Privacy Policy of MN Counseling Therapy

Your privacy is important to us. It is Minnesota Counseling Therapy’s policy to respect your privacy and comply with any applicable law and regulation regarding any personal information we may collect about you, including across our website, https://stcloudcounselingtherapy.com/ or https://mncounselingtherapy.com/ and other sites we own and operate.

Personal information is any information about you which can be used to identify you. This includes information about you as a person (such as name, address, and date of birth), your devices, payment details, and even information about how you use a website or online service.

In the event our site contains links to third-party sites and services, please be aware that those sites and services have their own privacy policies. After following a link to any third-party content, you should read their posted privacy policy information about how they collect and use personal information. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any of your activities after you leave our site.

This policy is effective as of 8/1/2023.

Last updated: 8/1/2023

Information We Collect

Information we collect includes both information you knowingly and actively provide us when using or participating in any of our services and promotions, and any information automatically sent by your devices in the course of accessing our products and services.

Log Data

When you visit our website, our servers may automatically log the standard data provided by your web browser. It may include your device’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, your browser type and version, the pages you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on each page, and other details about your visit. These details may include page scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, form interactions, video engagement and file downloads while on our website.

Additionally, if you encounter certain errors while using the site, we may automatically collect data about the error and the circumstances surrounding its occurrence. This data may include technical details about your device, what you were trying to do when the error happened, and other technical information relating to the problem. You may or may not receive notice of such errors, even in the moment they occur, that they have occurred, or what the nature of the error is.

Please be aware that while this information may not be personally identifying by itself, it may be possible to combine it with other data to personally identify individual persons.

Device Data

When you visit our website or interact with our services, we may automatically collect data about your device, such as:

• Device Type
• Operating System
• Unique device identifiers

Data we collect can depend on the individual settings of your device and software. We recommend checking the policies of your device manufacturer or software provider to learn what information they make available to us.

Personal Information

On our public facing websites we may ask for personal information which may include one or more of the following:

Name
Email
Phone Number
Date of birth

On our private client portal, Counsol, we will be asking you to enter private health information. This system is HIPPA Compliant.

The CounSol.Com System Is:

• HIPAA Compliant
• Encrypted
• Used by thousands of mental health practitioners in the United States

The CounSol.Com System is Used to:

• Register your basic information such as your name, phone number and email address
• Show you our Confidentiality & Informed Consent agreement which, after reading through it, you digitally sign prior to becoming a client of MN Counseling Therapy
• Provide you with our intake forms for you to fill out
• Store all of the above information within your digital file with CounSol.Com
• Allow you to schedule, reschedule or cancel sessions
• Automatically remind you of upcoming appointments via email and text
• Generate invoices for your sessions
• Register your credit card information
• Provide the means for you to pay for your sessions
• Store the notes produced by your therapist after your session

Legitimate Reasons for Processing Your Personal Information

We only collect and use your personal information when we have a legitimate reason for doing so. In which instance, we only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary to provide our services to you.

Collection and Use of Information

We may collect personal information from you when you do any of the following on our website:

• Participate in any client feedback surveys
• Use a mobile device or web browser to access our content
• Contact us via email, social media, or on any similar technologies
• When you mention us on social media

We may collect, hold, use, and disclose information for the following purposes, and personal information will not be further processed in a manner that is incompatible with these purposes:

• to provide you with our platform's core features and services
• to contact and communicate with you
• for analytics, market research, and business development, including to operate and improve our website, associated applications, and associated social media platforms
• for advertising and marketing, including to send you promotional information about our products and services and information about third parties that we consider may be of interest to you
• for internal record keeping and administrative purposes

Please be aware that we may combine information we collect about you with general information or research data we receive from other trusted sources.

Security of Your Personal Information

When we collect and process personal information, and while we retain this information, we will protect it within commercially acceptable means to prevent loss and theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification.

Although we will do our best to protect the personal information you provide to us, we advise that no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, and no one can guarantee absolute data security. We will comply with laws applicable to us in respect of any data breach.

You are responsible for selecting any password and its overall security strength, ensuring the security of your own information within the bounds of our services.

How Long We Keep Your Personal Information

We keep your personal information only for as long as we need to. This time period may depend on what we are using your information for, in accordance with this privacy policy. If your personal information is no longer required, we will delete it or make it anonymous by removing all details that identify you.

However, if necessary, we may retain your personal information for our compliance with a legal, accounting, or reporting obligation or for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific, or historical research purposes or statistical purposes.

Email Communication

From time to time, Minnesota Counseling Therapy may contact you via email for the purpose of providing announcements, alerts, confirmations, surveys, and/or other general communication. In order to improve our Services, we may receive a notification when you open an email from Minnesota Counseling Therapy or click on a link therein.

If you would like to stop receiving marketing or promotional communications via email from Minnesota Counseling Therapy, you may opt out of such communications by Clicking on the UNSUBSCRIBE button.

Children’s Privacy

We do not aim any of our products or services directly at children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information about children under 13.

International Transfers of Personal Information

The personal information we collect is stored and/or processed in United States, or where we or our partners, affiliates, and third-party providers maintain facilities.

The countries to which we store, process, or transfer your personal information may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information. If we transfer your personal information to third parties in other countries: (i) we will perform those transfers in accordance with the requirements of applicable law; and (ii) we will protect the transferred personal information in accordance with this privacy policy.

Your Rights and Controlling Your Personal Information

You always retain the right to withhold personal information from us, with the understanding that your experience of our website may be affected. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your rights over your personal information. If you do provide us with personal information you understand that we will collect, hold, use and disclose it in accordance with this privacy policy. You retain the right to request details of any personal information we hold about you.

If we receive personal information about you from a third party, we will protect it as set out in this privacy policy. If you are a third party providing personal information about somebody else, you represent and warrant that you have such person’s consent to provide the personal information to us.

If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time. We will provide you with the ability to unsubscribe from our email-database or opt out of communications. Please be aware we may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity.

If you believe that any information we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant, or misleading, please contact us using the details provided in this privacy policy. We will take reasonable steps to correct any information found to be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or out of date.

If you believe that we have breached a relevant data protection law and wish to make a complaint, please contact us using the details below and provide us with full details of the alleged breach. We will promptly investigate your complaint and respond to you, in writing, setting out the outcome of our investigation and the steps we will take to deal with your complaint. You also have the right to contact a regulatory body or data protection authority in relation to your complaint.

Right to Deletion

Subject to certain exceptions set out below, on receipt of a verifiable request from you, we will:

• Delete your personal information from our records; and
• Direct any service providers to delete your personal information from their records.

Please note that we may not be able to comply with requests to delete your personal information if it is necessary to:

• Complete the transaction for which the personal information was collected, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, and provide a good or service requested by you, or reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform a contract between you and us;
• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or prosecute those responsible for that activity;
• Debug to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;
• Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise his or her right of free speech, or exercise another right provided for by law;
• Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act or other applicable laws;
• Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when our deletion of the information is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of such research, provided we have obtained your informed consent;
• Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with your expectations based on your relationship with us;
• Comply with an existing legal obligation; or
• Otherwise use your personal information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which you provided the information.

Use of Cookies

We use “cookies” to collect information about you and your activity across our site. A cookie is a small piece of data that our website stores on your computer, and accesses each time you visit, so we can understand how you use our site. This helps us serve you content based on preferences you have specified.

Changes to This Policy

At our discretion, we may change our privacy policy to reflect updates to our business processes, current acceptable practices, or legislative or regulatory changes. If we decide to change this privacy policy, we will post the changes here at the same link by which you are accessing this privacy policy.

If required by law, we will get your permission or give you the opportunity to opt in to or opt out of, as applicable, any new uses of your personal information.

Contact Us

For any questions or concerns regarding your privacy, you may contact us using the contact form.

Payment by Credit Card

• We do not have any direct access to your credit card data.
• All confidential payment data, including credit card number, expiration dates, PINs, and the CVC Card Verification Code 3-digit number on the back of the card, are retained by our credit card service provider, CardConnect by CardPointe
• We can see the last 4 digits of your credit card and the kind of card it is, such as Mastercard, Visa or American Express.
• CounSol.Com does not have access to any other credit card information than the last 4 digits of your credit card and the kind of card it is, such as Mastercard, Visa or American Express. Only CardConnect by CardPointe has the remainder of your credit card information.

Emedded Video Content on YouTube.com

Pages on this website may include embedded content as YouTube.com videos that were produced by other people. Other than simply watching the videos, If you interact with those videos, such as by commenting on them or clicking links, the owner of that YouTube channel may collect data from you that you provide to them.

If you interact with YouTube.com videos on Richard Chandler’s channel, Counseling Therapy, no data is collected even if you do comment. We will endeavor to respond to your comment but will do nothing with your information whatsoever. See Google's privacy policy above to understand privacy regarding YouTube videos.

Courses Created by Richard Chandler, MA, LPC

Richard Chandler, MA, LPC, is currently creating educational courses on psychotherapy topics including Couples Communication and Anger Management. The courses:

• The courses are not intended for counseling clients, as therapy is superior to courses.
• The courses will not be available on this website.
• No financial benefit will be available for therapy clients who elect to take a course or for those who have taken a course to receive therapy.

Our website address is https://mncounselingtherapy.com/. Richard Chandler, MA, LPC owns this site. It is the website for Minnesota Counseling Therapy, as the website of the private counseling and consulting practice owned by Richard Chandler, MA, LPC, doing business as MN Counseling Therapy.