Email Me (850) 371-5325

Special Resources

National/State Lifelines

Tele-Health

Selected Policies

What Can We Do Better?

National/State Lifelines

Suicide

  • 1-800-273-8255
  • 911

Domestic Violence

  • 1-800-799-7233
  • 911

Physical/Sexual Assault

  • 911

TELE-HEALTH

This resource will help many people access their scheduled appointment, especially those who:

  • Live in a rural area, or otherwise are underserved by therapists and coaches due to shortages.
  • Work across town, want to keep their appointment, but they usually leave work a little early to skip the downtown traffic. He/she could be home without venturing into the heavier traffic and keep their appointment via telehealth.
  • Are physically disabled and find it painful to go out to any function, including for therapy.
  • Have disorders like extreme anxiety, agoraphobia, or other phobias which do not bother them much when at home in safe, familiar surroundings, but who have problems doing ordinary tasks when away from home.
  • Work out of town all week over the road, and are home every weekend, but their counselor is in the office only on weekdays. Telehealth allows counseling over the road at various locations, such as in an office of their clients, in a hotel room, in quiet rooms at libraries 300 miles away, etc.
  • Are on vacation in the Bahamas with the family. With good internet, and an understanding family, one hour out of the week they slip away to privacy in the room to complete therapy for the week.
    Many more examples. Would telehealth work for you?

What You Need to Know to Have a Tele-Health Session

  1. You need a desktop computer or laptop with at least a 2.5 GHz processor and at least 4 GB of RAM. If you use a tablet, make sure it has built-in webcam and speakers. Make sure your computer, laptop, or tablet has built-in speakers and webcam so that you can communicate with the professional. You can also use a smartphone, iOS 10 or Android 6.0, and you will need to download an app, Telehealth by SimplePractice, available from the app store for iOS or Android.
  2. You should receive an email or text reminder approximately 10 minutes prior to the session, assuming you have completed the information needed for the Telehealth session. Once you open the connection per instruction, you will see yourself on the computer or phone. If the professional has joined the call you will see him/her.
  3. When you are ready, click JOIN VIDEO CALL. This will take you straight into the video call. In the future, this will all be much simpler to you.
  4. If the therapist/coach does not join the call immediately, there may be a delay because of finishing with another client, so please be patient. Watch your email/text for any notices from the professional.
  5. We will together test for voice quality, static, feedback, and other possible technical adjustments, which will go away once we get it all adjusted out and we will have future connections error-free! Cross your fingers! ?
  6. The quality of the call may depend on your internet speed, or equipment malfunction, etc. but we will make it right. You will get a stronger internet connection if you do not use wireless router but plug an ethernet cable directly from the router that comes in the location from the internet company, into your device. If you are using a device that makes that impossible, simply sit close to the router and that may increase stability in the call.
  7. To check internet speed, you can go to google and search internet speed test, which will give you the download and upload speed, and it should be greater than 10 mbps, to make your experience in Telehealth best.
  8. Make sure you are not downloading large files at the time, nor anyone on your system is using a lot of bandwidth-eating programs while you are on the call.
  9. If there are problems in connecting to the video call, use the pre-call tool to improve the connection.
  10. If you are unable to connect, call our office and we will help you troubleshoot and get connected. We have tried to cover ALL issues above, but with the internet and electronics you never know! It will get easier after the first time.

SELECTED POLICIES

  1. Appointment cancellations. In order to avoid paying for a session where client knew they could not be present, at least 48 hours’ advance notice is required, or full charge is required.
  2. Referrals to Practice for therapy or coaching. There are no incentives to a referring client when they refer another client. We hope the goodwill and results achieved by our coaches and therapists will be enough for clients to refer their friends and family to our practice. No considerations can be made by the practice for this kindness, except for our profound appreciation. We hope also those that clients refer will be grateful as well.
  3. Payment method to practice. Because of the high degree of automation and systems in our business practice, we do not accept cash or checks for payment. We will require a debit or credit card to be on file, and when sessions are completed, the card is charged. If the card is not sufficient to pay the fees due from the client, no further sessions will be held until the deficiency is cured.

WHAT CAN WE DO BETTER?

We’ll give all suggestions our attention and will notify you if your suggestion merits change, and if not (if you include your contact information).

Thank you for caring enough to make a suggestion.