Phone: (208) 887-6283 to call if you have any questions or concerns.
Client Disclosure
I am pleased you have chosen me as your counselor. This document is designed to inform you about my background and orientation, and to ensure you understand our professional relationship. It deals with privacy issues and supplements other documents given to you about related aspects of therapy. When you sign my intake paperwork and initial receipt of this document, it represents an agreement between us. Please read it carefully and note any questions for our next meeting.
Licensure & jurisdiction
I am a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with the Idaho Board of Examiners for Licensed Professionals. Only licensed mental-health professionals may provide counseling services in Idaho — so the clinical counseling described on this site is offered to clients located in Idaho. I have also been Nationally Licensed as a Hypnotherapist for over 25 years. Outside Idaho, I am certified as a coach, so clients located outside Idaho can receive coaching from me only, through my other practice at communicatinglove.com — not clinical counseling.
Privacy & confidentiality
I am personally and professionally committed to protecting your privacy. Therapy can only take place in a setting where everyone feels secure in the knowledge that their thoughts and feelings will remain protected within the confines of the therapy office. While you are in my office, you will have my full attention to assist you in progressing toward your goals.
Services & fees
In return for a fee of the contracted amount per session (see the fee schedule), I agree to provide counseling services for you. It is impossible to guarantee any specific result regarding your goals; my services will be rendered in a professional manner consistent with accepted ethical standards. Because counseling is a private and often emotionally intimate experience, discussing the issues you bring may cause predictable or unpredictable feelings. The end result of counseling is to help you feel empowered and independent.
Professional boundaries
When counselors blend the roles of friend and counselor, they create a conflict of interest that compromises the objectivity needed for sound professional judgment. Because of this, please do not offer me gifts or invite me to nonprofessional social activities during the time I am serving as your counselor — our relationship stays strictly professional. Sexual intimacy with a counselor is never appropriate and should be reported to the state licensing board.
Qualifications
I received my Master's degree (M.Ed.) in Community Counseling from the College of Idaho, and my Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Boise State University in 1987. I have been a Certified Instructor of "Parent Project," a parenting system for out-of-control teens, and a Certified Prepare/Enrich Facilitator.
Therapeutic approach
The primary difference between counselors and other mental-health professionals is that counselors espouse the wellness model of mental health rather than the illness or medical model. I have been a Professional Counselor since 1992. I work with clients whom I believe have the capacity to resolve their own problems with proper assistance. As individuals expand their perspective, learn new skills, and become more accepting of themselves and others, they become more capable of finding happiness and contentment. Self-awareness and self-acceptance sometimes take a long time to achieve — some clients need only a few sessions; others need months or years.
I am biased toward helping couples and families stay together; however, decisions on marital status are not mine but yours as the client. Most relationships improve with as little as 5–10 sessions, while some clients seek much more support. I'd estimate the majority of individual clients feel complete with 6–10 sessions, and most relationship clients with 10–15 sessions. Where complicated grief, addiction, or childhood trauma is involved, 6 months to 2 years of treatment with periodic tune-ups is common.
Faith & values
I have worked with spiritual and religious leaders as well as individuals from many life orientations and views. It may be useful for you to know that I personally consider myself a Christian and am active in my religious community. I once studied toward becoming a chaplain and served in the Army as a combat soldier before becoming a counselor. I am open to discussing anyone's personal beliefs for your own values clarification, and I invite you to include your own spiritual beliefs in our work together, though that is entirely up to you and never a requirement.
Exceptions to confidentiality
I will keep confidential anything you say to me, with these general exceptions: you authorize me to tell someone else, I determine you are a danger to yourself or others, or I am ordered by a court to disclose information. In the unfortunate event I find sufficient cause to report abuse or neglect, I am mandated by my licensing to do so under the following circumstances:
- Abuse or neglect of children, older adults, or disabled adults
- Danger to self
- Danger to others
- Fatal, communicable disease
I will consult with and enlist the help of others to help you and others stay safe.
Consultation
So that I may better serve you, please know that being a Professional Counselor includes periodic consultation. I may consult with colleagues or a professional consultant whenever I work with an individual more than 10 times, roughly every ten visits thereafter. Without using identifying information, I may also consult with a monthly peer group of professionals. In most cases, even when I do consult, they will be unable to identify you from what was discussed.
Public encounters
To prevent an inadvertent breach of confidentiality, it is customary not to greet clients in public. Should we happen to meet in public, I will intentionally not say hello, in order to protect your confidentiality. You are welcome to greet me if you'd like, and I will do my best to respond warmly.