Policies and Procedures
PRIVACY POLICY
Under law, all information disclosed within sessions and the written records pertaining to those sessions are confidential and may not be revealed to anyone without your verbal authorization and/or written consent except where disclosure is required by law. Disclosure is most commonly required by law when you or another person identified by you is in eminent danger. Then we are legally and ethically mandated to communicate with third parties who can protect the endangered person regardless of your preferences. The most common situations for legal disclosure include hospitalizations because of suicidal or dangerously violent behavior; warning potential victims of homicidal intent; and contacting protective services because of neglect, abuse, or molestation of a child. If there is an emergency during our work together, or in the future after termination, and we are concerned about your personal safety, the possibility of you injuring someone else, or about you receiving proper psychiatric care,we will do whatever we can within the limits of the law to prevent you from injuring yourself or others and to ensure that you receive the proper medical care. For this purpose, we may also contact someone whose name you have provided for us in case of emergency.
Disclosure may also be required pursuant to a legal proceeding. If you place your mental status at issue in litigation initiated by you, the defendant may have the right to obtain the psychotherapy records and/or testimony by staff at SilverTree Psychology.
CONFIRMATION OF APPOINTMENTS
We do require confirmation of all patient appointments, one (1) week prior to the scheduled appointment. You will be sent a reminder via email, phone, or text (your choice) to which you can respond to confirm your appointment. Please understand that we do not have any front desk staff at this time, so your confirmation must be done via our electronic record.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Late cancellations or no-show appointments take the time of another patient. A scheduled appointment means that time is reserved only for you. Missed or cancelled appointments for any reason, with less than 48 hours notice, will result in a cancellation fee. We cannot allow exceptions to this policy.
REPORTS
Our reports are quite extensive in order to supply comprehensive information of your evaluation. We advise you to expect approximately two (2) weeks wait time. Corrections and additional information are sometimes added after reports are reviewed in draft form during the feedback session.
PAYMENT
All payments are due at the time of any service. Payments can be made through MasterCard, Visa, Discover, or American Express. We do not accept cash payments.
PHONE CALLS
We are dedicated to our patients and will strive to return emails within 24-72 hours. Please be patient as we do not have a front desk staff to field calls for us at this time. Rest assured that we will do our best to remain in full contact with you.
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For any emergencies, please dial 9-1-1 or get to the nearest emergency room.
INSURANCE
SilverTree Psychology does not accept insurance or provincial coverage at this time.
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At the time of the appointment, you are financially responsible for the service fee. We are happy to provide you with an invoice to submit, should you wish to be reimbursed by your covering entity.
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We are not part of any specific program or company that works in reimbursement, however you may want to look at companies such as Reimbursify to help you file your claims.
RECORDS
Since your relationship with SilverTree Psychology is confidential, you must provide us with a signed release in order for us to send records to any other provider. You may sign this release form through our Patient Forms page titled Release of Information.
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You may also have the provider who is requesting the records send us your signed release form to Info@SilverTreePsychology.ca. There is no charge for records being sent to other health care providers, provincial agencies, or schools in order to maintain continuity of care. There is, however, a $50 fee for records to be sent to parents, attorneys, or any agency that does not provide direct medical treatment to the patient.
SEPARATED/DIVORCED FAMILIES
We are NOT responsible for communicating information regarding a visit to a non-attending parent / guardian. We will NOT be calling the non-attending parent / guardian. If it is imperative the non-attending parent/guardian speak to the provider, a phone consultation must be made and there will be a separate fee. We can not and do not act as a mediator between parents under contentious circumstances. We strive to avoid being a “hired gun” by parents, lawyers or other professionals; and we hope that is respected. Both parents are always welcome, explicitly and implicitly, at all visits; indeed, that is preferred! Parents are responsible for ensuring that coordination of each of their own schedules allows for both to be present. This of course requires a degree of cooperation that, if absent, will preclude the most optimal evaluation.