Terms and Conditions

This “Terms of Use Agreement” (referred to as the “Agreement”) is a mutual agreement between Dr. Lauren Yang (referred to as the “Owner”) and you, the user of this web blog/Website, recognized as “drlaurenyang.com” (herein after referred to as the “Website”). Your access and browsing of this Website are all provided under the specific terms and conditions outlined within this Agreement. This agreement includes disclaimers and other provisions that limit the Owner’s liability toward you. By accessing or browsing the Website, you confirm both your acknowledgement and acceptance of these terms and conditions. You understand that the provisions, disclosures, and disclaimers contained herein are just and reasonable. Furthermore, your agreement to abide by these terms and conditions is a voluntary act and is not the consequence of any fraud, coercion, or undue influence exerted upon you by any individual or entity.

Use of Information

The Website and the information contained therein are provided for educational and informational purposes only and do not intend to offer medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of any medical or psychological conditions. The Website is not a substitute for medical or psychological care from a qualified professional in your state and should not be relied upon as such. The users of this Website acknowledge and accept full responsibility for use of the information found on this site, as well as any Websites linked to or from it. The Owner holds no responsibility or liability for any claims, losses, or damages resulting from the use of information on this site.

Views are My Own

Opinions expressed on the Website do not necessarily represent the views of the Owner’s employer(s). The website is created by the Owner individually. Any opinions expressed on the Website are rendered based on specific facts, conditions, and assumptions and should not be used for any other purpose, including legal proceedings. The information on the Website may change without notice and is not guaranteed to be complete, accurate, current, or up-to-date. The Owner is under no obligation to update the information on the Website, but reserves the right to make changes at any time without notice.

Modification

The Owner reserves the right to modify the terms and conditions of this Agreement at any time without notice. Modified terms and conditions supersede the previous version and become effective upon publication on the Website.

Waiver

The Owner’s failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement does not constitute a waiver of that provision.

In case of an emergency

If you are experiencing a medical or psychiatric emergency, please call 911 or 988 respectively or visit the nearest emergency room. This Website is not intended to address medical or psychiatric emergencies. This Website should not be used for urgent medical needs. Any electronic communications or communication through this Website is not suitable for immediate, critical medical situations.

988 Lifeline

Call or Chat Online

Available 24/7

Crisis Text Line

Text HOME to 741741

Available 24/7

MHA Crisis Resources

Mental Health America

NAMI Helpline

National Alliance on Mental Illness

Disclaimers

Medical Disclaimer

By accessing the Website, you acknowledge that there is no doctor-patient relationship between you and the Owner. Please be aware that a doctor-patient relationship can only be established after a mutual agreement is reached following an in-person or telehealth consultation appointment(s) that involves a clinical assessment. Sharing personal or medical information with the Owner does not immediately establish a doctor-patient relationship between you and the Owner. The Website is not intended to create such a relationship, replace the services of a licensed, trained physician or health professional, or substitute for medical advice from a physician or trained health professional licensed in your state. Any health or medical decisions should not be based entirely or even partially on the information presented on the Website.

Please consult your own physician or appropriate health or mental health care provider about the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your own symptoms or medical or mental health conditions. Check with a physician or mental health professional if you suspect you are ill, or believe you may have one of the problems discussed on the Website, as many problems and illnesses may be serious and even life-threatening. Always consult with your physician or other qualified health or mental health care provider before embarking on a new treatment, diet, fitness or healing program. You should never disregard medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this Website.

Social Media Disclaimer

By engaging with any Lauren Yang; Lauren A. Yang, PsyD; @dr.laurenyang, or other associated social media platforms, you agree to the following terms: Lauren Yang and her aliases maintain public social media pages for sharing content, videos, and comments. These platforms may include, but are not limited to, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, blogs, multimedia, or other user-generated content. By accessing, viewing, or contributing content to any Lauren Yang, PsyD or alias social media site, you unconditionally accept these terms of use. If you disagree with these terms, please refrain from viewing or posting any content on any Lauren Yang social media site. Your use of Lauren Yang’s social media sites signifies your agreement with these terms and holds the same weight as a physical signature.

The information provided on associated social media platforms is intended solely for educational and informational purposes. It does not, nor is it intended to, replace psychotherapy, psychological advice, or medical guidance. Your access and/or browsing of any social media platforms do not establish a doctor-patient relationship. As the Website and associated social media platforms of Lauren Yang, PsyD are open to the public, please refrain from including any personal or sensitive information in comments or messages that you wish to keep confidential.

By accessing ANY of the Website or associated social media platforms of Lauren Yang, PsyD, you acknowledge and consent to having read and comprehended the following additional disclaimers:

Friending:
I do not knowingly accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any personal social networking site, such as Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Adding clients as friends, followers, or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It also may blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship.

Following:
I post on my public professional Instagram page @dr.laurenyang. I use this page to share general information and to reduce mental health stigma. Please be aware that the account is public, and all comments made on this page are public, so confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. By following and posting on this page, you agree that you are doing so at your own discretion. Please note that I will not follow you back if you are current or former client to the best of my knowledge. If this inadvertently occurs, please alert me immediately.

Interacting:
Please refrain from using messaging features on social networking sites like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, to contact me. These sites are not secure, and I may not read these messages promptly. If you engage with me through public online means, such as Wall postings, @replies, DMs, or other methods AND we have an established patient-therapist relationship, you acknowledge that interactions in this manner may jeopardize your confidentiality. This can potentially lead to these exchanges becoming part of your legal medical record, necessitating documentation and archiving in your file. Please refer to the email section below for additional information on email interactions.

Searching:

It is NOT a regular part of my practice to search for clients or patients on Google or other search engines. If I have a reason to suspect that you or others including minors under the age of 18 or older adults over the age of 60 are in danger, there may be a circumstance in which using a search engine becomes necessary as part of ensuring your and others' safety.

Business Review Sites:
Users may come across evaluations of my psychology practice on platforms like Google, Yelp, Healthgrades, Yahoo Local, Bing, or other business listing websites. Some of these sites offer forums where users can rate providers and contribute reviews. Many of these platforms automatically add business listings, regardless of whether the business has added itself to the site. If a user finds a listing on any such site, please note that it is not a request for a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from the user as a patient of mine. Please also be aware that if you use these sites to indirectly communicate with me, I will not respond to such communications in order to maintain your confidentiality and our privacy. If you still choose to post on a business review site, then you acknowledge that is a public forum on which you may be sharing personally revealing information.

Email Disclaimer

Lauren A. Yang, PsyD cannot guarantee but will use reasonable means to maintain security and confidentiality of emails sent and received. Dr. Lauren Yang is not liable for improper disclosure of confidential information that is not caused by her intentional misconduct. Please also note the following about email correspondences:

Most popular email services (e.g. Google, Yahoo, Hotmail) are not encrypted. Third parties may gain access to personal information when the server is compromised. Email communication carries risk to confidentiality and security of email contents.
Emails can be stored, copied and forwarded to unintended recipients.
Email addresses can be mistyped so information can be sent to unintended parties.
Anyone with access to your account can read your emails.

Furthermore, email messages are not appropriate to use in the following conditions but not limited to:

Crisis or emergency situations
If you are experiencing any desire to harm yourself or others
If you are experiencing a severe medication reaction or other medical emergency
Clinical questions or information including but not limited to: significant life events, changes in mood, medication side effects

Any emails received in the inbox of drlaurenyang@gmail.com or other associated email addresses will constitute your acknowledgment of understanding the following:

Emails are not encrypted;
Secured transmission of your email is not guaranteed.
Immediate responses are not guaranteed.
Emails do not automatically establish a patient-doctor relationship.
Please consider this as you choose what to divulge in your initial email. Any subsequent phone calls or consultations will be subject to the limitations of confidentiality to the extent permitted by law.

Privacy

Privacy Policy

Your access to and use of the Website is also conditioned on your acceptance of and compliance with the Privacy Policy of the Author. Our Privacy Policy describes our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information when you use the Website and tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. Please read our Privacy Policy carefully below before using the Website.

Concerning your utilization of the Website and the submission of personally identifiable and other data and information to drlaurenyang.com, you explicitly consent to the collection and handling of such data and information in accordance with the Privacy Policy. You are responsible for adhering to all pertinent data protection and privacy laws concerning your interaction with the Website and the provision of personal data to drlaurenyang.com. It is essential that you have properly informed and obtained all requisite permissions, authorizations, or consents from individuals whose data is included, allowing drlaurenyang.com to legally access their personal data and process it outside their country of residence. Please be aware that email communications are generally unencrypted, and there is no guaranteed security for data transmitted over the internet. DrLaurenYang.com bears no responsibility for any interception, disruption of communications over the internet, or any alterations or loss of your content. DrLaurenYang.com may manage and store your content within the United States or any other country in which DrLaurenYang.com or its affiliates maintain facilities. By utilizing the Website, you grant your consent to this data processing and storage.

Collecting and Using Your Personal Data

While accessing and using the Website, I may ask you to provide me with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to: i) Email address, ii) First and Last Name, iii) Usage data.

Usage Data

Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Website. Usage Data may include information such as your Device's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of the Website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When you access the Website by or through a mobile device, the Website may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device you use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of your mobile device, your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser you use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. The Website may also collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit the Website or when you access the Website by or through a mobile device.

Use of Your Personal Data

The Author may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services you have purchased or of any other contract with the Author through the Website.
To contact you: to contact you by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application's push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.
To provide you: with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless you have opted not to receive such information.
To manage your requests: to attend and manage your requests to the Author.

Retention of Your Personal Data

The Author will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. The Author will retain and use your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Author will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of the Website, or the Author is legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Transfer of Your Personal Data

Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company's operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

The Author will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

Delete Your Personal Data

You have the right to delete or request that the Author assist in deleting the Personal Data that the Author has collected about you.

The Website may give you the ability to delete certain information about you from within the Website. You may update, amend, or delete your information at any time by signing in to Your Account, if you have one, and visiting the account settings section that allows you to manage your personal information. You may also contact the Author to request access to, correct, or delete any personal information that you have provided to the Author.

Please note, however, that the Author may need to retain certain information when we have a legal obligation or lawful basis to do so.

Disclosure of Your Personal Data

Law enforcement: Under certain circumstances, the Author may be required to disclose your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Other legal requirements

The Author may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

Comply with a legal obligation
Protect and defend the rights or property of the Author
Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Website
Protect the personal safety of Users of the Website or the public
Protect against legal liability

Security of Your Personal Data

The security of Your Personal Data is important to the Author, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While the Author strives to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, the Author cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

The Author may update the Privacy Policy from time to time. The Author will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. The Author will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on the Website, prior to the change becoming effective and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact the Author:

By email: drlaurenyang@gmail.com