Due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19, the following polices are in place to keep you and your loved ones safe while you work with this clinic.
First and foremost, remote sessions (teletherapy) will continue to be offered to all clients in addition to in-person sessions. This has been an option at this clinic since the start of the pandemic and has worked rather well, both for individual and couples therapy sessions. Approximately 85% of my Eugene-based clients continue to be seen remotely.
Pre-symptomatic transmission accounts for about a third of COVID-19 spread. As a result, in-person sessions at this clinic require:
- Well-fitting, high-filtration masks (N95/KN95/KF94) are required to be worn at all times. While N95 masks have 1-10% internal particle leakage, surgical masks have 50% leakage and cloth masks 75%. Simply put, high-filtration masks makes in-person visits safest for those most vulnerable.
- Widows will be opened and fans used to improve the circulation of outdoor air.
- High-efficiency particulate absorbing (HEPA) filters have been purchased and will be used in the office at all times.
- Hand sanitizer will be provided and used upon office entry.
- CO2 levels will be monitored as levels higher than 800 ppm correspond to the levels of contaminants that can build up in a poorly ventilated room. In a poorly ventilated room, aerosols (small particles with the highest viral loads) can linger for hours and spread like smoke to the whole room.
- If you have been ill in the past two weeks, or exposed to someone else who has been ill in the past two weeks, we will reschedule or temporarily switch to teletherapy sessions depending on your preference.
However, no single measure of protection for in-person gatherings is perfect. As a result, it is important to use multiple layers of protection. The hope is that this policy will help minimize some of the risks.