Because of the unique nature of our service and the privacy which is your right and both our and your responsibility to ensure, we go the extra professionally ethical mile to ensure that the information we gather from you, and any information we send to you is within the guidelines which you are asked to give us, so that your privacy and safety are ensured — both on the Internet, and in your own home/relationship environment.
On our Home Page, we refer to the privacy of your information (see “Is it Confidential?”), and “no reporting, except as required by law”. This means:
1) Courts can subpoena a counselor’s records. Should you be involved in a legal situation, or of your own volition disclose that you have been in therapy, the Courts can require that you disclose with whom, and then ask that we copy our records and submit them to the Court.
2) If a client or prospective client is or appears to the therapist to be a threat to themself or to others, that must, by law, be reported to the police.
Because we sometimes receive inquiries from visitors who are in abusive situations, we wish to make doubly sure that your contact with us, and any we may have with you do not endanger your safety in any way. In fact, within the services and information we provide, we seek to help you gain a greater measure of safety when this is a potential problem.
We may ask you if anyone else has access to your email account (can pick up your mail, and/or might see communications that we send to you). If so, you may wish to set up some alternative options for receiving mail and storing what you receive from us; such as with a friend – where there is no danger of your privacy being invaded by a potential abuser).
Should we ask for your telephone number, we may also ask if anyone else has access to your phone and/or answering machine/voice mail for the same reasons as above.
We may use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, and to administer our Web site. Your IP address is used to help identify you (and your shopping cart) and to gather broad demographic information.
With our Chat Module (chat window available on some of our web pages) we are able to see your IP address, the server through which you have come to our web site, the search word or phrase you used, what page you are on, and sometimes, when watching the screen, what other pages you visit on our site. This information helps us to help you and to, hopefully, make your visit more productive.
We might attempt to offer you additional information, if we see the search word(s) you have entered are not likely to have gotten you to the page(s) you need, to get the answers or help sought. This only works if you are willing to chat when approached, or at minimum, read what is shared. We try to offer you something that may be of more help than the search engines might do.
Occasionally we will make a survey available for you to answer, which will allow us to serve you better. What you share or don’t share is your choice, of course; however, we hope you will be honest in your comments.
We may ask questions regarding your computer equipment for purposes of tailoring our offerings for use on your computer; and we attempt to keep up to date with those types of equipment which enable us to better communicate across distances.
We use client contact information from the registration form, or any of our mailing lists to which you voluntarily subscribe, to send you information about our company and new offerings. The client’s contact information is also used to contact you when necessary.
You may opt-out of receiving future mailings; see the choice/opt-out section below. Financial information that is collected is used to check the users’ qualifications for registration and to bill the user for products and services. Demographic and profile data may also be collected at our site. We use this data for other purposes to help us serve you best.
This site contains links to other sites. InspiredCounseling.com is not responsible for the privacy practices nor the content of such other Web sites.
Our site uses an order form (& a qualifying form for beta testers and multi-media therapy set purchasers) for customers to request information products, and services. From those order forms, and also from any emails which you send to us, we collect visitor’s contact information (like your email address), unique identifiers (like your social security number or other specifics), and financial information (like your bank account information, or credit card numbers – to verify your account and that your online or mailed check will clear, or that your credit or individual purchase limit has not been exceeded). We may ask questions regarding your computer equipment for purposes of tailoring our offerings for use on your computer.
Contact information from the order form is used to send orders and information about our company to our customers. The customer’s contact information is also used to get in touch with you when necessary. You may opt-out of receiving future mailings; see the choice/opt-out section below. Financial information that is collected is used to check the users’ qualifications and bill the user for products and services.
Demographic and profile data may also be collected at our site. We may use this data to tailor your experience at our site, showing you content that we think you might be interested in, and displaying the content according to your preferences. All of these options (as they are developed) will enable us to serve you better.
We recommend you DO NOT DISCLOSE ANY PERSONAL OR IDENTIFYING INFORMATION, NOR YOUR LOCATION, TO OTHER PARTICIPANTS. WE RECOMMEND YOU CHOOSE A PSEUDONYM OR ‘USER NAME’ THAT IS CONSTANT, AND THAT YOUR TRUE IDENTITY IS KNOWN ONLY TO YOU AND YOUR ONLINE THERAPIST AT THIS AGENCY.
Remember that the people who participate in these groups are all in varying degrees of wallowing in, or growth out of unhealthy patterns of behavior and addiction, and are not likely to be healthy objects of affection, friendship, or persons with whom to build a relationship, nor a separate support system outside of the therapy/support group participation here.
While it is important to support each other within the group format, it is not wise to maintain separate outside relationships with these people, no matter how well you may think you know them, or how deeply you may feel you identify with their situations. CONSIDER THIS A STRONG FOREWARNING, AND VIOLATE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!
When we recommend payment services, such as PayPal, we do so in part because they protect your account numbers by transferring funds for you without your having to divulge your checking account number, credit or debit card numbers, and any other personal information.
Within that framework, our Web site meets the guidelines of TRUST-e’s Children’s program. We choose to:
1. NOT collect online contact information without prior parental consent or parental notification, which will include an opportunity for the parent to prevent use of the information and participation in the activity. Without prior parental consent, online information will only be used to respond directly to the child’s request and will not be used for other purposes without prior parental consent.
2. NOT collect personally identifiable offline contact information without prior parental consent.
3. NOT distribute to third parties any personally identifiable information without prior parental consent.
4. NOT give the ability to publicly post or otherwise distribute personally identifiable contact information without prior parental consent.
5. NOT entice by the prospect of a special game, prize or other activity, to divulge more information than is needed to participate in the activity.
Should it be determined that we have been contacted by a child without our awareness, we wish to have information about such fact from any person who is aware of such fact, and will seek to rectify the situation immediately.
We do not collect information for, nor share your information with any of our partners; this site offers a service which is very cognizant of and respectful of your privacy and the sensitivity of your identity.
Should you, however, follow a link to one of our site’s banners or linking partner’s sites, you are responsible for whatever information you may divulge there, and you should be aware: they may have the ability to identify the site from which you traveled to their location. While we encourage your participation in any of their programs, or we would not include and recommend them here, please be aware that they may be able to identify whose site you were visiting prior to theirs. If that is sensitive information you wish to protect, then copy down the URL which appears next to their button, and only enter their site that way, after you have finished here, and left our site completely by closing your browser and then opening a new one.
You are free to print off any of the pages to which you normally have access on our site, as long as you do so in their entirety, and with identifying and copyright information intact.
We give you the following options for removing your information from our database to not receive future communications or to no longer receive our newsletter.
Within any questionnaire or order form you should be asked if you can be contacted. Here, if you wish to provide an alternate email address or mailing address for delivery of product you order, is one place you should give this information to protect your safety and privacy. You may wish to consider an alias. This information will be maintained in utmost secrecy by this Agency. If you do use an alias, please record it for yourself in a safe place, so that you can remember having given it at a later date.
Jannette Robert Murray, Psychotherapist
Life Directions Counseling Center
P. O. Box 14379
Spokane, WA 99214-0379
USA
email: JanCounselor@comcast.net
©1997-99 TRUSTe and 1999-2008 Life Directions. All Rights Reserved
This page updated 1/21/2008.
Use your Back button to return to the previous page.