Notice of Privacy Practices

Advantage Mental Health and Marriage Counseling Inc.
A California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist professional corporation
Effective date: October 24, 2026

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

This notice applies to the mental health services provided by Advantage Mental Health and Marriage Counseling Inc. (“Advantage,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) and its clinicians, including associates and trainees working under supervision. We are required by law to protect the privacy of your health information, which includes your mental health records. Because we are in California, we follow both the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA, California Civil Code section 56 and following). When California law is more protective of your privacy than HIPAA, we follow California law.

Psychological testing is not covered by this notice. Testing performed through Cogniscribe Psychology is provided by Cogniscribe, which is a separate practice with its own Notice of Privacy Practices. Please ask Cogniscribe for its notice if you receive testing there.

Questions about this notice: contact our Privacy Officer, Mason Anglin, PsyD, LMFT, Clinical Director, Advantage Mental Health and Marriage Counseling Inc., 1430 Blue Oaks Blvd, Suite 120, Roseville, CA 95747, Mason@advantagementalhealth.org, (916) 292-5775.

Your rights

When it comes to your health information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you.

Get a copy of your health and claims records

• You can ask to see or get a copy of your health and claims records and other health information we have about you, on paper or electronically. Ask us in writing.
• Under California law, we will let you inspect your records within 5 working days of your written request and provide copies within 15 days. Under HIPAA, we will respond no later than 30 days after your request. If we need more time, we will tell you why in writing.
• We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for copies as allowed by law.
• In limited situations allowed by law, a clinician may decline to give you access to mental health records if seeing them would create a substantial risk of significant adverse or detrimental consequences to you. If that happens, we will tell you in writing, record the reason in your chart, and you may designate another licensed health care professional to inspect or receive a copy of the records on your behalf. You may also ask for the decision to be reviewed.

Ask us to correct your records

• You can ask us to correct health information about you that you think is incorrect or incomplete. Ask us in writing.
• We may say “no” to your request, but we will tell you why in writing within 60 days.
• California law also lets you submit a written addendum of up to 250 words for any item in your record that you believe is incomplete or incorrect, and we will attach it to your record.

Request confidential communications

• You can ask us to contact you in a specific way (for example, a cell phone instead of a home phone) or to send mail to a different address.
• We will say “yes” to all reasonable requests.

Ask us to limit what we use or share

• You can ask us not to use or share certain health information for treatment, payment, or our operations. We are not required to agree, and we may say “no” if it would affect your care.
• If you pay for a service or health care item out of pocket in full, you can ask us not to share that information with your health insurer for payment or operations. We will say “yes” unless a law requires us to share that information.

Get a list of those with whom we have shared information

• You can ask for a list (an accounting) of the times we have shared your health information for six years prior to the date you ask, who we shared it with, and why.
• We will include all the disclosures except those about treatment, payment, and health care operations, and certain other disclosures (such as any you asked us to make). We will provide one accounting a year for free but may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee if you ask for another one within 12 months.

Get a copy of this privacy notice

You can ask for a paper copy of this notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive it electronically. We will provide you with a paper copy promptly.

Choose someone to act for you

If you have given someone medical power of attorney or if someone is your legal guardian or other personal representative, that person can exercise your rights and make choices about your health information. We will make sure the person has this authority and can act for you before we take any action. See “Minors” below for how California law treats parents and minors.

File a complaint if you feel your rights are violated

• You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting us using the information at the top and bottom of this notice.
• You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights by sending a letter to 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, calling 1-877-696-6775, or visiting www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/.
• You may also contact the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, which licenses marriage and family therapists and other behavioral health professionals, at www.bbs.ca.gov.
• We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.

Your choices

For certain health information, you can tell us your choices about what we share. If you have a clear preference for how we share your information in the situations described below, talk to us. Tell us what you want us to do, and we will follow your instructions.

In these cases, you have both the right and choice to tell us to:

• Share information with your family, close friends, or others involved in your care or in paying for your care.
• Share information in a disaster relief situation.

If you are not able to tell us your preference, for example if you are unconscious, we may go ahead and share your information if we believe it is in your best interest. We may also share your information when needed to lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety.

In these cases we never share your information unless you give us written permission:

• Marketing purposes.
• Sale of your information.
• Most sharing of psychotherapy notes.

We do not conduct fundraising and will not contact you for fundraising.

Our uses and disclosures

How do we typically use or share your health information?

We typically use or share your health information in the following ways.

Treat you

We can use your health information and share it with other professionals who are treating you. Example: your therapist consults with a clinical supervisor at Advantage, or with your physician or psychiatrist about your care. Clinicians working under supervision share information with their supervisor as part of your treatment.

Run our organization

We can use and share your health information to run our practice, improve your care, and contact you when necessary. Example: we use health information to manage your scheduling, to send appointment reminders, and for quality review and clinical training.

Bill for your services

We can use and share your health information to bill and get payment from health plans or other entities. Example: we give information about you to your health insurance plan so it will pay for your services.

Business associates

We use outside companies to help us operate, such as electronic health record, scheduling, telehealth, and billing services. These business associates may receive health information only to perform services for us and must sign an agreement requiring them to protect it.

How else can we use or share your health information?

We are allowed or required to share your information in other ways, usually in ways that contribute to the public good, such as public health and research. We have to meet many conditions in the law before we can share your information for these purposes. California law is often stricter than federal law, and where it is, we follow California law. For more information see www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers.

Help with public health and safety issues

We can share health information about you for certain situations, such as:

• Reporting suspected child abuse or neglect, as required by the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act.
• Reporting suspected abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult, as required by California law.
• Preventing or reducing a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety. Under California law, if you communicate a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim, we may be required to make reasonable efforts to warn the victim and notify law enforcement.
• Helping with product recalls and reporting adverse reactions to medications, where applicable.

Do research

We can use or share your information for health research only as permitted by law, which generally requires your written authorization or approval by an institutional review board with privacy protections.

Comply with the law

We will share information about you if state or federal laws require it, including with the Department of Health and Human Services if it wants to see that we are complying with federal privacy law.

Respond to organ and tissue donation requests and work with a medical examiner or funeral director

We can share health information about you with organ procurement organizations, and with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director when an individual dies, as permitted by law.

Address workers’ compensation, law enforcement, and other government requests

We can use or share health information about you:

• For workers’ compensation claims, as permitted by law.
• For law enforcement purposes or with a law enforcement official, only as permitted or required by law.
• With health oversight agencies, such as licensing boards, for activities authorized by law.
• For special government functions such as military, national security, and presidential protective services, as permitted by law.

Respond to lawsuits and legal actions

We can share health information about you in response to a court or administrative order, or in response to a subpoena when the requirements of state and federal law are met. In California, communications between you and your psychotherapist are protected by the psychotherapist-patient privilege, and we will assert that privilege on your behalf unless you waive it or the law requires disclosure.

California additions

Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA)

California’s CMIA generally requires your written authorization before we disclose your medical information, except where the law specifically permits or requires disclosure without it (for example, for treatment, payment, certain operations, and the safety and legal reporting situations described above). A valid California authorization must be in writing (handwritten by you, or in a typeface no smaller than 14-point), signed and dated by you or your legal representative, and must state what may be disclosed, to whom, for what purpose, and when the authorization ends. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time, except to the extent we have already acted on it. We will not use or disclose your information to an employer, insurer, or other third party for purposes the CMIA does not allow.

Psychotherapy notes and mental health information

“Psychotherapy notes” are a clinician’s separate notes analyzing the contents of a counseling session, kept apart from the rest of your record. We will not use or disclose psychotherapy notes without your written authorization, except in the narrow situations federal law allows (for example, to defend ourselves in a legal action you bring, or when required by law or to prevent a serious threat). Under California law, a request for information about you that a psychotherapist holds must also meet additional requirements before we respond, and the rest of your mental health record receives the stronger protections of the CMIA described above. Your rights to see and copy your records under California law are described in “Your rights.”

Minors

California law allows minors in some situations to consent to their own outpatient mental health treatment or counseling. For example, a minor who is 12 or older may consent to outpatient mental health treatment if the treating professional believes the minor is mature enough to participate intelligently in treatment, and in some other situations defined by law. When a minor lawfully consents to their own care, the minor generally controls the related health information, and we will not share it with a parent or guardian without the minor’s permission unless the law permits or requires it. When a parent or guardian consents to a minor’s care, the parent or guardian generally may access the minor’s records, except where a clinician determines that access would harm the minor’s physical safety or psychological well-being or would have a detrimental effect on the professional relationship with the minor. We involve parents or guardians in a minor’s treatment when appropriate, as California law requires.

Other specially protected information

Some kinds of information, such as HIV test results and certain substance use disorder treatment records, have additional protections under state or federal law. We will follow those stricter rules when they apply.

Our responsibilities

• We are required by law to maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information.
• We will let you know promptly if a breach occurs that may have compromised the privacy or security of your information.
• We must follow the duties and privacy practices described in this notice and give you a copy of it.
• We will not use or share your information other than as described here unless you tell us we can in writing. If you tell us we can, you may change your mind at any time. Let us know in writing if you change your mind.

For more information see www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/notice-privacy-practices.

Changes to the terms of this notice

We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The new notice will be available upon request, in our office, and on our website.

Contact

Privacy Officer: Mason Anglin, PsyD, LMFT, Clinical Director
Advantage Mental Health and Marriage Counseling Inc.
1430 Blue Oaks Blvd, Suite 120
Roseville, CA 95747
Email: Mason@advantagementalhealth.org
Phone: (916) 292-5775
Website: advantagementalhealth.org

Please do not send clinical details by regular email. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911.

Effective date: October 24, 2026. Last updated: October 24, 2026.