Margot Greer, Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Illinois, LCSW #149029519

Appointments and Cancellations

The standard meeting time for psychotherapy is 50 minutes.

If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, kindly do so by email at least 24 hours in advance of your scheduled appointment. Any appointments that are rescheduled or canceled in less than 24 hours will be charged the full session rate. If you intend to reschedule your appointment, please be aware that I cannot guarantee another available time within the same time slot or within the same week.

If you are late for a session, you may lose some of that session time. The appointment will be considered canceled if a client arrives more than 15 minutes after the scheduled appointment time. Clients will be asked to keep a credit card on file and this will be charged for missed appointments without prior approval. Fees incurred on same-day cancellations may be waived in the event of an emergency on a case-by-case basis.

The only late notice cancellation exceptions are for medical or mental health emergencies. Work or travel-related conflicts will not be exceptions to this policy. This policy is necessary because a time commitment is made to you and is held exclusively for you.

If for some reason (due to a personal emergency) I need to cancel our session within 48 hours of our session, then I will give you a cancellation “credit,” meaning you can cancel a future appointment within 48 hours without incurring a fee. I believe in fairness and mutual respect for each other’s valuable time.

Telephone Accessibility

If you need to contact me between sessions, please email me or leave a message on my voicemail. I am often not immediately available; however, I will attempt to return your message within 48 hours. Please note that face-to-face or telehealth sessions are highly preferable to phone sessions. If a true emergency situation arises, please call 911, 988, the Suicide and Crisis Line, or any local emergency room.

Electronic Communication

I cannot ensure the confidentiality of any form of communication through electronic media, including text messages. If you prefer to communicate via email or text messaging for issues regarding scheduling or cancellations, I will do so. While I may try to return messages in a timely manner, I cannot guarantee immediate response and request that you do NOT use these methods of communication to discuss therapeutic content and/or request assistance for emergencies.

Services by electronic means, including but not limited to telephone communication, the Internet, facsimile machines, and e-mail is considered telemedicine by the State of Illinois. Telemedicine is broadly defined as the use of information technology to deliver medical services and information from one location to another. If you and your therapist chose to use information technology for some or all of your treatment, you need to understand that:

You retain the option to withhold or withdraw consent at any time without affecting the right to future care or treatment or risking the loss or withdrawal of any program benefits to which you would otherwise be entitled.

All existing confidentiality protections are equally applicable.

Your access to all medical information transmitted during a telemedicine consultation is guaranteed, and copies of this information are available for a reasonable fee.

Dissemination of any of your identifiable images or information from the telemedicine interaction to researchers or other entities shall not occur without your consent.

There are potential risks, consequences, and benefits of telemedicine. Potential benefits include, but are not limited to improved communication capabilities, providing convenient access to up-to-date information, consultations, support, reduced costs, improved quality, change in the conditions of practice, improved access to therapy, better continuity of care, and reduction of lost work time and travel costs. Effective therapy is often facilitated when the therapist gathers within a session or a series of sessions, a multitude of observations, information, and experiences about the client. Therapists may make clinical assessments, diagnosis, and interventions based not only on direct verbal or auditory communications, written reports, and third person consultations, but also from direct visual and olfactory observations, information, and experiences. When using information technology in therapy services, potential risks include, but are not limited to the therapist's inability to make visual and olfactory observations of clinically or therapeutically potentially relevant issues such as: gait and motor coordination, posture, work speed, any noteworthy mannerism or gestures, physical or medical conditions including bruises or injuries, basic grooming and hygiene including appropriateness of dress, eye contact (including any changes in the previously listed issues), chronological and apparent age, ethnicity, facial and body language, and congruence of language and facial or bodily expression. Potential consequences thus include the therapist not being aware of what he or she would consider important information, that you may not recognize as significant to present verbally the therapist.

Ending Therapy

Ending relationships can be difficult. Therefore, it is important to have an intentional process in order to achieve some closure around the process. The appropriate length of the termination process depends on the length and intensity of the treatment. Ideally, we will terminate treatment after you are doing well and no longer need therapy. There are also times in which I may decide to end therapy with you, for example if I determine that the psychotherapy is not being effective for you, my safety is threatened, or if you are in default on payment. I will not terminate the therapeutic relationship without first discussing and exploring the reasons and purpose of terminating. If therapy is terminated for any reason or you request another therapist, I will provide you with a list of referrals of qualified psychotherapists. You may also choose someone on your own or from another referral source.

If you do not schedule an appointment for three consecutive weeks, unless other arrangements have been made in advance, for legal and ethical reasons, I must consider the professional relationship discontinued. Of course, if this occurs, you may always contact me in the future to open another episode of care.

SimplePractice is the platform I use for therapy services including scheduling, billing and treatment records. Read the Privacy Policy here: SimplePractice Privacy Policy

Under the No Surprises Act, you have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate explaining the expected cost of your medical and mental health care. Health care providers must provide an estimate of charges for services to individuals who are uninsured or not using insurance. You may request a Good Faith Estimate before scheduling a service. If your final bill is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you have the right to dispute the charges. Please keep a copy of your Good Faith Estimate for reference.