Dear Community,

We are excited to share our latest installment of The Link! The Link is a newsletter packed with tools to help you with your practice. As we settle into the fall season, now is the perfect time to refocus your practice and build momentum for the months ahead. Take this opportunity to strengthen your systems, reconnect with your goals, and position your practice for continued growth through the end of the year.

• How clients are finding therapists through ChatGPT

• A free live webinar: A Somatic Approach to Grief Work brought to you by Academy of Therapy Wisdom

• Suicide risk assessment considerations and patient safety with American Professional Agency

• Whether you need HIPAA-compliant email if you already use Google or Microsoft with Paubox

• 47 fill-and-sign, New York-specific compliance templates for independent practices - from privacy notices to breach plans from The Encrypted Chart

As always, our goal is to share resources that are useful, relevant, and grounded in the real work you are doing every day.

We are glad you’re here!

Suicide Risk, Assessment Considerations, and Patient Safety

Case Study: The Last Appointment on Friday

It is Friday afternoon, and Dr. Smith, a psychiatrist, meets with a 22-year-old college student who has been experiencing depression following a recent breakup and increasing academic difficulties.

During the appointment, the patient says they feel “hopeless” and sometimes think about “not wanting to wake up.” When Dr. Smith asks directly about suicide, the patient says they do not have a specific plan and do not intend to harm themselves.

Rather than ending the conversation there, Dr. Smith takes the opportunity to learn more about what the patient is experiencing and what might help keep them safe over the coming days.

This Month’s Newsletter is Brought To You By:

Usually, yes. You need a paid Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account with a signed business associate agreement (BAA) before you email client information at all. Neither platform guarantees that every email you send arrives encrypted.

That matters most for the emails a private practice sends every week: intake paperwork, superbills, treatment summaries, and referrals to colleagues. Here's what Google and Microsoft cover, what they leave to you, and how to check your own setup.

The Private Practice Protection Vault

Compliance is important. It also shouldn’t take over your practice.

If you run a private practice, you probably know there are compliance documents you should have in place. The challenge is figuring out what you actually need, whether your forms are current, and how to keep up with changing requirements.

That’s why we’re excited to share The Private Practice Protection Vault from The Encrypted Chart with The Link subscribers.

Created specifically for solo and small-group healthcare practices, the New York Edition includes 47 fillable, customizable templates designed to help practices get their privacy and compliance systems organized without starting from scratch.

The Vault includes resources for:

• HIPAA and New York privacy requirements

• Notice of Privacy Practices

• Business Associate Agreements

• Telehealth and digital communication consent

• Release of Information forms

• Breach response planning

• Annual HIPAA risk assessments

• Good Faith Estimates

• AI scribe consent

• Employee and workstation policies

• New York SHIELD Act requirements

• And more

The real value? Instead of spending hours tracking down forms or paying an attorney to create every document from scratch, you get a comprehensive, organized starting point. That can mean less time on paperwork, lower legal costs, and greater peace of mind knowing you're taking important steps to protect your practice.

You also receive lifetime updates, so the materials can evolve as regulations change.

Created by someone who understands private practice

The Encrypted Chart was founded by Brad Lieberman, JD (Retired), MSN, PMHNP-BC, a practicing psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner with a legal background.

Brad created these resources from inside a working clinical practice, with a focus on making complicated privacy and compliance requirements more manageable for independent practitioners.

The materials are not a substitute for legal advice, but they can give you a much more developed starting point to customize and review with your own attorney instead of beginning with a blank page.

Special offer for The Link members

The Link members save 10%: the New York Edition is $314.10 (normally $349). The discount is applied automatically when you click through to checkout. If you need to enter it manually, use code LINK10

Practicing outside New York? The National Edition is $299, and the same discount applies.

How Clients Are Finding Therapists Through ChatGPT

By Kari Groff MD - Co-founder, The Link Newsletter

One of the biggest changes happening in private practice right now is not another directory, insurance company, or social media platform. It's artificial intelligence. In just so many ways.

Increasingly, potential clients are turning to tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity when they are looking for a therapist. Instead of typing "therapist near me" into Google, they are asking questions such as:

• "Can you recommend a therapist in Brooklyn who specializes in OCD?"

• "I need a therapist who understands ADHD in women."

• "Who are some highly regarded couples therapists in Manhattan?"

• "Can you help me find a therapist who takes Healthfirst and works with trauma?"

For many consumers, these AI tools are becoming the new front door to the internet…

Free Live Webinar: A Somatic Approach to Grief Work with Dr. Janina Fisher

Grief doesn’t just live in our stories about loss. It lives in the body—in the heaviness, the collapse, and the tightness in the chest that words alone can’t always reach.

Join Academy of Therapy Wisdom and Dr. Janina Fisher for a free live webinar: A Somatic Approach to Grief Work. In this 90-minute session, Dr. Fisher will show you how to recognize the somatic signatures of grief in your clients and gently help them move through loss that feels frozen or overwhelming.

Toward the end of the session, Dr. Fisher and Brian Spielmann, founder of Academy of Therapy Wisdom, will also share details about the Therapy Wisdom Circle, where Dr. Fisher will be the featured presenter in November.

• Date: Tuesday, October 27th, 2026

• Time: 10:00–11:30am PDT | 1:00–2:30pm EDT | 5:00–6:30pm BST

• Cost: Free

Host an Event!

Contact us if you want to host an event for The Link BBMHG-UWSPA! We would love to co-host your in-person networking event! Reach out and let’s make a date. It is a great way to get to know more people and showcase your practice as well.

Thank you for reading and for being a part of The Link community!

Best regards,

Brooklyn and Beyond Mental Health Group and the Upper West Side Psychotherapy Alliance

The Link is a monthly newsletter for the Brooklyn and Beyond Mental Health Group (BBMHG) and the Upper West Side Psychotherapy Alliance (UWSPA). Founded by Kari Groff MD and Ari Fox, LCSW, we are a thriving community of 6000+ mental health and allied professionals. Each month, we share tips and resources to help you build connections, take your practice to new heights and have more fun in the process.