Things to consider before seeing a counselor

• If you are seeing a psychiatrists or other medical organizations for mental care, we ask you to make a reservation at our center after you’ve received approval to see a counselor from your doctor.

• Counseling offered at our center is not medical practice. Therefore, we will not diagnose or prescribe medications. Our services will not be eligible for public health insurance such as social insurance(社会保険） or national health insurance（国民健康保険）. There may be cases in which foreign insurance will be eligible. Please inquire with your insurance company. In such cases, we can provide a proof of visit.

• We may refer you to a medical institution when we determine that a visit to a medical institution is advisable. (eg. When life-threatening behavior is evident).

• Please ask your counselor about recording and/or videotaping the sessions. We generally do not allow sessions to be recorded.

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Things to take a note of when you are considering online counseling

• We only use an online platform that meets the safety criteria of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) (U.S. law that protects privacy and ensures safety.)

• If situations in which the counseling session needs to be suspended, such as an unstable connection, the therapist will respond by changing to a different online platform or switching to phone counseling.

• To ensure confidentiality, we ask you to have the online sessions at home preferably connected with a LAN cable as much as possible. The security is not sufficient at a public space since people around you may hear the details of the counseling session and a Wi-Fi connection is not completely secure depending on your environment. Please take into account that if the counseling is conducted in an insecure environment due to reasons having to do with the client, the confidentiality may be compromised.