Mattie Chein LCSW

Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 18, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Mattie Chein, LCSW (“we,” “us,” or “the practice”) handles information when you visit mattiecheinlcsw.com (the “Site”). It describes what this Site actually collects and why, in plain language, so you can make informed choices.

What this policy covers (and what it does not)

This policy covers the Site only. The Site does not ask for or collect health information. Anything you share within a therapy relationship, including what you say in sessions, is protected health information governed by HIPAA and described in our Notice of Privacy Practices, not by this policy. The two documents cover two different things: this one covers the website, that one covers your care.

Information you give us

You can contact us by email, by phone, or by text message. When you do, we receive whatever you choose to send, such as your name, your contact details, and the content of your message. We use it to respond to you and to provide our services. Please keep in mind that ordinary email and text messages are convenient but not fully secure channels, so share only what you are comfortable sending this way.

When you book a free consultation or an appointment, scheduling is handled by Cal.com, a third-party scheduling service. The details you enter there (your name, email address, phone number, and the appointment time) are processed by Cal.com under its own privacy policy, and by us so we can hold the appointment and follow up with you.

Information collected automatically

The Site is hosted on Netlify and built as a set of static pages. Like most hosts, Netlify keeps standard server logs, which can include your IP address, browser type, the pages you request, and the date and time of each request. These logs exist to keep the Site secure and available.

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how the Site is used: which pages people read, roughly where visitors come from, and how they move through the Site. It runs under Google Consent Mode v2, which means it respects the choice you make in our consent notice.

We advertise the practice on Google, and we measure whether that advertising works. If you book a consultation, Google Ads conversion tracking may report the booking to Google as a conversion. This includes Enhanced Conversions: when a booking completes, a one-way hashed version of the email address used for the booking may be sent to Google so it can confirm that an ad led to a real booking. The hash cannot be read back as your email address.

If you arrive at the Site by clicking a Google ad, the link carries a click identifier (a value called gclid, gbraid, or wbraid). We store that identifier in your browser, in localStorage or a first-party cookie, and if you book a consultation we attach it to the booking so we can see which ad led to it. The booking reference kept on our server (in Netlify Blobs) contains only a booking ID, the click identifier, and timestamps. It contains no name, no email address, and no health information.

What we do not do

  • We do not use remarketing, and we do not build advertising audiences of any kind.
  • We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
  • We do not collect health information through the Site, and no health information is used in analytics or advertising measurement.

How we use information

  • To respond to your messages and calls and to provide our services
  • To schedule and manage consultations and appointments
  • To understand how the Site is used and to improve it
  • To measure whether our advertising leads to consultations
  • To keep the Site secure and to comply with legal obligations

Cookies and similar technologies

The Site uses a small number of cookies and browser storage entries: Google’s analytics and measurement cookies (only while you have not opted out) and the first-party storage described above that records an ad click identifier. You can clear or block cookies at any time through your browser settings; the Site works without them.

Your choices, opting out, and Global Privacy Control

When you visit, the Site shows a consent notice (powered by Vonzie Nexus) that explains our measurement and offers an opt-out. If you opt out, analytics and advertising measurement are disabled. The Site also honors the Global Privacy Control (GPC): if your browser sends a GPC signal, we treat it as an opt-out automatically, without you needing to do anything else. Some browsers also offer an older Do Not Track setting; because no common standard was ever adopted for it, the Site does not respond to Do Not Track, but GPC gives you a recognized alternative that we do honor.

Third-party services

We rely on a small set of providers to run the Site: Netlify for hosting, Google for analytics and advertising measurement, and Cal.com for scheduling. Each processes the information described above under its own privacy policy. The Site also links to outside websites, such as our Psychology Today profile and social media pages. This policy does not cover those sites, and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.

Data retention and security

We keep the information described in this policy only as long as it is reasonably needed for the purposes above, or as the law requires. We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards to protect it. No website or internet transmission can be guaranteed fully secure, but the Site is deliberately built to collect very little.

Your California privacy rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA, as amended by the CPRA) gives you rights over your personal information:

  • The right to know what personal information we have collected about you, where it came from, and how it is used
  • The right to request that we delete personal information we hold about you, subject to legal exceptions
  • The right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information
  • The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of; if that ever changed, we would tell you and provide a clear opt-out first
  • The right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of these rights

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details at the end of this policy. We will verify your request by matching the information you provide against what we hold, and we will respond within the time the law allows. You may also make a request through an authorized agent.

Visitors from New York and elsewhere

If you are visiting from New York or any other state, we extend the same rights as a courtesy: you can ask what information we have about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it, using the contact details below.

Children

The Site and our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If our practices change, we will update this policy and change the effective date at the top. The version posted here is always the current one.

Contact us

For questions about this policy, or to make a privacy request, contact:

  • Email: Mattie@mattiecheinlcsw.com
  • Phone: 917-300-8419
  • Mail: Mattie Chein, LCSW, 447 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94108