Informed Consent

📬 Using Messenger for ShockTalk Notifications

Thanks for choosing ShockTalk! We use Facebook Messenger to send simple, helpful updates like:

🔔 Appointment reminders

💡 Provider match notifications

🌿 Wellness check-ins and nudges

📱 Why Facebook Messenger?

🌎 Widely Used: Messenger is the most common social media platform across Indian Country, familiar and easy to access.

📲 Supports Older Devices: It runs smoothly even on older (“legacy”) phones, ensuring everyone can access ShockTalk services.

🤝 Culturally Tailored Connection: Messenger provides a culturally relevant linkage to care, building comfortable, meaningful relationships between patients and providers.

🔐 Privacy and Security

🔒 Encrypted Conversations: Messenger chats are end-to-end encrypted—only you and ShockTalk see these messages.

🛡️ HIPAA Compliance: Your most sensitive health data is securely stored by your clinician in a fully HIPAA-compliant Electronic Health Records (EHR) system, not Messenger.

📹 Secure Telehealth Sessions: All ShockTalk therapeutic sessions happen exclusively through HIPAA-compliant telehealth platforms. Providers are required to use approved, secure telehealth software for all appointments.

🎙️ No Unauthorized Recording: ShockTalk will never record your therapeutic sessions without your Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).

⚠️ Important Notice

❗ No BAA with Facebook: Facebook Messenger does not sign HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAA), meaning Messenger itself isn’t officially HIPAA-compliant.

📋 Limited Messaging: For this reason, ShockTalk only sends basic notifications via Messenger. Sensitive health details (such as intake forms or detailed clinical notes) will always be handled directly by your provider via the secure EHR system, outside Messenger.

🤔 Is this unusual?

Not at all! This is similar to how widely-used services operate:

📩 Platforms like Zocdoc regularly send basic appointment reminders or updates via email or SMS, even though email and SMS are not technically HIPAA-compliant.

📆 Many providers use Calendly for scheduling, even though Calendly isn’t HIPAA-compliant. They handle your most sensitive data within a separate, secure EHR system.

ShockTalk follows this familiar model—making sure your most sensitive health information remains safe and secure at all times, while giving you a convenient, culturally tailored experience.

✊🏽 Your Data, Your Choice

At ShockTalk, you control your information:

✅ To stop receiving Messenger notifications, simply email us at connect@shocktalk.io and we’ll remove you promptly.

📧 If you have any questions or need support, reach out at any time!

(We plan to add simpler ways to opt out soon—stay tuned!)