Privacy of personal information is very important to any psychology practice.  We are committed to responsibly collecting, using, and disclosing personal information and only to the extent necessary for the services provided. This document describes our privacy policies.

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Please note that submitting a query or request through the contact form at www.taylorpsychology.ca does not initiate a formal therapeutic relationship. You are not considered a client of Taylor Psychology simply by contacting Taylor Psychology. You are only considered a client of Taylor Psychology after both parties (you and Taylor Psychology) consent to the initiation of psychology treatment and the creation of a therapeutic relationship. You are considered a member of the general public when submitting an initial request or query through the contact form at www.taylorpsychology.ca. 

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What Is Personal Health Information?

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Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. Personal information includes information that relates to an individual’s personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address or phone number, ethnic background, family status), health (e.g., health history, health conditions, health services received by them), or, activities and views (e.g., religion, politics, opinions expressed by an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual). Personal information is different from business information (e.g., an individual’s business address and telephone number). Business information is not protected by privacy legislation.

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Who We Are

Taylor Psychology is a psychology practice in the province of Ontario. Occasionally, we use consultants and agencies that may, in the course of their duties, have limited access to personal information that we hold. These third-parties include computer and IT consultants, accountants, lawyers, a practice management software company, and/or credit card companies. We restrict their access to any personal information we hold as much as is reasonably possible. We also obtain their assurance that they follow appropriate privacy principles.

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Collection of Personal Information

We collect, use, and disclose personal information only to provide psychology assessment and treatment to clients. Examples of the type of personal information collected for these purposes include a client’s health histories (physical and mental health history, including family history) which is collected in order to help assess client’s health needs, to advise clients of their options, to provide the health care services clients choose to receive, and to obtain a baseline of health and social information so that in providing ongoing health services, we can identify changes that occur over time.

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It is rare for us to collect such information without a client’s express consent, but this may occur in an emergency (e.g., the client is unconscious) or where we believe the client would consent if asked and it is impractical to obtain consent (e.g., a family member passes a message to us and we have no reason to believe that the message is not genuine).

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Our primary purpose for collecting personal information (e.g., name, contact information) from members of the general public are to make them aware of services available through this clinic and to reply to requests or queries submitted via www.taylorpsychology.ca.

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For visitors to our web site, we may use cookies to collect non-personal information such as the type of Internet browser and operating system used by you, the domain name of the website from which you came, the date and duration of your visit, number of visits, average time spent on our Web site, IP address associated with your computer, pages viewed and number of cookies accumulated. Cookies are small browser features stored on the hard-drive of your computer which are used to track and collect information concerning your visit to our Web site. This information is only used for the technical performance of the Web site (including but not limited to ensuring the security of the Web site).

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Additional Reasons We Might Collect Personal Information

Like most organizations, we also collect, use, and disclose information for purposes related to or secondary to our primary purposes. The most common examples of my related and secondary purposes are as follows:

• To invoice clients for services rendered, to process credit card or other bank payments, or to collect unpaid fees.

• The cost of some goods/services provided to clients is paid for by third parties (e.g., private insurance). These third-party payers often have your consent or legislative authority to direct us to collect and disclose to them certain information (e.g., session dates and fees) in order to demonstrate client entitlement to funding.

• If someone else is paying for services with us (e.g., clients’ parents), they will be entitled to information about the date and length of services provided to enable payment, however, no other information would be disclosed without consent.

• To advise clients and others of special events or opportunities (e.g., a workshop or development of a new service) that are available.

• Psychologists are regulated by the College of Psychologists of Ontario who may inspect our records as a part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. In addition, as a professional, we will report serious misconduct, incompetence or incapacity of other practitioners, whether they belong to other organizations or our own.

 

Protecting Personal Information

We understand the importance of protecting personal information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps:

• Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area.

• Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area at all times. In addition, passwords and anti-virus software are used on computers. 

• Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies or Canada Post.

• Email communication is undertaken via encrypted connection and storage of your email. Please note that your copy of the email is not necessarily encrypted.

• An electronic health record is maintained using a secure service called Jane, which is based in Canada. Jane services are designed and maintained in accordance with Ontario’s Personal Health Information Privacy Act (PHIPA).

 

Limits to the Protection of Personal Health Information

Limits to the protection of your personal health information at this clinic may include the following:

• In situations in which there is a court order, we are legally required to submit the requested information or documents.

• In situations where a client intends to cause serious physical harm to him/herself or to another person, we need to take steps to offset the consequences of such action.

• The Regulated Health Professions Act makes it mandatory to file a report when there are reasonable grounds to believe that another member of the same or different college has sexually abused the client.

• The Child and Family Services Act states that when a practitioner has reasonable grounds to suspect that a child has, or may have suffered abuse (including physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect), we are required to report the suspicion and the information on which it is based to child welfare services.

• The Long-Term Care Homes Act and the Retirement Homes Act require mandatory reporting when there are reasonable grounds to suspect the abuse or neglect of residents of long-term care or retirement homes.

• If the College of Psychologists of Ontario conducts an audit of the practice files for quality assurance.   

 

Retention and Destruction of Personal Information

We are required to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions you might have about the services provided and for our accountability to external regulatory bodies. More specifically,

• We retain client records for a period of 10 years past the date of last contact, or for children, 10 years after their 18th birthday, in keeping with the guidelines required by the College of Psychologists of Ontario. This ensures that we are able to respond to questions from clients about services received in the past.

• Paper files containing personal information are destroyed by shredding. Electronic information is destroyed by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, the hard drive is physically destroyed.   

 

You Can Look at Your Information

With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. Upon request, we can identify what records we have. We will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g., technical language, etc.). We will need to confirm your identity before providing you with this access, and we reserve the right to charge a fee for such requests. We may ask that you put your request in writing, and we will respond to you within 30 days and will tell you the reason if we are unable to give you access.

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If you believe there is a mistake in your personal health information, you have the right to ask that it be corrected. This applies to factual information only and not to any professional opinions we may have formed. We may ask you to provide documentation that our files are wrong. Where we agree that we have made a mistake, we will make the correction and, where appropriate, notify anyone to whom we have sent this information. If we do not agree that we have made a mistake, we will agree to include in the file a brief statement from you on the point and, as appropriate, will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.

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If You Have a Concern 

We will attempt to answer any questions or concerns that you might have. We can be reached at erica@taylorpsychology.ca. If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, you may make it in writing to us. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, ensure that it is investigated promptly, and that you are provided with a formal written decision.

 

If you have a concern about the professionalism or competence of our services, we would ask you to discuss those concerns with us.  If we cannot satisfy your concerns, you are entitled to complain to our regulatory body:

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The College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario

110 Eglinton Avenue West, Suite 500

Toronto, ON. M4R1A3

Phone: (416) 961-8817 |  Fax (416) 961-2635

www.cpo.on.ca

 

For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario oversees the administration of the privacy legislation.  The Commissioner also acts as a kind of ombudsman for privacy disputes.  The Information and Privacy Commissioner can be reached at:

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Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400

Toronto, ON. M4W1A8

Phone (416) 326-3333  | Fax (416) 325-9195

www.ipc.on.ca

 

Changes to our Policy:

We reserve the right, from time to time, to amend or change this Privacy Policy by posting such revisions to our website. Changes to the Privacy Policy shall be effective upon posting. In the event that any amendment affects the purpose(s) for which we collect, use or disclose your Personal Information, we will obtain any additional consent required from you under applicable privacy laws.