• Adolescent Behavior Disorders
• Adult Children of Alcoholics
• Alcohol and Drug Assessment / Treatment
• Anger and Stress Management
• Anxiety and Panic Disorder
• Assessment and Treatment
• Attachment Disorders
• Autism Spectrum
• Brain Trauma
• Cancer Diagnosis - Individual and Family
• Cancer Survivors
• Christian Counseling
• Chronic Illness
• Co-Parenting
• Depression / Mood Disorders
• Divorce Adjustments
• Eating Disorders
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
• Life Coaching
• Marital Therapy
• Parenting Skills Training
• Psychiatric Evaluation and Medication
• Sexual Abuse Survivors
• Interventions
• Underage Alcohol Violation Program
• Woman's Issues
• Young Child Therapy

 

The Owners/Directors of Credence Therapy Associates, Kim Steen and Daniel Bishop, are aware of the need for quality care within this special field of service and they are committed to bringing professional, confidential and compassionate care to the individuals of this community. Credence Counseling & Therapy Associates is a state certified mental health counseling center, serving Walworth County since 1992. The professional staff consists of licensed psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists and alcohol/drug counselors.

Kim Steen MSW, LCSW
Kim is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her areas of specialization include the following; treating individuals with depression and anxiety disorders (including PTSD), working with teens and their parents to address and negotiate the challenges of the adolescent years. She has extensive experience working with sexual abuse survivors, cancer patients/survivors and individuals adjusting to divorce. Kim sees clients in the context of individual therapy as well as couples, families, and groups. She provides community presentations on the topics of blended family issues, eating disorders and self injury, surviving suicide of a family member or loved one, teenage relationships including dating violence, and codependency. Kim also provides consultation to area schools, pastors, and attorneys.

Daniel W. Bishop PsyD, LCPC, LPC, CSADC, SAP
Dr. Daniel Bishop holds a License as a Professional Counselor in Wisconsin and a License as a Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois. Dr. Bishop has been providing Counseling and Psychotherapy for over 20 years. He has both Bachelors and Masters degrees in psychology and Doctorate in counseling psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Bishop joined Credence in 2009 when his family moved to Wisconsin. He has day and evening hours at Credence during the week, and some hours a couple of Saturdays a month. In addition to providing counseling at Credence, Dr. Bishop is a full time Professor for graduate and doctoral students pursuing advanced degrees in counseling, education, and psychology. He is recognized for his work in the fields of addictions (substance abuse, gambling, shopping, video gaming…etc) and couple counseling. He works with children, adolescents, and adults with a variety of issues including dealing with strong emotions such as anxiety and depression, relationships, changing self-defeating behaviors, performance enhancement and goal setting. He also provides group, individual, and family counseling depending on the presenting needs and the requests of the people he works with.

On starting therapy: Often people present with a “stigma” against therapy and that therapy is for people that have many issues. Therapy has a history of being stigmatized for generations. I have a different approach to the stigma issue with counseling. We have all met one of those people that says “you don’t need to see a counselor – just deal with it” OR “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, OR even more common “get a 6-pack and deal with it”. When you think of these people, step back and challenge yourself, are they happy? Is life going well for them? My belief is that therapy and counseling is designed for healthy people. When healthy people look at their lives, emotions, behaviors, and patterns and recognize that there are problems and they are not happy they come to counseling to work on it so they can be happy again. To have holes in your protective armor and get help when they start to cause pain or self defeating patterns is healthy. Healthy people challenge themselves to grow and change; unhealthy people keep repeating the same patterns over and over again whether it is around relationships, emotions, or behaviors.

On marriage counseling: In the 1950’s, the research on marriage revealed that couples identified “love” as the 5th reason they stayed married. The 5th reason! Love was rated after things such as “raising the kids”, “what would the neighbors say?”, financial security, and so forth. Research in the 2009 identified that “love” was the top reason couples stayed together. How 60 years makes a difference! What we know about love is that it can fluctuate with intensity from the love we feel as a youth often changes over years of being together. More marriages end in divorce than actually survive. Couples counseling is designed to help people look at their relationship, their partners, their goals, and hopes. Couples counseling is working with the couple around issues of communication, empathy, understanding, and respect. The goal of couples counseling is not that couples always have to stay together necessarily; each couple has different goals for counseling. I believe that working with couples to identify their challenges and strengths, hopes and dreams, and emotions tied up in the relationship can have a powerful impact on the relationship and possibly result in developing a stronger partnership and result in two stronger more insightful people.

On counseling approaches: I utilize different approaches to counseling; I don’t just belong to one orientation. Through training and years of experience, I have learned that different situations require different approaches. Sometimes eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), cognitive behavioral, behavioral, psychodynamic, Adlerian, relaxation techniques, hypnosis, education, mindfulness, or other approaches, may be best for the person based on what they are dealing with, or maybe a mixture of approaches. Therapy is to help the person break out of their self-defeating ways of handling situations, create new and exciting opportunities and approaches to the world. Often we do what we have been doing for years even though it doesn’t work well. Therapy helps people challenge their outdated approaches, and develop and experiment with new activities that bring hope, joy, and excitement.

On the duration of therapy: I don’t believe therapy always has to be long term and last for years. Sometimes a brief approach is all that is needed, a push in the right direction to get people moving on a different path. Sometimes, as few as 6 sessions is enough if the person is motivated and ready to begin to enjoy life and themselves again. Sometimes therapy takes longer, in which case, after a few sessions of weekly meetings, we meet every other week, then monthly, just enough to provide the support and assistance needed to keep on the healthy path. I am self reflective and measure if my approaches are working, after working with me, people are encouraged to reflect upon if they are in a better place than when they began therapy. Success in counseling is change, even small change is change.

On personal coaching: The field of personal coaching has grown out of the many challenges presented to people by the pace of our society, competition and the many pulls we have for our attention and focus. Personal coaching is designed for people that are experiencing problems but don’t have a diagnosable issue. Personal coaching is self pay – meaning no insurance is involved. Therapists are in a great position to be personal coaches – they have skills and ability to help people become more productive, focused, and efficient in all life areas.

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.

NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Privacy is a very important concern for all those who come to this office. It is also complicated because of federal and state laws  and our profession. Because the  rules are so complicated some parts of the Notice are quite detailed and you probably will have to read them several times to understand them. If you have any questions our Privacy Officer will be happy to help you.
Please contact the phone number above and ask for the Privacy Officer.

Contents of this Notice

1. Introduction – To Our Clients
2. What we mean by your medical information
3. Privacy and the laws about privacy
4. How your protected health information (PHI) can be used and shared
1. Uses and disclosures with your consent
1. The basic uses and disclosures – For treatment, payment and health care operations (TPO)
2. Other uses and disclosures in health care
2. Uses and disclosure requiring your Authorization
3. Uses and disclosure not requiring your Consent or Authorization
4. Uses and disclosures requiring you to have an opportunity to object
5. An Accounting of disclosures we have made
5. If you have questions or problems

---

 

A. Introduction - To our clients

This notice will tell you about how we handle information about you. It tells how we use this information here in this office, how we share it with other professionals and organizations, and how you can see it. We want you to know all of this so that you can make the best decisions for yourself and your family. We are also required to tell you about this because of the privacy regulations of a federal law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA). Because this law and the laws of this state are very complicated and we don’t want to make you read a lot that may not apply to you, we have simplified some parts. If you have any questions or want to know more about anything in this Notice, please ask our Privacy Officer for more details.

---

B. What we mean by your medical information

Each time you visit us or any doctor’s office, hospital, clinic, or any other “healthcare provider” information is collected about you and your physical and mental health. It may be information about your past, present or future health conditions, or the treatment or other services you got from us or from others, or about payment for healthcare. The information we collect from you is called, in the law, PHI, which stands for Protected Health Information. This information goes into your medical or healthcare record or file at this office. In this office this PHI is likely to include these kinds of information.

• Your history. As a child, in school and at work, and marital and personal history.
• Reasons you came for treatment. Your problems, complaints, symptoms, needs and goals.
• Diagnoses. Diagnoses are the medical terms for your problems or symptoms.
• A treatment plan. These are the treatments and other services which we think will best help you.
• Progress notes. Each time you come in we write down some things about how you are doing, what we observe about you, and what you tell us.
• Records we get from others who treated you or evaluated you.
• Psychological test scores, school records, etc.
• Information about medications you took or are taking.
• Legal matters.
• Billing and insurance information.

This list is just to give you an idea and there may be other kinds of information that go into your
healthcare record here.

We use this information for many purposes. For example, we may use it:

• To plan your care and treatment.
• To decide how well our treatments are working for you.
• When we talk with other healthcare professionals who are also treating you such as
  your family doctor or the professional who referred you to us.
• To show that you actually received the services from us which we billed to you or to
  your health insurance company.
• For teaching and training other healthcare professionals.
• For medical or psychological research.
• For public health officials trying to improve health care in this country.
• To improve the way we do our job by measuring the results of our work.

When you understand what is in your record and what it is used for you can make better decisions about whom, when, and why others should have this information.

Although your health record is the physical property of the healthcare practitioner or facility that collected it, the information belongs to you. You can inspect, read, or review it. If you want a copy we can make one for you but may charge you for the cost of copying (and mailing if you want it mailed to you). In some very unusual situations you cannot see all of what is in your records. If you find anything in your records that you think is incorrect or something important is missing you can ask us to amend (add information to) your record although in some rare situations we don’t have to agree to do that. By calling the office you may speak to the Privacy Officer to hear more about this.

---

C. Privacy and the laws

The HIPPA law requires us to keep your PHI private and to give you this notice of our legal duties and our privacy practices, which is call the Notice of Privacy Practices or NPP. We will obey the rules of this notice as long as it is in effect but if we change it the rules of the new NPP will apply to the entire PHI we keep. If we change the NPP we will post the new notice in our office where everyone can see. You or anyone else can also get a copy from our Privacy Officer at anytime and it will be posted here.

---

D. How your protected health information can be used and shared

When your information is read by the therapist or others in the office that is called, in the law, “use”. If the information is shared with or sent to others outside this office, that is called, in the law, “disclosure”. Except in some special circumstances, when we use your PHI here or disclose it to others we share only the minimum necessary PHI needed for the purpose. The law gives you rights to know about your PHI, how it is used and to have a say in how it is disclosed and so we will tell you more about what we do with your information.

We use and disclose PHI for several reasons. Mainly, we will use and disclose (share) it for routine purposes and we will explain more about these below. For other uses we must tell you about them and have a written Authorization from you unless the law lets or requires us to make the use or disclosure without your consent. However, the law also says that we are allowed to make some uses and disclosures without your consent or authorization.

 

1. Uses and disclosures of PHI in healthcare with your consent.

After you have read this Notice you will be asked to sign a separate Consent form to allow us to use and share your PHI (Private Health Information). In almost all cases we intend to use your PHI here or share your PHI with other people or organizations to provide treatment to you, arrange for payment for our services, or other business functions called health care operations. Together these routine purposes are called TPO (treatment, payment, operations) and the Consent form allows us to use and disclose your PHI for TPO.

 

1a. For treatment, payment, or healthcare operation.

We need information about you and your condition to provide care to you. You have to agree to let us collect the information and to use it and share it as necessary to care for you properly. Therefore you must sign the Consent form before we begin to treat you because if you do not agree and consent we cannot treat you.

When you come to see us, several people in our office may collect information about you and all of it may go into your health care records here. Generally, we may use or disclose you PHI for three purposes: treatment, obtaining payment, and what are called healthcare operations. (TPO)

For Treatment
We use your medical information to provide you with psychological treatment or services. These might include individual, family, or group therapy, psychological, psychiatric, educational or vocational testing, treatment planning, or measuring the effects of our services. Again this is with your consent.

We may share or disclose your PHI to others who provide treatment to you. We are likely to share your information with your personal physician. If a team is treating you, we can share some of your PHI with them so that the services you receive will be coordinated. They will also enter their findings, the action they took, and their plans into your record so together we can decide what treatments work best for you and make up a Treatment Plan. We may refer you to other professionals or consultants for services we cannot offer such as special testing or treatments. When we do this we need to tell them some things about you and your conditions. We will get back their findings and opinions and those will go into your records here. If you receive treatment in the future from other professionals we can also share your PHI with them with your consent. These are some examples so that you can see how we use and disclose your PHI for treatment.

For payment
We may use your information to bill you, your insurance, or others to be paid for the treatment we provide to you. We may contact your insurance company to check on exactly what your insurance covers. We may have to tell them about your diagnoses, what treatments you have received, and what we expect as we treat you. We will need to tell them about when we met, your progress, and other similar information.

For health care operations
There are some other ways we may use or disclose your PHI, which are called health care operations. For example, we may use your PHI to see where we can make improvements in the care and services we provide. We may be required to supply some information to some government health agencies so they can study disorders and treatment and make plans for services that are needed. If we do, your name and identity will be removed from what we send.

 

1b. Other uses in healthcare

Appointment Reminders. We may use and disclose medical information to reschedule or remind you of appointments for treatment or other care. If you want us to call or write to you only at your home or your work or prefer some other way to reach you, we usually can arrange that. Just tell us or note it on your Initial Paperwork.

Treatment Alternatives. We may use and disclose your PHI to tell you about or recommend possible treatments or alternatives that may be of interest to you.

Other benefits and services. We may use and disclose your PHI to tell you about health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you.

Research. We may use or share your information to do research to improve treatments. For example, comparing two treatments for the same disorder to see which works better or faster or cost less. In all cases your name, address and other information that reveals who you are will be removed from the information given to researchers. If they need to know who you are we will discuss the research project with you and you will have to sign a special Authorization form before any information is shared. Our clinic has not participated in such projects and consider this to be non-issue.

Business Associates. Some clinics hire other businesses to do certain work for them. This might include copying health records, a billing service that figures out, prints and mails their bills, and/or electronic filing. These business associates need to receive some clearinghouse, which in turn sends them to insurance companies for payment. To protect your privacy they have agreed to their contract with us to safeguard your information. All other services are done in-house.

 

2. Uses and disclosures requiring your Authorization

If we want to use your information for any purpose besides the TPO (treatment, payment, and operations) or those we described above we need your permission on an Authorization form. We don’t expect to need this very often.

If you do authorize us to use or disclose you PHI, you can revoke (cancel) that permission, in writing at any time. After that time, we will not use or disclose your information for the purpose that we agreed to. Of course, we cannot take back any information we had already disclosed with your permission or that we have used in our office.

 

3. Uses and disclosures of PHI from mental health NOT REQUIRING CONSENT OR AUTHORIZATION

The laws let us use and disclose some of your PHI without your consent or authorization in some cases.

When required by law
There are some federal and state, or local laws which require us to disclose PHI

• We have to report suspected child abuse.
• If you are involved in a lawsuit or legal proceeding and we receive a subpoena, discovery, request, or other lawful process we may have to release some of your PHI. We will only do so after trying to tell you about the request, consulting your lawyer, or trying to get a court order to protect the information they requested.
• We have to release (disclose) some information to the government agencies which check on us to see that we are obeying the privacy laws.

For specific government functions
We may disclose PHI of military personnel and veterans to government benefit programs relating to eligibility and enrollment, to Workers’ Compensation programs, to correctional facilities if you are an inmate, and for national security reasons.

To prevent a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. (Duty to Warn)
If we come to believe that there is a serious threat to your health or safety or that of another person or the public we can disclose some of your PHI. We will only do this to persons who can prevent the danger.

 

4. Uses and disclosures requiring you to have an opportunity to object

With your consent, we can share some information about you with your family or close others. We will only share information with those involved in your care and anyone else you choose such as close friend or clergy. We will ask you about whom you want us to tell what information about your condition or treatment. You can tell us what you want and we will honor your wishes as long as it is not against the law.

 

5. An accounting of disclosures we have made

When we disclose your PHI we keep a record whom we sent it to, when we sent it, and what we sent. You can get an accounting (a list) of many of these disclosures.

---

E. If you have questions or problems

If you need more information or have questions about the privacy practices described above please speak to the Privacy Officer. If you have a problem with how your PHI has been handled or if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, contact the Privacy Officer. You have the right to file a complaint with us and with the Secretary of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services. We promise that we will not in any way limit your care here or take any actions against you if you complain.

If you have any questions regarding this notice or our health information privacy policies please contact our Privacy Officer at 262-723-3424.

The effective date of this notice is April 14, 2003.