Electronic Mail (e-mail)
At CPS we take your confidentiality seriously. E-mail can not be guaranteed to be
a secure means of communication. For this reason it is our policy to not use e-mail
as a means to respond to any type of personal or confidential material, or to provide
any type of therapeutic conversation. If an individual sends an e-mail communication
to a CPS staff person that contains confidential information, it is our policy to
respond to such an e-mail by sending a brief explanation of this policy and indicating
our limitations in using such a medium. This standard response has been created to
protect the privacy of those who wish to use our services (including for consultations).
If you choose to communicate with CPS staff electronically, any communication you
receive is for informational (not clinical) purposes. Information sent by CPS staff
is intended only for the person addressed. Any other use of e-mail communication (e.g.,
redistribution, dissemination, or clinical reliance) is strictly prohibited. Further,
if you contact and/or provide CPS with your e-mail address and give permission for
us to use this e-mail address, it will be used for scheduling purposes only. Additionally,
it will be your responsibility to keep your e-mail address updated.
Our staff can not be guaranteed to respond in a timely manner to e-mail questions
about services, providing programs or rescheduling appointments. In order to ensure
a timely response to scheduling issues, programming requests, consultations needs,
or emergency situations we ask that you contact our front desk for assistance (227-7469).
This enables students, staff and faculty to receive a reply as promptly as possible
if a staff person may be ill, at a conference, on vacation, or otherwise unable to
check her/his e-mail. Furthermore, by communicating directly with the CPS staff (via
phone or in-person) you will have certainty that the communication has been received.
Server malfunctions, power outages, and other technological impediments occasionally
occur and this issue can be avoided only by using direct communication.
If you are seeking information, would like to set up an appointment for personal counseling,
or are interested in other services we provide, please contact our front desk. In
any urgent or emergency situation contact our front desk, or come by our office, and
ask for the counselor on-call. If it is after 5:00 or on the weekend, please call
227-7301 and ask for the counselor on-call, and a senior staff person will contact
you.
Cellular Phones
Cellular phones can not be a guaranteed secure means of communication. If you provide
a cell phone number as a contact number please be aware that confidentiality can not
be ensured. Additionally, during business hours our staff generally makes phone calls
via ground lines, which are reasonably secure. However, in some cases, when responding
to en emergency request for assistance the counselor on call may respond via cell
phone. In this case your privacy can not be guaranteed. If reasonable and appropriate
to the urgency and level of risk of the client, counselors will make an effort to
indicate if they are calling you on a cell phone so that you may decide if you would
like to continue the conversation with the counselor at that time, or wait until a
counselor can get to a regular phone. If you are concerned about this issue you may
contact the community crisis line at 1-800-367-7287 and speak to one of the counselors
there. Pleas clarify with any community resource about their electronic communications
equipment and procedures if you have privacy concerns.
About our Internet Site (Web Pages)
The CPS website is available as a resource about our services and to provide limited
educational material only; we do not provide on line counseling and emergency assistance.
Although we provide some links to other Internet sites which we hope will be helpful,
we do not necessarily endorse all information provided by other sites. We do make
an attempt to maintain updated quality internet addresses (links), we do not assume
any responsibility for the reliability or the functioning of these sites. Please evaluate
any information you are presented with and do not use any internet site as a substitute
for professional assistance or in lieu of obtaining full information. For personal
assistance, or if you have mental health questions that we may be able to assist with,
please contact CPS at 227-7469. When possible, we will have a brief meeting with students
to provide educational material. If you are concerned about yourself or someone else,
please call us to set up a consultation or initial appointment.
cre:lj aug03