Hi there! Thanks for visiting this site.
My name is Katie Malinski. I am a therapist (LCSW) in private practice in Austin, Texas.
If you had asked me in early 2013, I would have told you that I had about as much love for HIPAA as I do for a root canal. Yuck! But I do like to avoid breaking federal law, so despite my fear, frustration, and annoyance, I started looking for guidance on the “New” HIPAA.
Yikes! There isn’t much out there for solo/private practitioner therapists. After spending weeks sifting through one incomprehensible and frightening legal article after another, I realized that the information I was compiling would be a great help to other therapists. I wrote an article for the NASW-Texas chapter newsletter (see the free resources page) and created a training for other private practice therapists. I’m not a lawyer, and it turns out that helps: my basic understanding of the law means that I can explain what I know in a way that’s easy for other non-lawyers to understand! My goal is to offer plain-spoken, understandable information that is relevant for YOUR practice (not a doctor’s office or a hospital like so many other articles.)
If you’re curious about my clinical leanings, my biggest love and specialty is helping parents. I do a lot of consultant/coaching type work with parents to help them understand and improve their children’s behaviors, manage stressful transitions (ie, divorce), and overall create stronger, happier, healthier parent-child relationships. I also work directly with children ages 9 and up, lead workshops on healthy childhood sexual development and puberty, serve as a parenting expert at SWParents.com, and give talks all over on various parenting topics. I have a diverse work life and I love it! My private practice website is here: www.KatieMalinski.com and the Beyond Birds and Bees workshop info here: www.BeyondBirdsandBees.com.
Eliza Hanson, LMSW
Eliza is the right-hand woman at HIPAA for Therapists. She’s the person you email with when you contact us with questions. When she isn’t all about HIPAA, she is the Director of Social Services at a nursing home and is pursuing her clinical licensure. She’s lived in Austin for 6 years and used to teach English to high school students! (so you can’t scare her!) ;^)
In her spare time, Eliza enjoys reading, photography, and hiking with her dog Hudson.
Maggie
Maggie is the HIPAA for Therapists office manager. She is in charge of supervising everyone and making sure things get done properly. A quality-control officer, if you will. She is also in charge of planning field trips when the HIPAA for Therapists workshop travels outside of our local city limits. She can be counted on to be thoughtful, funny, clever, and a particularly good travel companion.
In her free time, Maggie’s interests include Harry Potter, reading, biking, knitting, reading, sewing, reading, and swimming. And reading.
Caroline
Caroline is the backup presenter for all live HIPAA for Therapists workshops. If Katie isn’t available for your workshop, please feel free to talk with us about hiring Caroline.
Caroline is an impressively energetic, friendly, curious, and snuggly member of the team, and is a particularly attractive option for non-profit groups as she prefers to be paid in ice cream.
Lulu the Covered Entity
Lulu is the unofficial privacy and security officer for HIPAA for Therapists. We don’t technically have any patients, but don’t tell her that. She takes her job very seriously! In fact, Lulu can be counted on to eat PHI before speaking of it!
Lulu is relentlessly cheerful, forgiving, and devoted. In her spare time she is disrespectful to her squirrel neighbors, tests limits about how often she can trick humans in to letting her in and out within the space of 1 minute, and really wants you to scratch her behind her ears.