The goal of mental health therapy is to permit the child(ren) to have a place that they deem safe to be able to speak to a mental health provider about any apprehensions, concerns, or issues without fear that what they say will be used to interfere with, or create problems in their relationship with either parent.

In order to effectuate the stated goal, the parties acknowledge the importance of the therapist's office being a safe harbor- a place where the child(ren) can be truthfully assured that what they say will not be disclosed to other parties without their consent.

Therefore, to create the safe harbor for the child(ren), the parties agree as follows:

1. No court/no depositions: Neither parent shall, nor will either parent permit his or her attorney to subpoena the therapist or his/her notes to a trial, hearing, deposition, or arbitration or any other legal or dispute resolution process.
2. No interrogations: Neither parent shall, nor will either parent permit his or her attorney to demand answers from either the therapist or the child(ren) to questions about the content of the therapy.
3. No disclosure: The therapist agrees that he/she shall not, without the child(ren)'s explicit consent, divulge to either parent, or either attorney, to the Judge, or to any other third party, any matter relating to the content of the therapy except:
   1. as required by law under the Child Abuse Reporting Act (MN Statute 626.556)
   2. or other safety concerns (i.e.: threat of self-hard or immanent danger)
4. Enforcement: Any party, or his or her attorney, who seeks to depose, interrogate or subpoena the therapist shall be liable for all attorney fees and costs incurred to resist answering, discovery requests or to quash a subpoena. 

If my participation is required in any legal proceedings you are involved in, even if I am called to testify or participate by another party, you are expected to compensate me for my professional time.  Compensation includes, but is not limited to time for preparation, transportation, court attendance, and consultation.  Because of the difficulty of legal involvement, I charge $300 per hour for preparation and attendance at any legal proceeding and fees are due before the expected appearance date.  Due to the nature of my schedule, if I am required to appear in court you will be charged for an 8 hour day in addition other compensations.

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​If you are looking for someone to assess custody or parenting time or help making decisions between you and your co-parent about your child, that is outside the scope of individual mental health therapy and is an ethical conflict of interest for an individual therapist to assess and provide support for both individual therapy and custody evaluation.  I would recommend seeking out a specific Custody Evaluator that can assess you, your ex-partner, and your child/children and make recommendations about parenting time and custody. If you are looking for support on decision making for your child between you and your ex-partner I would recommend the support of a Mediator or a Parenting Consultant.