Our 2022 COVID Protocols for In Person Therapy in Maryland
Montgomery County, Maryland COVID-19 Guidelines Inform our Decision to Continue the Mask Mandate
Better Together Family Therapy is committed to the health and safety of our clients, staff, and families. We established a comprehensive Infectious Illness Response and Preparedness plan in 2020, and have been monitoring the Montgomery County COVID-19 data dashboard and CDC data ever since.
We’re thankful to live and work in a community that puts protections in place proactively, and are hopeful that this keeps the spread of each new variant under control in our area. Despite these efforts, the COVID-19 transmission risk in Montgomery County was just upgraded to “high.”
Why? It’s the summer travel season. Staff and clients are taking much needed (and much delayed) vacations. To amazing destinations all over the world.
The following travel policies remain in effect at Better Together Family Therapy:
When Montgomery County COVID-19 transmission risk is rated “low,” staff are required to check the most recent CDC state profile report for states to which they have traveled. (When risk is moderate or high in Montgomery County,, no substantial difference exists between local risk and travel risk, and travel policies are not in effect.) If community transmission is moderate or greater and vaccination rates are below 70% in the travel area, staff who travel may choose to 1) obtain a negative PCR test no more than 5 days before meeting clients in person OR 2) provide only telehealth services for 5 days after returning from travel to areas with higher community spread and/or lower vaccination rates. If the report shows a community transmission rate of LOW or a vaccination rate of 70% or higher among the adult population of the state, no special precautions are required.
What clients should do:
Continue to schedule your session as telehealth if you have traveled in the past week to an area with higher risk of community spread than Montgomery County or a less than 70% vaccination rate among adults. If you have attended in person sessions, you already signed a consent agreeing to do this. Clients may choose to submit a negative PCR test after travel instead of honoring the 5 day waiting period. The test must be taken within 5 days of your appointment date.
Please let us know here if you have questions or concerns.
Returning to in person play therapy, child therapy, and teen therapy.
We remain in Stage 3: Online and in-person sessions available. The choice to see your therapist online or in person is yours, with certain exceptions and responsibilities including those mentioned above. Consent for in-person sessions is required, and includes a commitment to stay home if you are ill or have a known exposure to COVID-19. Decisions to conduct sessions by telehealth or in person will be made jointly by client and therapist, taking into consideration the following factors
Clinical appropriateness of telehealth sessions for the client.
Risk and potential benefit of in person sessions.
Client’s ability to take preventative measures while in the office.
Travel patterns of the client and therapist and those with whom they reside. This does mean that your next session might be online when you or your therapist returns from vacation, depending on where you went.
Keeping our Kensington office safe (and fun) for counselors, therapists, and client families
OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 recommends 3 levels of prevention to limit the spread of SARS-CoV2, with personal protective equipment to be used as a last line of defense after engineering controls and administrative controls are implemented. The offices of Better Together Family Therapy, located at 3720 Farragut Ave. Suite 301, are currently using the following engineering and administrative controls to minimize risk of infectious illness:
Minimizing Person to Person Contact and Shared Materials
Masks are still required in the office and waiting room. T
Staff and contractors are required to wash hands before, between, and after client sessions.
Clients using play materials are required to wash hands before entering their therapy sessions.
Hand washing instructions are posted at the office sink.
Signs depicting correct hand washing and other prevention measures are posted in the waiting room.
The waiting room has been arranged to promote social distancing and waiting room use is limited to 2 families at a time.
Items that cannot be sanitized such as thinking putty, and moon sand have been removed from the office. Soft toys have been removed from the waiting room.
Books remain in the therapy rooms for handling by therapist only.
Sanitizing of Shared Materials and Enclosed Spaces
Offices are cleaned daily (each working day) with sanitizing products.
Play materials are sanitized after each use.
Soft surfaces (couches, beanbags) and hard surfaces (doorknobs, tables, chairs) are sanitized at the end of each day.
High capacity air cleaners with HEPA filters and UV-C light have been installed in the waiting area and hallway, with 2 additional units on hand for therapy rooms.
Sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer, and tissues are provided in the waiting room for client use.
Spare single use masks are on hand in adult and child sizes.
In office therapy sessions will end on time to enable sanitizing to occur.
Illness and Wellness Policies
Clients are required to cancel their in-person sessions or replace them with telehealth sessions if they are feeling ill, or have an elevated body temperature (above 100 degrees), cough, or shortness of breath.
Staff are required to remain out of the office if they have a fever above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, cough, or other signs of respiratory illness during the COVID-19 crisis.
Staff may use their sick and safe leave to enable them to stay home when ill.
Staff are required to remain out of the office when they or a member of their household is suspected of having COVID-19 and for 5 days following that person’s full recovery.
Staff may provide client services via telehealth if they are experiencing symptoms that prevent them from coming to the office or have a household member with COVID-19 but are feeling well enough to work.
If a case of COVID-19 occurs among staff or clients who have been at the office, we are prepared to respond quickly and efficiently
Before coming to the office, clients and staff will complete consent forms requiring immediate report of suspected exposure to SARS-CoV2 or COVID-19 to the practice Director. Reports can be made by telephone at 240-242-5185 or via this form.
Staff and clients who may have been in the office concurrent with or immediately after someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 will be alerted promptly.
The office will be closed briefly for a deep cleaning when a confirmed case of COVID-19 occurs among clients or staff who have been at the office.
In person and online therapy are available in/from our Kensington office!
If you are a current client, please talk we your therapist about your preferences for in-person or telehealth sessions. To schedule a first appointment, click the service of your choice here.
