Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Midwest Counseling Associates, Inc. ("we", "us", "our") is a counseling practice with offices in Dubuque, Cedar Falls and Oelwein, Iowa, offering in-person and telehealth therapy to Iowa residents.

This policy explains how we handle information you give us through our website, our inquiry pages and the questions on them, and the calls, texts and emails that follow an inquiry. It applies before you become a client. Once you become a client, our Notice of Privacy Practices also applies.

2. What we collect

Information you give us

• Contact details: first and last name, mobile number and email address.
• Your answers to our quick questions: who you're looking for support for, your child's age range if it's for a child, where you'd like to be seen, how you'd like to pay (your insurance plan or self-pay), how soon you'd like to start, and the best time to call you.
• Your text message choice: whether you agreed to receive texts, when you agreed, and the exact wording you agreed to.
• Anything you tell us later by phone, text or email while we help you get started.

Information collected automatically

• Basic device and browser details, such as browser type, device type and approximate location based on your internet connection.
• How you reached the page, such as the ad or link you clicked and the campaign it belongs to.
• Pages you visit on our site and how far you get through our questions.
• Cookies and similar technologies, explained in section 6.

3. What we don't collect

Our website is a way to request a call, not a medical form. We don't ask for a diagnosis, symptoms, medications or treatment history on this site.

Please don't include health details in emails or texts to us before your call. Our intake team will ask what they need, privately, by phone.

4. How we use it

• To call, text or email you about your inquiry, at the time you asked for where we can.
• To check whether we're in network with your insurance and talk through cost.
• To match you or your child with the right therapist and book a first session.
• To send appointment details and reminders.
• To understand which of our ads and pages help people find us, so we spend less on the ones that don't.
• To keep our website secure and working properly.
• To meet our legal and professional obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use your answers to decide who sees our ads.

5. Text messages

If you agree to receive texts, we'll use your mobile number only to text you about your inquiry and appointments. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP at any time to stop, or HELP for help. Agreeing to texts is not a condition of receiving services.

Full text message terms are in our Terms of Use.

6. Cookies and advertising

We advertise on Facebook and Instagram so people across Iowa can find us. To see which ads work, our pages use the Meta Pixel, a small piece of code from Meta Platforms, Inc.

What the Meta Pixel receives

• That a page on our site was viewed, along with standard browser and device information.
• How far someone got through our questions, without the answers themselves.
• That an inquiry was submitted.

What it never receives

• Your name, phone number or email address.
• Your answers: who the support is for, location, insurance, how soon you'd like to start or when to call.
• Anything about your health.

Meta may connect this activity to a Facebook or Instagram account you're signed in to, under Meta's own privacy policy. You can limit this:

• Change your ad settings in your Facebook or Instagram account, or at facebook.com/adpreferences.
• Block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Our pages still work if you do.

Our pages also use your browser's own short-term storage to remember your place in the questions and to show your first name on the thank-you page. This stays on your device.

7. Who we share it with

• Our intake team and clinicians, so they can contact you and match you with a therapist.
• Service providers who help us run the practice, such as our client communication platform (which stores inquiries and sends calls, texts and emails), our electronic health record system, and our marketing partner. They may use your information only to provide services to us, and where the law requires, they sign a Business Associate Agreement under HIPAA.
• When the law requires it, for example to respond to a valid legal request, or to protect someone's safety.
• If the practice changes ownership, as part of that transfer, under the same protections.

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information.

8. How long we keep it

If you don't become a client, we keep your inquiry only as long as we need it to follow up with you and keep accurate business records, and then delete it. If you become a client, your records are kept for as long as Iowa law and professional rules require for clinical records.

9. How we protect it

We use encrypted connections, access controls, and service providers that meet HIPAA security requirements where they apply. Only people who need your information to help you can see it. No system is perfectly secure, so please contact us straight away if you think your information has been misused.

10. Your choices

• Stop texts: reply STOP to any message.
• Stop emails: use the unsubscribe link in any email, or tell us.
• See, correct or delete your inquiry: contact us using the details below. We'll confirm who you are, then respond within a reasonable time.

Some information, such as clinical records for current and former clients, has to be kept by law. We'll tell you if that applies.

11. Children

We provide therapy for children and teens aged 4 to 17 through their parent or legal guardian. Our inquiry pages are meant to be completed by adults. When a parent requests support for a child, we ask only for the child's age range on our website. Everything else is discussed with the parent by phone.

Our website is not directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their personal information online. If you believe a child has sent us information, please contact us and we'll delete it.

12. HIPAA and your health information

Midwest Counseling Associates is a health care provider covered by HIPAA, the federal law that protects health information. Once you become a client, how we use and share your health information is described in our Notice of Privacy Practices. You'll receive it with your intake paperwork through our secure client portal, and you can ask us for a copy at any time.

If this policy and our Notice of Privacy Practices ever differ about your health information, the Notice of Privacy Practices applies.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we'll change the date at the top of this page. If a change significantly affects how we use information we already hold, we'll let you know before it applies.

14. Contact us

For privacy questions or requests: