Privacy Policy for North Star Therapy Collective

Effective Date: June 2, 2025

At North Star Therapy Collective, we are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our clients and website visitors. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information when you visit our website, www.northstartherapycollective.com, use our services, or interact with us.

1. Information We Collect

We collect various types of information for different purposes to provide and improve our services to you.

Personal Information You Voluntarily Provide:

Contact Information: Name, email address, phone number, mailing address.
Inquiry Information: Details you provide when you fill out contact forms, lead forms, or send us emails, such as your reasons for seeking therapy or specific service interests.
Therapy-Related Information: While this website is primarily for initial contact, any information you later share within the context of therapy sessions is protected by strict ethical and legal confidentiality obligations (see Section 4).
Payment Information: If you make payments directly through our practice management site (e.g., for therapy services provided), we may collect payment details. This is typically processed by secure third-party payment processors, and we do not store full credit card numbers on our servers.

Automatically Collected Information (Website Usage Data):

When you visit our website, we may automatically collect certain information through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies. This may include:

Your IP address
Browser type and version
Pages you visit on our siteTime and date of your visit
Time spent on those pages
Referring website addresses
Device type (e.g., mobile, desktop)
Geographic location (general, e.g., city/state derived from IP address)

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information for various purposes, including:

To respond to your inquiries and provide the services you request.
To schedule appointments and manage your client relationship.
To improve and personalize your experience on our website.To analyze website usage and improve our content and services.
For internal record keeping and administrative purposes.
To send you relevant communications, such as appointment reminders, follow-ups, or information about our services (with your consent, where required).
To ensure the security of our website and services.
To comply with legal obligations and protect our legal rights.

3. Disclosure of Your Information

We are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your personal information. We do not sell, trade, rent, or otherwise transfer your identifiable personal information to outside parties except in the following limited circumstances:

With Your Consent: We may share your information if you give us explicit consent to do so.
Third-Party Service Providers: We may share information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or providing services to you (e.g., website hosting, analytics providers like Google Analytics, online scheduling platforms, secure payment processors). These parties are obligated to keep your information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court order, subpoena, or to comply with HIPAA regulations when legally mandated).
Protection of Rights: We may disclose your information when we believe it is necessary to protect our rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property, or safety of others.

4. Confidentiality of Therapy (HIPAA and Ethical Standards)

As a mental health practice, we adhere to strict ethical guidelines and legal requirements regarding client confidentiality, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States.

Protected Health Information (PHI): Any information you share with us during therapy sessions, or that relates to your physical or mental health, is considered Protected Health Information (PHI) under HIPAA.
HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices: You can find a separate, more detailed "Notice of Privacy Practices" linked here. This explains your rights regarding your PHI and how it may be used and disclosed.
Limitations to Confidentiality: Please be aware that there are specific, legally mandated exceptions to confidentiality (e.g., duty to warn if there's a serious threat of harm, child abuse reporting, court orders). These are fully explained in the Notice of Privacy Practices linked above.

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses "cookies" and similar tracking technologies to enhance your experience. Cookies are small data files stored on your device that help us analyze website traffic, remember your preferences, and improve our services. You have the option to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. However, this may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

We use Google Analytics to understand website traffic. You can learn more about how Google uses data here.

6. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical, administrative, and physical safeguards to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

7. Your Rights

Depending on your location and applicable laws (like HIPAA for PHI), you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including the right to:

Access the personal information we hold about you.
Request correction of inaccurate personal information.
Request deletion of your personal information.
Object to the processing of your personal information.
Request restriction of processing your personal information.Request data portability.
Withdraw consent (where processing is based on consent).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information provided below.

8. Third-Party Websites

Our website may contain links to other websites that are not operated by us. This Privacy Policy applies only to our website. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party websites you visit.

9. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

10. Mobile Information

Mobile information will not be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

If you wish to be removed from receiving future communications from North Star Therapy Collective, you can opt-out by texting STOP.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Effective Date" at the top. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Email: info@northstartherapycollective.com

Phone: 971-712-6260

Mailing Address: 2929 SW Multnomah Blvd., Ste. 102, Portland, OR 97219