What this site collects, and what it does not.

This is not our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices. This policy covers information collected through this public website, such as page visits, cookies and analytics. Your health information as a client is covered by a separate document, the Notice of Privacy Practices, which you receive with your intake paperwork and may request from us at any time.

Kearns Counseling keeps this website simple on purpose. This site does not collect your information directly. When you reach out to us, you are handed off to a secure system built to hold it.

The short version

• No form on this website collects your information. Our contact form is not hosted here. Choosing it takes you to a secure form run on Google Workspace, which is bound by a HIPAA business associate agreement. This website is not.
• You can also simply call, text or email. Those arrive in the same protected systems.
• We use Google Analytics to understand how people find the site. That involves cookies.
• We do not sell your information. We have nothing to sell.
• Your paperwork and anything clinical lives in a separate, protected system, never on this site.

What this site collects automatically

Like nearly every website, visiting these pages creates a record on our hosting provider’s servers. That record generally includes your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you viewed, and the date and time. It is used to keep the site running, secure and reasonably fast.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to see which pages people read and roughly where visitors come from. It sets cookies in your browser and reports to Google. We look at it in aggregate. We are trying to learn whether the site is useful, not who you are.

You can opt out. Google publishes a browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout, and most browsers let you block or clear cookies.

Caching and spam filtering

We use a caching tool to make pages load quickly, which may set a cookie holding no personal information. We also use an anti-spam service; if a spam filter ever processes a submission, that content goes to the service for evaluation.

What you send us on purpose

Our contact form

If you use our contact form, you leave this website. The form is hosted on Google Workspace, which operates under a HIPAA business associate agreement with the practice. That is a deliberate choice: the company that hosts this website is not permitted to hold health information, so we do not collect anything through it.

The form asks for what we need in order to call you back, such as your name, phone, email and how you prefer to be reached. Please do not type health or medical details into it. If you do, we treat that information as protected health information under our Notice of Privacy Practices.

Calling, texting and email

If you call, text or email the practice, we keep what you send so we can respond and, where appropriate, so it becomes part of your record. Email and text are not secure. They can be intercepted or misdirected. Please do not use them for anything urgent.

In an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. You may also call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Cookies

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. This site uses them for analytics and basic site function. You can refuse or delete them in your browser settings and the site will still work.

Who we share with

We do not sell, rent or trade information from this website. It is handled by a small number of service providers who keep the site running:

• Our web host – stores and serves these pages, and keeps server logs.
• Google Analytics – measures site traffic.
• Our anti-spam provider – screens submissions for spam.
• Google Workspace – hosts our contact form and our email, under a HIPAA business associate agreement.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of the practice, our clients or the public.

Health information is covered separately

Protected health information under HIPAA is governed by our Notice of Privacy Practices, not by this policy. That Notice explains how your health information may be used and disclosed, and lists your rights, including to see your record, request an amendment, and request an accounting of disclosures. You receive it with your intake paperwork, and we will give you a paper copy any time you ask.

Children

This website is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect information from them. We do see minors as clients; that relationship is governed by the intake paperwork and the Notice of Privacy Practices, not by this page.

Security

This site is served over an encrypted connection. No website is perfectly secure, which is exactly why we keep clinical information off this one entirely.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The current version and its effective date always appear at the top of this page. Material changes will be posted here.

Questions or concerns

Contact our Privacy Officer, Kelley Kearns, LPC, using the details below. If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, at hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints or 1-800-368-1019 (TDD 1-800-537-7697). You will not be penalized or retaliated against for filing a complaint.