Bereavement Professional

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CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. 

No, we do not have clients sign any sort of agreement.  If we ran into problems with regard to any of the types of behaviors you describe in your post, I would imagine we would address them as they presented themselves.  There is no set limit to the number of sessions we will provide, and in fact will continue to provide counseling beyond the 13 months if necessary.  The "no charge" portion of this is explained at the beginning of the bereavement follow up.

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Merrie MacHose, MA
Bereavement Coordinator
Heartland Home Health Care and Hospice
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-16-2015 14:31
From: Chacy SanFilippo
Subject: Client Agreements Form for New Grief Counseling Clients

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. 

For community clients, we provide a consent required by the NC Board for LPCs (ncblpc.org) for all NC LPCs that includes:(21 NCAC 53 .0204). This requirement aligns with the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005) which requires counselors to "review in writing and verbally with clients the rights and responsibilities of both the counselor and the client" (A.2.a. Informed Consent). The ACA specifies that the informed consent must include the nature of all services provided, counselor credentials and relevant experience, fees, billing information, confidentiality, supervision arrangements, how records will be handled, and more. As with any informed consent, the goal is to ensure that both the client and the counselor understand the nature of the relationship and the types of services that can be expected.

We have customizerd a version for our agency in general, and the assigned counselor sends a unique version that includes his/her information that is required. Many other counseling professionals in our area have adopted it as a best practice consent (social workers, psychologists, etc. )

For hospice clients that we see on a regular basis, we recently started requiring completion of a simplilfied version of this form along with a brief history. This allows us to have info readily availble on MD, medications and history of treatment.

All of this is great to have reviewed with clients before issues arise.

Terri C. Ray, MA, NCC, LPCS
Director of Counseling Services
Gaston Hospice
Gastonia, NC 28054
704-861-8405
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-18-2015 08:13
From: Merrie MacHose
Subject: Client Agreements Form for New Grief Counseling Clients

No, we do not have clients sign any sort of agreement.  If we ran into problems with regard to any of the types of behaviors you describe in your post, I would imagine we would address them as they presented themselves.  There is no set limit to the number of sessions we will provide, and in fact will continue to provide counseling beyond the 13 months if necessary.  The "no charge" portion of this is explained at the beginning of the bereavement follow up.

------------------------------
Merrie MacHose, MA
Bereavement Coordinator
Heartland Home Health Care and Hospice
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-16-2015 14:31
From: Chacy SanFilippo
Subject: Client Agreements Form for New Grief Counseling Clients

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. 

For community clients, we provide a consent required by the NC Board for LPCs (ncblpc.org) for all NC LPCs that includes:(21 NCAC 53 .0204). This requirement aligns with the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005) which requires counselors to "review in writing and verbally with clients the rights and responsibilities of both the counselor and the client" (A.2.a. Informed Consent). The ACA specifies that the informed consent must include the nature of all services provided, counselor credentials and relevant experience, fees, billing information, confidentiality, supervision arrangements, how records will be handled, and more. As with any informed consent, the goal is to ensure that both the client and the counselor understand the nature of the relationship and the types of services that can be expected.

We have customizerd a version for our agency in general, and the assigned counselor sends a unique version that includes his/her information that is required. Many other counseling professionals in our area have adopted it as a best practice consent (social workers, psychologists, etc. )

For hospice clients that we see on a regular basis, we recently started requiring completion of a simplilfied version of this form along with a brief history. This allows us to have info readily availble on MD, medications and history of treatment.

All of this is great to have reviewed with clients before issues arise.

Terri C. Ray, MA, NCC, LPCS
Director of Counseling Services
Gaston Hospice
Gastonia, NC 28054
704-861-8405
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-18-2015 08:13
From: Merrie MacHose
Subject: Client Agreements Form for New Grief Counseling Clients

No, we do not have clients sign any sort of agreement.  If we ran into problems with regard to any of the types of behaviors you describe in your post, I would imagine we would address them as they presented themselves.  There is no set limit to the number of sessions we will provide, and in fact will continue to provide counseling beyond the 13 months if necessary.  The "no charge" portion of this is explained at the beginning of the bereavement follow up.

------------------------------
Merrie MacHose, MA
Bereavement Coordinator
Heartland Home Health Care and Hospice
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-16-2015 14:31
From: Chacy SanFilippo
Subject: Client Agreements Form for New Grief Counseling Clients

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. 

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. 

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. 

Our hospice is currently in the midst of determining if we need forms such as these. At this point, I feel it is best practice and in the interest of our hospice (and the AAMFT clearly states I need these for my license) to have these forms. We have an upcoming meeting to speak with others in our forms dept regarding this. I find that this is the first place I have been employed that does not have strong feelings about having these forms. I feel they are necessary and we have drafts of what we feel would be best to use. Fingers crossed. If any others of you have forms, please attach them. I would love to compare to what we feel is appropriate. Thanks so much for this discussion! It does seem that we are not alone in making this determination.

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Monica Cagayat, LMFT
Bereavement Coordinator
Evergreen Hospice Services
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-16-2015 14:31
From: Chacy SanFilippo
Subject: Client Agreements Form for New Grief Counseling Clients

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. 

Hi Monica,

My guess that  your organization "does not have strong feelings about having these forms" is because those concerned are not in your field and don't know. I think that's where our representation of our professions is very important, and we need to protect it, and our licenses, as others would for nurses, etc. You could mention that all professional offices that you visit for personal services (MD, dentist, auto mechanic, etc. :) asks for your written consent prior to services being provided. Our consent lays out parameters prior to entering into an agreement with a client.

------------------------------
Terri C. Ray, MA, NCC, LPCS
Director of Counseling Services
Gaston Hospice
Gastonia, NC 28054
704-861-8405
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-19-2015 12:10
From: Monica Cagayat
Subject: Client Agreements Form for New Grief Counseling Clients

Our hospice is currently in the midst of determining if we need forms such as these. At this point, I feel it is best practice and in the interest of our hospice (and the AAMFT clearly states I need these for my license) to have these forms. We have an upcoming meeting to speak with others in our forms dept regarding this. I find that this is the first place I have been employed that does not have strong feelings about having these forms. I feel they are necessary and we have drafts of what we feel would be best to use. Fingers crossed. If any others of you have forms, please attach them. I would love to compare to what we feel is appropriate. Thanks so much for this discussion! It does seem that we are not alone in making this determination.

------------------------------
Monica Cagayat, LMFT
Bereavement Coordinator
Evergreen Hospice Services
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-16-2015 14:31
From: Chacy SanFilippo
Subject: Client Agreements Form for New Grief Counseling Clients

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. 

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. 

Hello!  We have an "Informed Consent for Services" that all clients review with their counselor and sign at their first session with us.  This is for individual and group counseling.  We do not use an informed consent for our educational series. 

I will try to post a copy in the resource folder for our section.

Chelsea

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Chelsea Johnson, MS, MT-BC, LMT
Bereavement Manager
TrustBridge Health
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-16-2015 14:31
From: Chacy SanFilippo
Subject: Client Agreements Form for New Grief Counseling Clients

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this electronic message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the individual(s) named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, or if you were listed in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer you may have downloaded it to. You are hereby provided notice that any disclosure, distribution, or copy of this message is strictly prohibited.