HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices
Effective Date: 3/14/26
Practice Name: Turning Tides Mental Health, LLC
Location: New Jersey
Website: www.turningtidesmentalhealthnj.com
Privacy Officer: Audrey E. Rasiul
Mailing Address: 222 New Rd, Ste 405, Linwood, NJ 08221
Phone: 609‑671‑8756
Email: info@turningtidesmentalhealthnj.com
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.
Our Responsibilities
Turning Tides Mental Health, LLC is a covered healthcare provider under federal and state privacy laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). We are required to:
Maintain the privacy and security of your protected health information (PHI).
Provide you with this Notice of our legal duties and privacy practices.
Follow the terms of the Notice that is currently in effect.
Notify you following a breach of unsecured PHI that affects you, as required by law.
We also comply with applicable New Jersey privacy laws that may provide additional protections for mental health, substance use, HIV, or other sensitive information. When those laws are more protective than federal law, we follow the stricter standard.
How We May Use and Disclose Your Information
We may use and disclose your PHI for the following purposes, as permitted or required by law.
Treatment
We may use and disclose PHI to provide, coordinate, or manage your mental health care and related services. This includes sharing information with other healthcare providers involved in your care, such as your primary care provider, specialists, laboratories, or pharmacies. For example, we may share your diagnosis and medication list with your prescribing provider to coordinate treatment.
Payment
We may use and disclose PHI to obtain payment for the services we provide to you. This may include submitting information to your health insurance plan to verify coverage, obtain prior authorization, process claims, and manage billing and collections. For example, we may disclose dates of service, diagnosis codes, and procedure codes to your insurer.
Healthcare Operations
We may use and disclose PHI for healthcare operations, which include activities such as quality assessment and improvement, staff training and supervision, credentialing, licensing, auditing, compliance, and business planning. When possible, we remove or limit information that directly identifies you.
Other Uses and Disclosures Allowed or Required by Law
We may use or disclose your PHI without your written authorization in certain situations, including:
Public health activities, such as reporting certain diseases or adverse events.
Reporting suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence to appropriate authorities.
Health oversight activities, such as audits, inspections, or licensure reviews.
Responding to a court or administrative order, subpoena, or other lawful process.
Certain law enforcement purposes, when permitted by law.
To medical examiners, coroners, or funeral directors as necessary for their duties.
For approved research, subject to specific privacy safeguards and approvals.
To avert a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety or the health or safety of others.
For specialized government functions (such as military or national security) when required by law.
As required by workers’ compensation or similar programs.
Some types of information (such as certain mental health records, substance use treatment records, HIV‑related information, and reproductive health information) may have extra protections under New Jersey or federal law. When these laws are more protective, we follow those additional requirements, which may include obtaining your specific written permission before disclosure.
Uses and Disclosures Requiring Your Written Authorization
In all other situations, we will not use or disclose your PHI without your written authorization. This includes most:
Marketing communications that are not otherwise permitted by law.
Sale of your PHI.
Certain disclosures of psychotherapy notes, if such notes are kept separately from your clinical record.
If you provide an authorization for a specific use or disclosure, you may revoke that authorization at any time by submitting a written request. Revocation will not affect any uses or disclosures already made in reliance on your authorization.
Your Rights Regarding Your Health Information
You have the following rights with respect to your PHI:
Right to Access
You have the right to see and obtain a copy of your PHI that we maintain, including clinical and billing records, with limited exceptions permitted by law. You may request an electronic or paper copy. We may charge a reasonable fee as allowed by law to cover the cost of copying, mailing, or other supplies.
Right to Request an Amendment
If you believe that information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may request that we correct or amend your record. We may deny your request in some circumstances, but if we deny it, we will provide a written explanation, and you may submit a statement of disagreement that we will keep with your record.
Right to an Accounting of Disclosures
You have the right to request a list (“accounting”) of certain disclosures of your PHI made by us during a specified time period (up to six years prior), excluding disclosures for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, and certain other exceptions allowed by law.
Right to Request Restrictions
You may ask us to restrict the use or disclosure of your PHI for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations, or to restrict disclosures to family members or others involved in your care. We are not required to agree to all requested restrictions, but if we do agree, we will comply with the restriction except in an emergency or as required by law. You also have the right to request that we not disclose PHI about a service for which you have paid in full out of pocket to your health plan, if the disclosure is only for payment or operations.
Right to Request Confidential Communications
You may request that we communicate with you in a particular way or at a particular location (for example, at a different mailing address, by phone, or via secure portal). We will accommodate reasonable requests and may require that you make such requests in writing.
Right to a Paper or Electronic Copy of This Notice
You may request a paper copy of this Notice at any time, even if you have agreed to receive it electronically. You may also view a current version on our website at www.turningtidesmentalhealthnj.com.
Right to Choose a Personal Representative
If you have a legal guardian, healthcare proxy, or someone with medical power of attorney, that person may exercise your rights and make decisions about your PHI, subject to applicable law and professional judgment.
Your Choices
In some situations, you have the right to make choices about how we share your information. For example, you may ask us to:
Share information with family members, close friends, or others involved in your care or payment for your care.
Limit what information we share when someone calls or is present during your visit.
Communicate with you about appointments and services in specific ways.
If you are not able to tell us your preferences (for example, if you are unconscious or in a crisis), we may share information if we believe it is in your best interest and permitted by law.
Telehealth, Electronic Communications, and Our Website
Turning Tides Mental Health, LLC may provide services through telehealth platforms, secure messaging, patient portals, and other electronic means. We use safeguards such as secure systems, unique logins, access controls, and, where appropriate, encryption to protect PHI transmitted or stored electronically. However, no system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, and we encourage you to use secure methods that we recommend when communicating with us.
Our website (www.turningtidesmentalhealthnj.com) may allow you to submit information through contact forms or scheduling tools. Information you submit related to your care may be treated as PHI and protected accordingly. Our site may also collect non‑health information (such as cookies or analytics) to improve site performance and user experience; such information is handled under our separate Website Privacy Policy.
Email and text messaging may not always be secure. If you choose to communicate with us by email or text, you acknowledge the associated risks. We will not use email or text for detailed clinical discussions and will limit their use to scheduling, reminders, and other administrative purposes unless you specifically request otherwise and we agree it is appropriate.
Data Security and Breach Notification
We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your PHI. These safeguards include policies and procedures for access control, staff training, secure systems, and periodic review of our security practices.
If we discover a breach involving your unsecured PHI, we will notify you as required by federal and New Jersey law. This notification will include a description of what happened, what information may have been involved, steps you can take to protect yourself, and what we are doing to investigate and mitigate the situation.
Changes to This Notice
We may change our privacy practices and this Notice at any time, as permitted by law. When we make significant changes, the revised Notice will apply to all PHI we maintain, including information collected before the change. We will post the current Notice on our website and make a copy available in our office upon request. The effective date is listed at the top of the Notice.
Questions or Complaints
If you have questions about this Notice or our privacy practices, or if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, please contact:
Privacy Officer
Audrey E. Rasiul
Turning Tides Mental Health, LLC
222 New Rd, Ste 405
Linwood, NJ 08221
Phone: 609‑671‑8756
Email: info@turningtidesmentalhealthnj.com
You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint or raising a concern.