Notice of Privacy Practices

Illuminate Play Therapy & Counseling
Effective November 6, 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 covers protected health information maintained by Illuminate Play Therapy & Counseling for clinical services arranged through the practice. Ask us during intake who maintains your records and which notice applies if you arrange care directly with another practice.

Privacy contact: Natalie Hanks, Illuminate Play Therapy & Counseling
111 East 3rd Street, Suite 206, Rifle, CO 81650
970-316-5009 · natalie@illuminateplaytherapy.com
Call to arrange a secure way to send records or other sensitive information.

Your rights

See or obtain a copy of your records. Ask for an electronic or paper copy of the health and billing records you have a right to access. We generally respond within 30 days. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee. Some records, including separately maintained psychotherapy notes, are subject to different access rules.
Request a correction. Ask us to amend information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. If we deny the request, we will explain why in writing, generally within 60 days.
Request confidential communications. Tell us how or where you want us to contact you. We will accommodate reasonable requests.
Ask for limits on use or disclosure. You may ask us to limit information used or shared for treatment, payment, or health care operations. We generally are not required to agree. If you pay in full out of pocket for a specific service, you may ask us to withhold information about that service from your health plan for payment or operations. We will honor that request unless disclosure is required by law.
Request an accounting of disclosures. Ask for a list of certain disclosures made in the preceding six years. The accounting excludes categories such as most disclosures for treatment, payment, and operations, and disclosures you authorized. The first accounting in a 12-month period is free. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for additional requests in that period.
Get a paper copy of this notice. Ask for a copy at any time, including if you received the notice electronically.
Have someone act for you. A person with legal authority may exercise rights on your behalf within the scope of that authority. We verify that authority before acting. For children and teens, access and decision-making depend on applicable law, who consented to care, and any relevant court orders.
File a complaint. Contact the practice privacy contact above or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights at 1-877-696-6775 or file an OCR complaint. We will not retaliate for filing a complaint.

How we use and disclose information

When permitted by applicable law, we use and disclose health information for the following purposes:

Treatment. We use information to assess needs, plan and deliver care, and coordinate with other treating professionals. For example, with appropriate permission when required, we may coordinate with your prescribing provider.
Payment. We use information to verify benefits, obtain authorization, submit claims, and collect payment. For example, a health plan may need a diagnosis and service dates to process a claim.
Health care operations. We use information to run the practice, assess care quality, supervise and train clinicians, and meet administrative obligations. For example, a clinical supervisor may review information needed to guide a clinician’s work. Service providers that handle protected health information on our behalf must safeguard it as required by law.

We may also use or disclose information when legally permitted or required for public health, legally required abuse or neglect reports, serious safety threats, health oversight, workers’ compensation, certain law enforcement and government functions, and judicial or administrative proceedings. Other legally permitted disclosures may include qualifying research, organ or tissue donation, or work with a coroner, medical examiner, or funeral director. Each disclosure is subject to the conditions that apply to it. We may disclose information to HHS as required for oversight of federal privacy compliance.

Colorado confidentiality. Colorado law protects confidential communications with mental health professionals. We obtain consent before disclosing those communications unless an applicable exception permits disclosure or the law requires it. If Colorado or another applicable law gives your information greater protection, we follow that protection. For a minor who can consent to their own psychotherapy under Colorado law, we apply the rules governing confidentiality and parent or guardian involvement and access.

Your choices and written permission

You can tell us whether and how to share relevant information with family, friends, or others involved in your care or payment. You may also express preferences about sharing for disaster relief. When you cannot express your preference, we may use professional judgment and share information in your best interest when the law permits.

We obtain written authorization for most uses or disclosures of separately maintained psychotherapy notes, for marketing that requires authorization, for any sale of protected health information that requires authorization, and for other uses and disclosures outside the purposes described here. You may revoke an authorization in writing. Revocation applies going forward and does not undo actions already taken in reliance on it.

If we contact you for fundraising, you may opt out of future fundraising communications.

Additional protection for certain substance use disorder records

When Illuminate receives or maintains records protected by 42 CFR Part 2, additional restrictions apply. We may use or disclose these records with consent or another basis allowed under Part 2. If you give a valid consent covering future treatment, payment, and health care operations, HIPAA covered entities and business associates that receive the records under that consent may generally redisclose them as HIPAA permits, subject to Part 2’s limits on proceedings against you.

Part 2 records may not be used or disclosed in civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative investigations or proceedings against you without your specific written consent or a court order and subpoena or similar legal mandate. If we intend to use Part 2 records to fundraise, we will give advance notice and an opportunity to opt out as required.

Our responsibilities and changes to this notice

We are required to protect your health information, provide this notice, follow the notice currently in effect, and notify you as required after a breach of unsecured protected health information. We may revise this notice and apply the revised terms to information we already hold. The revised notice will be available on our website, at the practice, and on request.