Practice Policies

Fortitude Therapeutic Services serves clients who live in Texas. We plan to expand to provided therapeutic services to individuals who live in other states in the near future.

Your privacy and confidentiality are extremely important to us. The same laws that protect the confidentiality of your medical and mental health information during in-person visits also apply to telehealth and teletherapy services. All information shared in sessions, along with treatment related materials, will remain confidential unless you provide written consent to release specific information to appointed individuals. To release specific information a Release of Information (ROI) would be completed and signed by you. However, there are specific legal exceptions where confidentiality cannot be maintained, as listed below:

• Threatening or attempting suicide or exhibiting behaviors that pose as a serious risk of harm to yourself.

• Threatening to cause serious harm or death to another person.

• Presentation of reasonable suspicion of abuse (physical, emotional, sexual) or neglect of a child under the age of 18.

• Presentation of reasonable suspicion of abuse (physical, emotional, sexual) or neglect of an elderly or disabled person.

• If your records are subpoenaed or disclosed under court order.

You have the right to withhold or withdraw consent at any time without affecting your right to future care or treatment.

Consultation is important to ensuring quality services. We may consult with other professionals as necessary to ensure you are receiving the best quality care. In these instances, your identity will remain anonymous unless you provide explicit permission otherwise.

If you happen to encounter your therapist outside of therapy, they may not acknowledge you first to protect your privacy. If you choose to greet your provider, please note that they may not engage in extended conversations to maintain profession boundaries.

We are committed to providing a safe and confidential space for your therapy journey.

If you have any questions or concerns about this policy, please email us.

Fortitude Therapeutic Services, LLC utilizes Simple Practice (www.simplepractice.com) as our electronic health record platform. Simple Practice assists with scheduling, secure messaging, HIPAA-compliant video conferencing, record keeping, and billing. Simple Practice utilizes network and software security protocols to protect the confidentiality of patients’ identification and imaging dates, and will include measures to safeguard the data and to ensure it's integrity against intentional or unintentional corruption

At Fortitude Therapeutic Services, we believe that everyone should have access to affordable counseling. We have compared the average cost of therapy in the Central Texas area which ranges between $125 - $250 per appointment. While we cannot guarantee to accommodate all income levels, we strive for affordability in our services. All intake (initial appointment necessary for all new clients and necessary for therapeutic process) will have a fee of $175. All follow up sessions are 50 minutes and will have a fee of $125. Fees are based on a provider’s education, experience, credentials, and licensure level. Standard rates for therapy services are considered “private pay.” At this time, Fortitude Therapeutic Servies does not accept insurance; we are in the process of accepting major Texas insurance providers.

Payment is required at the time of service. We will ask for you to store your credit card information via the Simple Practice electronic health record for the highest level of security. Your care will be charged the billed payment at each session.

If your unpaid balance exceeds $200, future appointments may be postponed until the balance is cleared.

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If you arrive late, the remaining time will be used, but you will lose part of the session. If you are more than 20 minutes late to your session, we recommend that you rescheduled, and you are encouraged to reach out to the staff via secure message, email, or phone.

To accommodate clients on our growing waiting list, those with frequent cancellations may have their therapy terminated after a review of their account.

If you are running late by 20 minutes or more, we suggest rescheduling to ensure you receive full benefit of the session. If late, we can only offer the remaining scheduled time without a guarantee of additional makeup time. You can choose to continue with the remaining session, but please note that you will be charged for the full session as originally scheduled.

Regular attendance is key for progress in counseling. If three consecutive sessions are missed, we’ll need to evaluate if it’s the right time for you to engage in therapy. We aim to ensure our services are beneficial and fit well with your schedule, so continuous missed sessions might indicate the need for a pause or change in approach.

Ending the therapeutic relationship can be challenging, which is why it is essential to follow a structured termination process to ensure a sense of closure. The duration of the termination process will vary based on the length and intensity of your treatment.

There may be instances where our providers determine, after discussing with you, that therapy is not being utilized effectively or if there are unresolved payment issues. In such cases, we may initiate the termination process. However, we will not terminate our therapeutic relationship without first discussion the reasons for doing so and exploring alternatives.

Please note, if you fail to schedule an appointment for three consecutive weeks without prior arrangements, our providers reserve the right to consider the professional relationship discontinued.

This termination policy is in place to ensure that the therapeutic relationship concludes thoughtfully and respectfully.

If client’s need to contact their therapist between appointments, use secure messaging or email them directly at info@fortitudetherapeuticservices.com.

We are often not immediately available; however, we will attempt to return your email withing 24 - 72 hours. If you are in a true emergency situation, please call 911 or any local emergency room.

We cannot ensure the confidentiality of any form of communication through electronic media, including text messages. If you prefer to communicate via email or text message for issues regarding scheduling, we will make accommodations to do so.

We will do our best to return messages in a timely manner, we cannot guarantee immediate response. We request that you do not use these methods of communication to discuss therapeutic content and/or request assistance for emergencies.

Services by electronic means, including but not limited to telephone communication, services over the internet, facsimile machines (fax machine), and e-mail is considered telemedicine.

If you are someone you know is considering suicide or showing warning signs of considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

If you need to contact your therapist between sessions, please email them directly or contact info@fortitudetherapeuticservices.com.

Due to the importance of your confidentiality and the importance of minimizing dual relationships, We do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc).

We believe that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of the therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please bring this up with your therapist during your session.

For more information about dual relationships, please click here.