WEBSITE TERMS OF USE
The Bend Within Counseling & Wellness, PLLC
Effective Date: September 5, 2026
Last Updated: September 6, 2026
These Website Terms of Use ("Terms") govern access to and use of the public website, online content, forms, links, and other public-facing digital features operated by The Bend Within Counseling & Wellness, PLLC (collectively, the "Site"). By accessing or using the Site, you acknowledge these Terms. If you do not agree with them, do not use the Site.
Practice and Professional Status
The Bend Within Counseling & Wellness, PLLC is a Texas professional limited liability company offering professional counseling and related wellness services within the scope permitted by Texas law. Counseling services are provided by Tula Christine-Lee Hahn, LPC Associate, Supervised by Olufemi Olukoya, LPC-S.
An LPC Associate may provide counseling only under required supervision and must accurately disclose Associate status and supervision. Nothing on this Site should be interpreted as representing the counselor as an independently licensed practitioner.
No Counselor-Client Relationship Created by Website Use
Visiting the Site, reading Site content, submitting a contact form, sending an email or text, following a social-media account, or requesting an appointment does not by itself establish a counselor-client relationship. A counseling relationship begins only after the Practice accepts the individual as a client and applicable intake, informed-consent, supervision, scheduling, and practice requirements have been completed.
Informational Content Is Not Counseling or Medical Advice
Site content is provided for general educational and informational purposes. It is not individualized counseling, psychotherapy, diagnosis, medical advice, psychiatric advice, legal advice, or a substitute for evaluation or treatment by an appropriately qualified professional. No particular therapeutic result is promised or guaranteed.
Emergencies and Crisis Situations
THE SITE, CONTACT FORM, ORDINARY EMAIL, TEXT MESSAGING, AND SOCIAL-MEDIA ACCOUNTS ARE NOT EMERGENCY OR CRISIS SERVICES AND MAY NOT BE MONITORED CONTINUOUSLY.
If you or another person may be in immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
For a suicide or mental-health crisis in the United States, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Do not use the Site, email, ordinary text messaging, or social media to communicate an emergency or other time-sensitive crisis.
Services, Eligibility, and Geographic Limitations
The Practice currently offers private-pay counseling services for adults, minors, and couples, and may offer group counseling, psychoeducational groups, workshops, or related wellness services. The Practice does not currently offer family therapy as a stated service line and does not operate a dedicated substance-use-disorder treatment program.
In-person services are currently offered in Kaufman County, Texas. Virtual services are offered only when the counselor is legally permitted to provide services to a client located in the client’s jurisdiction at the time of service and when supervision, clinical suitability, technology, and other legal requirements are satisfied. A client may be asked to verify physical location at each virtual session.
Separate Clinical Agreements and Informed Consent
These Terms do not replace clinical informed consent. If you become a client, counseling services will be governed by separate clinical documents that may address fees, cancellation policies, confidentiality and its limits, supervision, recordkeeping, telehealth, electronic communications, minors, couples counseling, group services, emergency procedures, social media, releases of information, and other clinical or legal matters.
If a conflict exists between these Terms and a signed clinical document concerning professional services, the applicable clinical document and governing law control as to those professional services.
Appointment Requests and Acceptance of Clients
An online inquiry or appointment request does not guarantee that an appointment has been accepted or that the Practice will establish a counseling relationship. The Practice may decline a prospective relationship when appropriate, including where services are outside the counselor’s competence or scope, supervision requirements cannot be satisfied, the Practice lacks availability, a conflict exists, virtual practice is not legally permitted, or another provider or level of care is more appropriate.
Once a counseling relationship exists, termination, referral, continuity of care, and transfer will be handled in accordance with applicable law, professional rules, and ethical duties.
Communications and Website Contact Form
The Site may include a general contact form. The public contact form is intended only for basic inquiry information. Do not use it to submit detailed symptoms, diagnoses, treatment histories, medications, trauma histories, medical records, Social Security numbers, payment-card numbers, or other highly sensitive information.
Ordinary email and SMS/text messaging can involve privacy and security risks. Once a counseling relationship is established, clients should use the Practice’s designated secure systems for sensitive clinical information whenever reasonably available and should follow the Practice’s clinical communication policies.
Virtual Care, Technology, and Identity Verification
Virtual counseling is not initiated merely by visiting the Site. The Practice may use secure or professionally appropriate technology platforms and may require additional consent, identity verification, confirmation of client location, emergency-contact information, and a backup communication plan. Technology can fail or create privacy limitations, and alternative arrangements may be necessary when virtual services are not clinically or technically appropriate.
Minors and Couples
Counseling involving minors may require verification of parental, conservatorship, guardianship, or other legal authority. The Practice may request custody orders, court orders, or other documentation before treatment or release of information. Rights concerning consent, confidentiality, and record access may depend on Texas law and the individual circumstances.
Couples counseling can create special confidentiality, authorization, and record-access issues because information may concern more than one participant. Those issues will be addressed in the Practice’s couples informed-consent and clinical policies and are not governed solely by these Website Terms.
Private-Pay Status and Fees
The Practice is private-pay at the time these Terms are adopted and is not currently accepting insurance. Fees, payment arrangements, cancellation charges, Good Faith Estimate obligations when applicable, and related financial terms will be disclosed separately. Website statements concerning fees or availability may change and do not supersede signed financial policies.
Professional Social Media
The Practice may maintain professional social-media accounts for education, outreach, and general information. Public comments, follows, likes, direct messages, or other social-media interactions do not create a counseling relationship and should not be used for confidential clinical communication. The Practice does not guarantee confidentiality for information a user voluntarily posts on a public or third-party social platform.
The counselor will seek to maintain appropriate professional boundaries online and to avoid publicly confirming that any person is or was a client.
Privacy and Health Information
Information collected through the public Site is addressed in the Website Privacy Policy. Health and mental-health information is additionally governed by applicable Texas confidentiality and medical-privacy law, including Texas Health & Safety Code Chapters 181 and 611, applicable BHEC rules, and, if and to the extent applicable in the future, federal HIPAA requirements. The Practice’s Notice of Privacy Practices and Texas Health-Information Privacy Notice provides additional information.
Third-Party Platforms and Links
The Site may link to or integrate with third-party services. Current Practice systems may include Squarespace for the public website, Sessions Health for practice-management functions such as scheduling or records, Stripe through Sessions Health for payment processing, and Psychology Today for professional directory or virtual-session functions. Third-party services may maintain their own terms and privacy practices.
A link or integration does not constitute a guarantee concerning third-party content. The Practice will use vendors and contractual protections appropriate to the sensitivity of information handled and to applicable law.
Intellectual Property
Unless otherwise stated, original Site content, graphics, design elements, educational materials, and Practice branding are owned by or licensed to the Practice and are protected to the extent provided by applicable intellectual-property law. Nothing on the Site grants a license to use the Practice’s names, marks, logos, or proprietary content except for ordinary personal, noncommercial viewing.
Do not copy or republish substantial Site content for commercial use without authorization.
Do not remove proprietary notices or falsely imply sponsorship, affiliation, endorsement, or approval by the Practice.
Do not use Practice branding in a way likely to cause confusion about source or affiliation.
Acceptable Use
You may not use the Site to violate law, infringe another person’s rights, transmit malicious code, obtain unauthorized access, impersonate another person, harass or threaten others, interfere with Site security or operation, scrape or collect information unlawfully, or submit knowingly false or fraudulent information.
Accessibility
The Practice seeks to make its public website and services reasonably accessible. If you experience difficulty accessing Site information because of a disability or need information in another reasonably available format, contact the Practice at 469-332-5703 or connect@thebendwithin.com. The Practice will make reasonable efforts to address accessibility concerns.
Website Availability and Disclaimer
The public Site is provided on an “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Practice does not warrant that the Site will always be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components, or that every item of general informational content will always be complete or current. The Practice may revise, suspend, or remove Site content at any time.
Limitation Limited to Public Website Use
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Practice will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising solely from ordinary use of, or inability to access, the public informational Site.
Nothing in these Terms limits or waives any professional duty owed to a client; limits liability for professional negligence, malpractice, misconduct, or other liability that may not lawfully be waived; alters the confidential professional relationship; limits health-information or mental-health-record rights; prevents a complaint to BHEC, HHS, law enforcement, a court, or another governmental authority; or waives any nonwaivable right or remedy.
Texas Law and Venue
These Terms are governed by applicable federal law and the laws of the State of Texas. For a dispute arising solely from use of the public Site and not governed by a separate client agreement or nonwaivable law, venue will lie in a court of competent jurisdiction in Kaufman County, Texas, unless applicable law requires otherwise. This section does not restrict any right to make a professional-licensing, privacy, consumer-protection, or governmental complaint.
Professional Licensing and Complaints
Professional counseling in Texas is regulated by the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council and the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors.
Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council
1801 Congress Ave., Suite 7.300Austin, Texas 78701
Main: 512-305-7700
Complaints: 800-821-3205
bhec.texas.gov/tbhec/discipline-and-complaints/
Changes to These Terms
The Practice may revise these Terms to reflect changes in law, technology, vendors, Site functionality, or Practice operations. The current version will identify its effective or revision date. Material changes affecting clinical rights will be handled through applicable clinical disclosures and consent procedures rather than solely through amendment of these Website Terms.
Contact
The Bend Within Counseling & Wellness, PLLC
5900 Balcones Drive, Suite 20971,
Austin, TX 78731
469-332-5703
connect@thebendwithin.com