Privacy Policy

Blank Slate Therapy is a counseling practice serving clients at our Frisco, Southlake, McKinney and Lewisville offices and by telehealth throughout Texas. We understand that health information about you and your health care is personal, and we are committed to protecting it. We create a record of the care and services you receive in order to provide you with quality care and to meet certain legal requirements. This notice applies to all of the records of your care generated by this practice, and it also describes how information is handled on this website.

Our pledge regarding your health information

We are required by law to keep protected health information that identifies you private, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, and to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect. We can change the terms of this notice, and any change applies to all information we hold about you. If that happens, the new notice will be available on request, in our offices, and on this page.

Your rights

When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains those rights and some of our responsibilities to help you.

• Get a copy of your record. Other than psychotherapy notes, you have the right to an electronic or paper copy of your record and other information we hold about you. We will provide a copy, or a summary if you agree to receive one, within 30 days of your written request, and we may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee permitted by law.
• Ask us to correct or update your record. If you believe something in your record is wrong, or that important information is missing, you can ask us to correct it or add to it. We may say no, but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.
• Choose how we contact you. You can ask us to reach you in a specific way — a particular phone, or mail to a different address — and we will agree to all reasonable requests.
• Ask us to limit what we use or share. You can ask us not to use or share certain information for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree, and may say no if it would affect your care.
• Restrict what goes to your health plan when you pay in full. If you pay out of pocket in full for a service, you have the right to ask that information about it not be disclosed to your health plan for payment or health care operations purposes.
• Get a list of disclosures. You can request a list of the times we disclosed your information for reasons other than treatment, payment, or health care operations, or other than disclosures you authorized. We will respond within 60 days.
• Get a copy of this notice. You have the right to a paper copy of this notice, and the right to receive it by email — and even if you agreed to email, you can still ask for it on paper.
• Choose someone to act for you. If you have given someone medical power of attorney, or if someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your information. We will verify that authority before we act.
• File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated. You can complain to us, and you can file with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

To exercise any of these rights, call (214) 618-0588 or email info@blankslatetherapy.com. If you are not sure which right applies to your situation, ask us and we will help you figure it out.

Your choices

For certain information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a preference, talk to us and tell us what you want us to do.

We may provide your information to a family member, friend, or other person you indicate is involved in your care or in payment for your care, unless you object in whole or in part. In an emergency, where you are not able to tell us your preference, we may share what we believe is in your best interest and obtain your agreement afterward.

We never do the following without your written authorization:

• Use or disclose your information for marketing purposes. As psychotherapists, we do not do this.
• Sell your information. We do not sell protected health information in the regular course of business.
• Share psychotherapy notes, except in the limited circumstances described below.

How we typically use or share your information

• For treatment. Federal privacy rules allow a provider with a direct treatment relationship to use and disclose your information to carry out treatment without your written authorization. "Treatment" includes coordinating and managing your care with other providers, consultation between providers, and referrals from one provider to another — because clinicians need complete information to give you good care. If a clinician consults with another licensed provider about your situation, we may share what is needed to assist with understanding and treating your condition.
• For payment. We may use and share your information to bill and obtain payment from health plans or other entities. This can include your diagnosis, dates of service, and treatment plan. If you would rather your insurer not receive this, you may choose to pay privately.
• For our health care operations. We may use and share your information to run the practice, improve the care we provide, and train and supervise clinicians.
• For appointment reminders. We may use and disclose your information to contact you about an appointment with our practice, or about health-related benefits and services.

Uses and disclosures that do not require your authorization

Subject to limits in the law, we can use and disclose your information without your authorization in the following situations.

• When state or federal law requires the disclosure, limited to what the law requires.
• For public health activities, including reporting suspected child, elder, or dependent adult abuse, and preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone's health or safety.
• For health oversight activities, including audits and investigations.
• For judicial and administrative proceedings, including responding to a court or administrative order — though our preference is to obtain your authorization first.
• For law enforcement purposes, including reporting a crime occurring on our premises.
• To coroners or medical examiners performing duties authorized by law.
• For specialized government functions, such as military missions, protective services, intelligence operations, or the safety of people in correctional institutions.
• For workers' compensation purposes, to comply with workers' compensation laws — again, our preference is to ask you first.

Lawsuits and disputes. If you are involved in a lawsuit, we may disclose information in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose information in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process from someone else involved in the dispute — but only if efforts have been made to tell you about the request, or to obtain an order protecting the information sought.

Limits to confidentiality

What you say in session, and the materials relevant to your treatment, are held confidential unless you ask us in writing to release all or part of it to a specifically named person. There are limits to that confidentiality, and we would rather you know them up front than discover them later. We may need to act, or to disclose information, in these situations:

• A client threatens or attempts suicide, or otherwise behaves in a way that carries a substantial risk of serious bodily harm.
• A client threatens grave bodily harm or death to another person.
• A clinician reasonably suspects that a client or another named person is the perpetrator, observer, or victim of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse of a child under 18.
• The same suspicion regarding an elderly person who may be subject to those abuses.
• Suspected neglect of a child or an elderly person.
• A court of law issues a legitimate subpoena for the information stated in it.
• A client is in therapy or being treated by order of a court, or information is obtained for the purpose of an expert report to an attorney.

Occasionally your therapist may consult with other professionals in their areas of expertise in order to give you the best treatment. In that context, information about you may be discussed without using your name.

Psychotherapy notes

We do keep psychotherapy notes, as that term is defined in 45 CFR § 164.501. Any use or disclosure of those notes requires your written authorization, unless the use or disclosure is: for treating you; for training or supervising mental health practitioners; for defending ourselves in a legal proceeding you bring; for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to investigate HIPAA compliance; required by law, and limited to what the law requires; required for certain health oversight activities concerning the clinician who wrote the notes; required by a coroner performing duties authorized by law; or required to help avert a serious threat to the health and safety of others.

Your privacy outside the therapy room

• If we run into each other in public, your therapist will not acknowledge you first. Your privacy matters more to us than the greeting, and we will never put you in the position of having to explain how you know us.
• Recording is not permitted. To protect the confidential nature of psychotherapy, Blank Slate Therapy prohibits recording of therapy sessions in any format, audio or video.
• We do not connect on social media. We do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on social networking sites, and we do not communicate with clients through social media. This protects your confidentiality and keeps the professional relationship clear.

Clinicians working under supervision

Some of our clinicians are LPC-Associates, and some are provisionally licensed psychologists, working toward full licensure. Texas requires that they practice under regular clinical supervision, which means a supervising clinician provides consultation and guidance and has full access to the client's records. If your clinician is in supervision, your information may be disclosed to their supervisor for the purpose of providing you with good treatment, and if you are using insurance, your sessions may be billed under the supervisor's name.

You are entitled to know this before you begin, and to know who that supervisor is. Ask us at any time — call (214) 618-0588 and we will tell you who supervises your clinician and how to reach them. We list this arrangement here in general terms rather than naming individuals, because supervision assignments change; the office always has the current answer.

Texas law

In addition to HIPAA, our practice is governed by Texas law, which in several respects protects your records more than federal law does. Where the two differ, we follow the rule that is more protective of your privacy.

• Confidentiality of mental health records. Chapter 611 of the Texas Health and Safety Code makes communications between a patient and a mental health professional, and the records of those communications, confidential. They may generally be disclosed only with your signed, dated written consent identifying the information covered, the reason for the disclosure, and the person to receive it — or under one of the exceptions the statute lists.
• Threats of harm. Texas law permits disclosure to medical or law enforcement personnel if a clinician determines there is a probability of imminent physical injury to you or another person, or a probability of immediate mental or emotional injury to you.
• Reporting abuse and neglect. Texas law requires any person who believes a child is being abused or neglected to report it (Texas Family Code § 261.101), and requires the same for suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an elderly person or a person with a disability (Texas Human Resources Code § 48.051). These duties override confidentiality.
• Texas Medical Records Privacy Act. Chapter 181 of the Texas Health and Safety Code applies to us as a covered entity in Texas. Among other things, it requires us to provide requested electronic health records within 15 business days, to train our workforce on Texas and federal privacy law, and to obtain your authorization before an electronic disclosure of your protected health information except as the law otherwise allows.
• Licensing boards. Our clinicians are licensed by Texas boards, including the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council and the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, and are subject to those boards' rules on confidentiality, records, and professional conduct.

Minors and family members

When a client is a minor, a parent or legal guardian who consented to treatment generally has the right to access the minor's record under Texas law, and we will honor that right. At the same time, therapy works only when a young person can speak freely, so we discuss with families at the outset what will be shared and what will stay between the client and the clinician, and we will always tell a parent or guardian about a safety concern. Texas law also allows a child 16 or older, and younger children in the specific circumstances set out in the Texas Family Code, to consent to counseling on their own; in those situations the minor controls the release of the record.

For clients under 18, please bring any divorce decree or custody agreement that designates who has legal authority to consent to treatment to the intake appointment, so that we release information only to the person legally entitled to receive it.

Telehealth and electronic communication

We offer telehealth appointments to clients located in Texas. Sessions are conducted over a platform intended for health care use and covered by a business associate agreement, but no technology is completely secure, and a session can be affected by connection quality, equipment problems, or someone overhearing on either end. We ask that you take part from a private place where you will not be interrupted, using a device and network you trust.

Ordinary email and text messages are not secure. Anything sent that way can potentially be intercepted, and messages remain on the devices and servers they pass through. We use email and text mainly for scheduling and administrative matters, and we ask that you not send clinical or confidential details by those means. If you do contact us by email or text, you are consenting to our replying the same way; you can withdraw that consent at any time by telling us. The client portal and a telephone call are the more secure options, and we are glad to use them instead.

We are not a crisis service, and we do not monitor email, text, voicemail, the client portal, or the form on this website around the clock. If you are in crisis, call 911, or call or text 988. See our crisis resources page.

Your records

Records are the property of your assigned therapist. We keep them in an electronic health record system operated by a vendor bound by a business associate agreement, which requires that vendor to protect your information as we do. Our client portal is hosted by that vendor at blankslate.mytheranest.com.

Client records are disposed of five years after the file is closed, or five years after the date of our last contact. Disposal is done securely.

We also work with billing, technology, and professional service providers who may encounter protected health information in the course of their work. Each is required by contract to safeguard it and to use it only for the services they provide to us.

Good Faith Estimate

If you do not have insurance, or you are not using insurance, you have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate explaining how much your medical and mental health care will cost. Under federal law, health care providers must give patients who are uninsured or not using insurance an estimate of the expected charges for non-emergency services, including psychotherapy.

• You can ask us, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule a service.
• If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.
• For questions or more information about this right, visit cms.gov/nosurprises.

To request one, call (214) 618-0588 or email billing@blankslatetherapy.com. Asking for an estimate does not commit you to anything.

This website

This section describes information collected through blankslatetherapy.com, which is separate from the clinical records described above. Browsing this site does not create a client relationship, and this website is not a place to send confidential information.

• Contact and career forms. The forms on this site collect the name, email address, phone number, preferred office, and message you choose to give us, so that we can respond to you. Career applications also collect the resume and details you submit. Please do not include clinical, diagnostic, or other sensitive personal details in these forms — a note asking us to call you is enough. Submissions are transmitted over an encrypted connection and delivered to our staff by email.
• Spam protection. Our forms use Google reCAPTCHA to tell real visitors from automated abuse. reCAPTCHA collects hardware and software information and sends it to Google for analysis, subject to Google's privacy policy and terms of service.
• Analytics and cookies. We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors find and use the site — pages viewed, approximate location, device and browser type, and actions such as clicking a phone number, an email address, or the client portal link. This is aggregate traffic measurement; it is not connected to your clinical record, and we do not use it to identify you personally. Google Analytics sets cookies in your browser to do this. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, or install Google's opt-out browser add-on. Calls to 911 and 988 from this site are deliberately excluded from analytics tracking.
• Server logs. Our web host records standard technical information such as IP address, browser type, and pages requested, used for security and troubleshooting.
• Links to other sites. This site links to outside resources, including our client portal, mapping services, and crisis and community organizations. Once you leave blankslatetherapy.com, the privacy practices of the site you reach are theirs, not ours.
• Children. This website is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect information online from children under 13.
• Do Not Track. Browsers vary in how they send Do Not Track signals and there is no common standard for responding to them, so this site does not currently respond to them.
• We do not sell your information — not what you send through this site, and not what is in your clinical record.

Our responsibilities

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
• We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
• We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us in writing that we may. If you do, you can change your mind at any time by telling us in writing, though we cannot take back a disclosure already made with your permission.

Changes to this notice

We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we hold about you, including information created or received before the change. The current version is always posted on this page with its effective date, and a copy is available on request and in our offices.

Questions and complaints

If you have a question about this notice, or about how your information is handled, please contact us — call (214) 618-0588, email info@blankslatetherapy.com, or use the contact form. We would much rather answer a question than have you wonder about it.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us at the address below. You may also file with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by mail at 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20201, by phone at 1-877-696-6775, or online at hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints. You may also contact the Texas Attorney General or the licensing board that regulates your clinician. We will not retaliate against you, and your care will not be affected, because you filed a complaint.

Contact us

Privacy Officer
Blank Slate Therapy
5899 Preston Road, Suite 404
Frisco, TX 75034

Phone: (214) 618-0588
Text: (469) 980-9445
Fax: (877) 345-4565
Email: info@blankslatetherapy.com
Online: send us a message

Our offices keep regular business hours in Frisco, Southlake, McKinney and Lewisville, and we see clients throughout Texas by telehealth. Messages left outside business hours are answered by the following business day.

This notice is provided for informational purposes and is not legal advice. It summarizes rights and obligations under HIPAA and Texas law; the underlying laws control where this summary and the law differ. If you are a client, the Notice of Privacy Practices and Informed Consent you signed at intake are the controlling documents for your care — ask us for a copy at any time.