1. Purpose of Recordings and Transcripts: To provide you with the most effective and personalized therapeutic care, your therapist may, with your explicit consent, temporarily record your therapy sessions. These recordings will be used solely for the purpose of creating more accurate, thorough, and insightful progress notes. By reviewing the recording or its transcript, your therapist can:
* Recall specific details, nuances, and patterns in conversation that might be missed during a live session.
* Gain a deeper understanding of the session content and your emotional experience.
* Identify key themes, challenges, and strengths to better inform treatment planning.
* Develop more precise and effective interventions tailored to your needs.
2. How Recordings and Transcripts Will Be Used: * Recordings will be made using secure, encrypted technology (e.g., a HIPAA-compliant platform if applicable).
* Following the session, your therapist will access the recording and/or a generated transcript to review the session content for the purpose of completing your progress notes.
* No one else will have access to the recordings or transcripts except for your therapist.
* The recordings and transcripts will be used only for the purpose described above and will not be shared with any third party, nor will they be used for supervision, training, research, or any other purpose without your separate and explicit written consent.
3. Confidentiality and Security: All recordings and transcripts will be treated with the utmost confidentiality, consistent with all ethical guidelines and legal requirements (e.g., HIPAA). They will be stored securely and protected from unauthorized access.
4. Immediate Destruction of Recordings: Upon completion of the progress notes for the session, the audio recording of that session will be immediately and permanently destroyed. Transcripts, if generated, will also be immediately and permanently destroyed after the progress notes are finalized. No recordings or transcripts will be stored long-term. Only the written progress notes, which will be de-identified as much as possible while maintaining clinical utility, will become part of your permanent client record.
5. Your Right to Refuse or Withdraw Consent:
Your consent to this process is entirely voluntary.
* You have the right to refuse to consent to session recordings at any time, and this will not affect the quality of your care or your relationship with your therapist.
* If you initially consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, for any reason. If you withdraw consent, no further sessions will be recorded, and any existing recordings (if not yet destroyed for previous sessions) will be immediately destroyed.
6. Benefits and Risks:
* Potential Benefits to You: More accurate and comprehensive progress notes, leading to a deeper understanding by your therapist, more effective treatment planning, and ultimately, better therapeutic outcomes.
* Potential Risks: While significant measures are taken to ensure security and confidentiality, the primary theoretical risk is a breach of privacy. However, this risk is significantly mitigated by the immediate destruction of recordings and transcripts, the secure storage protocols, and strict adherence to confidentiality guidelines.
7. Discussion and Questions: I have discussed this process with my therapist and have had the opportunity to ask questions. All my questions have been answered to my satisfaction.
Client Consent:
I have read and understand the information provided above regarding the temporary use of session recordings and transcripts for clinical documentation and treatment enhancement. I consent to my therapist using recordings of my sessions for the purposes described, with the understanding that these recordings will be immediately destroyed once the progress notes are completed.