anonymity and privacy in counseling, privacy is more of an issue online than it is in person. You are responsible for confidentiality in your own environment, including securing your hardware, internet access points, chat software, email, and passwords. Please develop passwords that are appropriate and strong and not use auto-fill for user names or passwords. Although your therapist will take steps to protect your