Tiffany is a therapist who runs Lucy in the Sky, a private practice in Olympia, Washington. Tiffany has a neuro-diverse client population of gifted individuals, working specifically with Twice Exceptional (2E) people, people with attention disorders, and victims of trauma, such as first responders, military personnel, and their families.
When she isn’t seeing clients, Tiffany also works as a technology and compliance consultant. She knows the importance of secure communication in the field of mental health and is dedicated to ensuring the highest level of security for her clients.
My clients often worry about being a burden. Part of teaching them relationship and communication skills is understanding the difference between being a burden and allowing someone to help you. I love that I have Spruce to facilitate this sort of communication.”
Challenge
As a technology and compliance consultant, Tiffany wanted to make sure that her own practice had the best available security and privacy safeguards in place to protect her communications with clients outside of the office. She initially tried working with large telephone companies but had a difficult time getting any of them to sign a BAA, which is a necessity for her practice.
Tiffany sought medical communication recommendations from the many therapist groups that she is a part of on social media, and she ultimately decided on Spruce after extensive research. “I really wanted to go with a company that started based on a mission of serving providers. It became clear quickly that Spruce was the right option.”
Solution
Video Calling: Tiffany is a strong advocate of secure teletherapy, which benefits both her clients and herself. Tiffany travels between Seattle and Olympia for work, and when she is out of the office, she conducts secure therapy sessions in her car on Spruce (while she is parked!). Her patients also conveniently use video calling to access Tiffany when they are traveling or have a quick concern to discuss. Even Tiffany’s most technologically challenged clients are easily able to use Spruce’s video feature.
Secure File Sharing: Spruce allows Tiffany to share educational resources with her clients in a HIPAA-compliant manner. She sends them homework materials, such as PDFs, resource links, and other important files after their sessions. Spruce gives her the time to think critically about the materials she wants to send, instead of rushing to assign something at the end of their time. “I love having Spruce at my fingertips to share information with my clients, and vice versa. I love how streamlined and how quick it is.”
Conducting video sessions and texting clients without worrying about compliance and privacy allows us to be much more creative in the therapeutic alliance.”
Benefits to Tiffany’s Practice
Secure Client Messaging
Tiffany uses secure messaging to remind her clients to practice mindful exercises in difficult situations or when they are out of town. HIPAA compliance is important to Tiffany’s personal and professional values, so she makes sure that all clients download the Spruce app for full privacy.
Multidirectional Learning
Tiffany sends homework and reminder messages to her clients on Spruce, and she loves that they can send information back, such as podcasts that are relevant to their sessions. Spruce facilitates learning between providers and clients alike.
Teletherapy
Spruce allows Tiffany to reach her clients at all times, even when she is not in the office. All of her communication is portable, including her video therapy sessions, so she doesn’t miss out on important patient updates.
This post was originally published to the TheraNest Blog. It was authored by Tiffany Chhuom as part of the TheraNest guest post series.
