Oklahoma City Indian Clinic (OKCIC) offers a variety of behavioral health services for all Native American families, including children and adults. Our goal is to create a healing environment for all patients to promote Native resiliency through education, empowerment, advocacy and prevention. Patients may present for a variety of issues, including general wellness, depression, anxiety, trauma, abuse, substance use or breaking negative family cycles. At OKCIC, all behavioral health services are free and emphasize Native cultures and traditions.

Our medical family therapists are licensed, Master’s level clinicians. With this service, our therapist work alongside the medical team to help provide brief therapy to patients at their health visit. Our medical family therapists may assess positive screens, refer to ongoing counseling or psychiatric services and provide counseling through coping skills, psychoeducation or motivational interviewing.

Outpatient therapy is typically 45 minutes per session and provided by our licensed, Master’s level clinicians. In outpatient therapy, a patient receives individual or family therapy to help develop an understanding of cognitions, behaviors and emotions. Our outpatient therapists cannot provide medication. Only our psychiatrist and medical providers prescribe medications. If at any time during therapy you wish to discuss medication, please bring this up in session and your therapist will be happy to advocate to a provider on your behalf and/or discuss options.

Our psychiatrists provide evaluation and monitoring of medication for mental health. For psychiatry services, you may be requested to sign a release of information in order to obtain records from your previous provider(s) or hospital(s) to coordinate care. As part of treatment and to ensure the safety of prescribing practices, as part of your comprehensive evaluations you may be asked to obtain a urine drug screen, lab, and/or EKG testing. Initial psychiatry evaluations are up to 120 minutes long and follow up scheduling is dependent upon the psychiatrist's recommendation. Prescriptions are not renewed or refilled if patient has missed their scheduled appointment. Our psychiatrists typically book several weeks out so if you need to cancel, reschedule, or miss an appointment, please call to reschedule immediately.

Group therapy is typically 45 minutes per session and provided by our licensed, Master’s level clinicians. OKCIC offers a variety of group therapies that are all currently occurring virtually. Client also agrees to the following to protect the confidentiality of the other members in the group that are participating in person or via telehealth:

-Client agrees to access telehealth in a private, closed room where no other people are present and no other people can overhear the group discussions or see Client’s screen;

-Client agrees not to record group discussions;

-Client agrees not to use last names of group members or disclose any information that could be used to easily identify group members;

-To inform the group leader if any time Client feels uncomfortable with other group members participating via telehealth.

Therapy provides an opportunity to better and more deeply understand you as well as any problems or difficulties you may be experiencing. Your needs and goals will be discussed and determined by you and your therapist together. Progress and success will vary depending on the issues being addressed, as well as many other factors. Benefits often require substantial effort on the part of the patient, including active participation in the development of your service plan, participation in the therapeutic process, honesty, and a willingness to change. There is no guarantee that therapy will yield the benefits that you expect. Participating in therapy may also involve some discomfort, including remembering and discussing unpleasant events, feelings and experiences.

In providing services for you, Oklahoma City Indian Clinic intends to support and protect your fundamental human, civil and constitutional rights. Each person receiving services shall be notified of the Consumer Bill of Rights. If you are a minor, your parent or legal guardian shall be informed of these rights. If you have a court ordered guardian, the guardian shall be informed. Outlined below is a synopsis of the Consumer Bill of Rights.

1. Each consumer shall retain all rights, benefits, and privileges guaranteed by law except those lost through due process of law.

2. Each consumer has the right to receive services suited to his or her condition in a safe, sanitary and humane treatment environment regardless of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, age, degree of disability, handicapping condition or sexual orientation.

3. No consumer shall be neglected or sexually, physically, verbally, or otherwise abused.

4. Each consumer shall be provided with prompt, competent, and appropriate treatment; and an individualized treatment plan. A consumer shall participate in his or her treatment programs and may consent or refuse to consent to the proposed treatment. The right to consent or refuse to consent may be abridged for those consumers adjudged incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction and in emergency situations as defined by law. If the consumer permits, family shall be involved.

5. Every consumer's record shall be treated in a confidential manner.

6. No consumer shall be required to participate in any research project or medical experiment without his or her informed consent as defined by law. Refusal to participate shall not affect the services available to the consumer.

7. A consumer shall have the right to assert grievances with respect to an alleged infringement on his or her rights.

8. Each consumer has the right to request the opinion of an outside medical or psychiatric consultant at his or her own expense or a right to an internal consultation upon request at no expense. Unofficial Copy: OAC Title 450:15 24 Effective 07/01/2012

9. No consumer shall be retaliated against or subjected to any adverse change of conditions or treatment because the consumer asserted his or her rights.

One way Oklahoma City Indian Clinic provides you the best care possible is by using electronic health records. All documentation for outpatient therapy is labeled as “tier 2” records meaning only members of the Behavioral Health team may access those records; this excludes your primary medical providers. However, as a team approached is used at OKCIC, your therapist may provide treatment summary including progress or barriers to your medical provider in order to provide the best treatment possible to patients. Psychiatry records are considered “tier 1” records meaning members of the Behavioral Health team and Medical team providers can review those records in order to collaborate medical care.

Your confidentiality is extremely important to us! Your therapy notes and mental health records are documented at the highest level of security. We will not use or disclose your confidential information for any purpose without your specific, written authorization. However there are certain situations where we may be required to provide some or all of your confidential information and examples of these situations include:

Confidentiality is extremely important to the provider-patient relationship; therefore, we ask that parents respect the confidentiality of their minor child with mental health providers in situations other than those identified above.

I understand that virtual visits include the use of electronic communications to enable therapist/psychiatry at Oklahoma City Indian Clinic to provide behavioral health services using live interactive technologies (video and audio communications) between therapist/psychiatrist and patient who are not in the same physical location. Virtual visits include the practice of therapeutic health care, delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, referral to resources, education and the transfer of medical and clinical data.

I understand the laws that protect the confidentiality of my personal information that I have already signed also apply to virtual visits.

I understand that I have the right to withhold or withdraw my consent to the use of virtual visits in the course of my care at any time, without affecting my right to future care or treatment. My therapist/psychiatrist or I may decline any virtual visits at any time without jeopardizing my access to future care, services, and benefits if it is believed the videoconferencing connections are not adequate for the situation, including best practices for diagnoses.

I understand that there are risks and consequences from virtual visits, including, but not limited to, the possibility, despite reasonable efforts on the part of the therapist, that: the transmission of my personal information could be disrupted or distorted by technical failures, the transmission of my personal information could be interrupted by unauthorized persons, and/or the electronic storage of my personal information could be unintentionally lost or accessed by unauthorized persons. Oklahoma City Indian Clinic utilizes secure, encrypted HIPAA compliant audio/video transmission software to deliver virtual visits via MEND and/or Doximity in order to protect transmitted information.

I understand that records will continue to be maintained through EHR.

I understand that exchange of information will not be direct and any paperwork exchanged will likely be provided through electronic means.

I understand that it is my responsibility to take measures to ensure I am in a confidential setting when I use the MEND or Doximity virtual visit platform and that my therapist/psychiatrist will also be in a confidential setting with no one else present.

By submitting the form below, I acknowledge that I have read the above statements and understand this working agreement.