Connected PRO,  LLC is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of our clients. We do not share, sell, or otherwise disclose information about our clients to any other party except as requested by the client in writing. The law protects the relationship between a client and a therapist however, and none of your information will be distributed to individuals or agencies outside of Connected PRO with the exception the following situations:

• Suspected child abuse or dependent adult or elder abuse, for which we are required by law to report this to the appropriate authorities immediately.
• If a client is threatening serious bodily harm to another person/s, we must notify the police and inform the intended victim.
  
• If a client intends to harm himself or herself, we will make every effort to enlist their cooperation in insuring their safety. If they do not cooperate, we will take further measures without their permission that are provided to us by law in order to ensure their safety.
  
• Therapists are required by law to report incidences of sexual misconduct on the part of other therapists.
  
• Additionally, our clinical staff may consult with a their supervisors.
  

We abide by HIPAA practice standards.

COMMUNICATING OVER THE INTERNET
There are limits to protecting your confidentiality over the Internet. While we do our utmost to preserve your confidentiality, we cannot guarantee privacy. Please consider the information you submit over the Internet prior to sending.

We strongly discourage using email or our “contact us” form to send messages of a personal or confidential nature. Even though we do our best to keep our email confidential email is copied, archived, and retransmitted continuously as part of normal processing. Because of this, please use email only to request information about our services, or other non-confidential matters.

There are several ways you can communicate with us without having to send information over the Internet:
• in person
• by phone
• by fax
• by mail

INFORMATION GATHERED ON THIS SITE

This site generally stores no information about its visitors, with the exceptions of basic logging for site statistics (and then only machine addresses, not personal email addresses), and information provided by visitors who fill out on-line applications, surveys, or requests.

On certain pages, we give visitors the option of providing us with names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, personal information, and various other kinds of details. This more personal information is not gathered without visitors knowing and providing active permission and participation.

This site does not monitor private communications or make any use of such communications.

This site does not display or make available visitors’ personal information, such as contact information, even if it is already publicly available, to any person except the user himself or herself, except at the request of the user.

This site does not retrieve personal information from the visitor’s computer that was not originally sent to us or by us.

Connected PRO is the sole owner of the information collected on the Connected PRO website. Connected PRO collects information from our users at several different points on our web site.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s computer tied to information about the user. We use persistent cookies. A persistent cookie is a small text file stored on the user’s hard drive for an extended period of time. Persistent cookies can be removed by following Internet browser help file directions for “removing cookies”.

Log Files

Like most standard web site servers, we use log files. This includes Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track users’ movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. This data is not linked to personally identifiable information.

BROWSER CHECK
The information you share with web sites is only as safe as your web browser. Use the Browser Check, courtesy of VeriSign, to ensure you’ve got the latest, most secure web browser.

CONTACT
Questions about our privacy policy? Please contact us for further information.

Social Media and Technology Policy

This document outlines the social media and technology policy of Connected PRO. Please read it to understand how you can expect to interact with Connected PRO through the Internet.

FRIENDING ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

We do not accept friend requests from current or previous clients on social networking sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) for our personal account. Any friend requests will be maintained through our public accounts or fan accounts (ie. Connected PRO). Adding clients as personal friends can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. We also strive to keep the therapeutic relationship boundaries clear.

Connected PRO Facebook pages and Twitter accounts are for sharing of information through posts, articles and practice updates. Connected PRO fan pages and profiles do not solicit and will not solicit testimonials from current or former clients. All information (articles, blog posts, etc) are available via www.connectedpro.com and therefore friending or becoming a fan is not necessary to access such information.

Clients may choose whether or not  to follow the postings of Connected PRO or any of its employees. We will not follow clients of Connected PRO via social networking. We believe that this can create confusion in regard to whether it is being done as part of your treatment or to satisfy personal curiosity. In addition, viewing of your online activities without your consent and without our explicit arrangement towards a specific purpose could potentially have a negative influence on our working relationship. If there are things from your online life that you wish to share with your therapist, please bring those to session with you where they can be shared and explored together.

INTERACTING

Please DO NOT contact Connected PRO or its employees via Chat or messaging on sites such as Facebook, LinkdIn or Twitter. These methods are not secure and we may not respond in a timely manner. Should you need help immediately, please contact us via telephone or private voice mail. Do not use wall postings, @replies or other means of engaging with us in public online if a client/therapist relationship has been established. Engaging with us in this way could compromise your confidentiality.

Again, if contact is required between sessions, please do so by telephone. The second best method is via email info@connectedpro.com. Email should be used mostly for administrative items such as changing or confirming appointment times. See information below regarding email interactions.

EMAIL

Connected PRO prefers using email for mostly administrative purposes i.e. changing appointment times, contacting therapist or office to request an appointment, or confirm appointment times. Connected PRO and the client should recognize that email is not completely secure or confidential. If you chose to communicate via email, be aware that emails are retained in the logs of your and my Internet service providers. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are in theory available to be read by the system administrator(s) of the Internet service provider. Please be aware that any emails received from you and any responses sent to you become part of your legal record.

NEWSLETTERS

Connected PRO shares a digital newsletter via email with those parties interested in receiving the communication. Clients reserve the right to subscribe or unsubscribe to the email as they see fit. Connected PRO and its employees do not and will not track who is receiving or not receiving the newsletter. Connected PRO does not share email or personal information with third parties. It may use emails to notify its subscribers of upcoming events, classes or groups. If you would like to opt out of being notified via newsletter simply unsubscribe at the top of each newsletter, contact us, or call 803-336-1089.

CONCLUSION

Thank you for taking the time to review our Social Media Policy.  If you have questions or concerns about any of these policies and procedures or regarding our potential interactions on the Internet, do bring them to our attention so we can discuss them by email or phone 803-336-1089.