How confidential is talkspace/other therapies if it's paid by company insurance?
TL;DR: I'm getting a lot of mixed signals from my manager and this is taking a toll on my mental health so I wonder if I could trust online therapy to talk about work. I need someone to talk to and my budget is a little limited. I could use my health insurance to use therapy sessions, but can I trust them on things like "I plan to leave my employer" or something? Or should I be paranoid that they may share this with my manager? I read the terms and conditions, and apparently they can only share with employer or others if I have suicidal thoughts or might physically harm someone. Is that true? Of course I would never harm anyone :P What are the technicalities that I can or cannot trust the talkspace therapy? please absolutely no trolls. I've taken enough at work today. please absolutely no trolls please absolutely no trolls please absolutely no trolls TC<250k Just to add more color why I need therapy: I was up for promo last cycle. In November, I asked my skip if promo was on track and the answer was "this is the plan". New manager came in and said I am below bar on a few skills and sent via email (=she is setting me up for focus if I don't improve - if I'm not on focus already). I've been long enough at Amazon to know what the email means.
I think you hit upon the reasons where a therapist (including those outside what is offered by Amazon) may be able to share certain parts of your session. They can lose their licence for violating patient/therapist confidentiality so you're fine.
sorry what part? the "I plan to leave Amazon" part or "I may hurt someone"?
The latter
Classic Amazon. Good luck buddy!
did I say no trolls please? :(
Not trolling. I got pipped from Amazon. I wonder if someone could bring a case for PTSD against them. Talk to your health insurance, they should be able to give you a therapist. They'll be completely out of the Amazon system.
You can trust your therapist on anything except “I hate my manager and want to go to work with a gun”
thanks
Google used confidential therapy notes against an employee in a wrongful termination lawsuit. After a lot of outrage, they reversed the policy and said they would no longer request these documents in discovery. No harm in asking your therapist under what circumstances they would agree to share your therapy notes with your employer's legal counsel. Major difference: this is EAP, not talkspace https://newsnationusa.com/news/finance/banking/i-sought-therapy-after-my-boss-at-google-discriminated-against-me-i-used-a-3rd-party-therapist-through-the-company-and-it-was-a-decision-i-will-forever-regret/
ouch, and this is even recent
I reread your post though and it seems highly unlikely this would apply to you. I just wanted to share to make you aware. But your therapist would never go and talk to your management chain, this would likely only come up if you sued the company for wrongful termination and they were asked to turn over your notes. An extreme edge case. In other words your therapist can't secretly tell your manager or employer what you said in therapy - they would get fired and lose their license. If in the unlikely event, your therapy notes are used or looked at by someone who is not your therapist, you will definitely have ample warning. Don't let this deter you from getting mental health support you need. The reason this case was so bad is because Google clearly retaliated against this woman after her pregnancy. Tragic situation and I think Google would have settled with her outside of court and not looked at therapy notes but they decided to fight her for 3 years and $100k in lawyer fees on her side so she rightfully fought back. I hope she gets a huge payout.
Does Amazon pay for Talkspace? I have the HSA plan with a really high deductible
yes, high deductible as well