Privacy Policy

What is Personal Health Information?

The practice of psychotherapy in Ontario is regulated under the provincial Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA). All identifiable information collected by a psychotherapist about an individual while engaging in psychotherapy services is considered “personal health information” under the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA, 2004). This includes your name and contact information, the name and contact information for a minor child, as well as any information collected and/or recorded in the course of providing services to you or your minor child.

Collection of Your Personal Health Information: We collect your personal health information directly from you or the parents/caregivers for a minor child, except: (a) when you have provided consent to obtain such information from others (i.e. reports, assessments or other relevant services); and (b) when the law requires or allows us to collect information without your consent (i.e. urgent situations, when information is needed to prevent potential harm).

We collect only information from you that we believe is needed: (a) to provide you with the psychotherapy services you have requested; (b) to maintain contact with you for service-related purposes; and (c) to prevent harm (i.e. an emergency contact).

By law and in accordance with professional standards, we are required to keep a record of services and contacts with you or your minor child. Your record includes information you provided to us or authorized us to receive. This may include results of assessments, consent forms, session notes, billing information, contact logs, and correspondence that we have sent or received related to your service. The physical records are the property of the practice. However, you have rights regarding access to your record and disclosure of information from your record (see below).

In this office, information is recorded in both written and electronic form. In electronic form this office uses Jane.app (www.jane.app) a Canadian fully-encrypted service that is private, confidential and meets all of Canada’s privacy laws (PHIPA).

Use of Your Personal Health Information: is to provide psychotherapy and/or counselling and/or consultation services to you. This includes carrying out all of the functions reasonably necessary to provide those services.

Paper and electronic information are secured in a locked or restricted area at all times, and passwords are used on computers. Electronic information is transmitted through the services of Jane.app (www.jane.app), a Canadian fully-encrypted service that is private, confidential and meets all of Canada’s privacy laws (PHIPA). Faxing is sometimes used to send or receive confidential client information.

The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO), the organization that regulates psychotherapists in Ontario (in the public interest), may at times access and inspect client records as part of an external audit. All professional persons involved in these activities are required by law to maintain confidentiality of any accessed information.

Disclosure of Your Personal Health Information: With only a few exceptions, your personal health information will not be disclosed to persons outside this practice without your knowledge and expressed, written consent. The exceptions known as limits of confidentiality are: (a) when allowed by law (i.e. clear and imminent risk of serious bodily harm to someone; professional or legal consultation); and (b) when required by law (i.e. mandatory reporting of a child who might be in need of protection; mandatory reporting of a regulated health professional who has sexually abused a client; a court order to release information from a record).

Please note that the law requires any disclosure of your personal health information to be limited to information that is reasonably necessary for the purpose of the disclosure and not to include private information provided by a third party. Professional ethical standards require that any information that might cause serious harm to someone not be disclosed, unless required by law. When consenting to the disclosure of your personal health information, you may restrict us from sharing all or any part of your information or that of your minor child. However, if in your therapist’s opinion the information is reasonably necessary for another health service provider to provide appropriate services, we are required by law to inform the other provider that you have refused consent.

Right of Access to Your Personal Health Information: With only a few exceptions, you have the right to access any record of your personal health information and to request copies of the information (we reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for record copying). If the physical record contains personal health information about another individual, that individual’s information must be redacted (removed) from the record before you may access the record. Other exceptions include information provided in confidence by a third party, and information that could result in serious harm to someone’s treatment or recovery, or in serious bodily harm to someone. If you believe that information in your record is not accurate, you have the right to request a correction. This applies to factual information and not to the professional opinion of your therapist. Your request to correct the record must be written and will require 30 days to review. Where we agree there is an error, your therapist will make the necessary correction and notify all persons to whom the information may have been sent. If there is not an agreement to correct the record as requested, you may file a notice of disagreement into your record and your therapist will forward that notice to all persons to whom the information has been sent.

Retention and Destruction of Personal Health Information: We must retain personal health information for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions you might have about the services provided and for our own accountability to regulatory bodies. The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario requires that client records be kept for at least 10 years past the date of last contact for adults, and 10 years past the date at which the client would turn 18 years of age. We destroy paper records containing personal information through shredding, we remove electronic information through deletion, and we physically destroy the hard drive of discarded hardware.

Do you have a Question or Concern?

Further details of the applicable laws, regulations and ethical standards may be found at the websites of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (www.health.gov.on.ca) and the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (www.crpo.ca).

We will speak to you directly to answer any questions you might have regarding this Privacy Statement.

General inquiries or Complaints may also be addressed to:

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8
Phone: 416-326-3333, 1-800-387-0073
Website: www.ipc.on.ca

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

The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario
375 University Avenue, Suite 803
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2J5
Phone: 416-479-4330, 1-844-712-1364
E-mail: info@crpo.ca

Your privacy is critically important to us. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this privacy policy (“Policy”). This Policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide (“Personal Information”) on the fluxopsychotherapy.com website (“Website” or “Service”) and any of its related products and services (collectively, “Services”), and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that Personal Information. It also describes the choices available to you regarding our use of your Personal Information and how you can access and update it.

This Policy is a legally binding agreement between you (“User”, “you” or “your”) and Fluxo Psychotherapy (“Fluxo Psychotherapy”, “we”, “us” or “our”). If you are entering into this Policy on behalf of a business or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind such entity to this Policy, in which case the terms “User”, “you” or “your” shall refer to such entity. If you do not have such authority, or if you do not agree with the terms of this Policy, you must not accept this Policy and may not access and use the Website and Services. By accessing and using the Website and Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Policy. This Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, or to individuals that we do not employ or manage.

Collection of information

Our top priority is customer data security and, as such, we exercise the no logs policy. We may process only minimal user data, only as much as it is absolutely necessary to maintain the Website and Services. Information collected automatically is used only to identify potential cases of abuse and establish statistical information regarding the usage and traffic of the Website and Services. This statistical information is not otherwise aggregated in such a way that would identify any particular user of the system.

Use and processing of collected information

We act as a data controller and a data processor when handling Personal Information, unless we have entered into a data processing agreement with you in which case you would be the data controller and we would be the data processor.

Our role may also differ depending on the specific situation involving Personal Information. We act in the capacity of a data controller when we ask you to submit your Personal Information that is necessary to ensure your access and use of the Website and Services. In such instances, we are a data controller because we determine the purposes and means of the processing of Personal Information.

We act in the capacity of a data processor in situations when you submit Personal Information through the Website and Services. We do not own, control, or make decisions about the submitted Personal Information, and such Personal Information is processed only in accordance with your instructions. In such instances, the User providing Personal Information acts as a data controller.

In order to make the Website and Services available to you, or to meet a legal obligation, we may need to collect and use certain Personal Information. If you do not provide the information that we request, we may not be able to provide you with the requested products or services. Any of the information we collect from you may be used for the following purposes:

- Create and manage user accounts

- Send administrative information

- Send product and service updates

- Respond to inquiries and offer support

- Run and operate the Website and Services

Processing your Personal Information depends on how you interact with the Website and Services, where you are located in the world and if one of the following applies: (a) you have given your consent for one or more specific purposes; (b) provision of information is necessary for the performance of this Policy with you and/or for any pre-contractual obligations thereof; (c) processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which you are subject; (d) processing is related to a task that is carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us; (e) processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party.

Note that under some legislations we may be allowed to process information until you object to such processing by opting out, without having to rely on consent or any other of the legal bases. In any case, we will be happy to clarify the specific legal basis that applies to the processing, and in particular whether the provision of Personal Information is a statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract.

Disclosure of information

Depending on the requested Services or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any Service you have requested, we may share your information with our trusted subsidiaries and joint venture partners, contracted companies, and service providers (collectively, “Service Providers”) we rely upon to assist in the operation of the Website and Services available to you and whose privacy policies are consistent with ours or who agree to abide by our policies with respect to Personal Information. We will not share any information with unaffiliated third parties.

Service Providers are not authorized to use or disclose your information except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or comply with legal requirements. Service Providers are given the information they need only in order to perform their designated functions, and we do not authorize them to use or disclose any of the provided information for their own marketing or other purposes. We will share and disclose your information only with the following categories of Service Providers:

- Communication and collaboration services

- Data storage services

- Financial services

- Government agencies

- Payment processors

- Website hosting service providers

We may also disclose any Personal Information we collect, use or receive if required or permitted by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or similar legal process, and when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

In the event we go through a business transition, such as a merger or acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your Personal Information will likely be among the assets transferred.

Retention of information

We will retain and use your Personal Information for the period necessary to comply with our legal obligations, to enforce our Policy, resolve disputes, and unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

We may use any aggregated data derived from or incorporating your Personal Information after you update or delete it, but not in a manner that would identify you personally. Once the retention period expires, Personal Information shall be deleted. Therefore, the right to access, the right to erasure, the right to rectification, and the right to data portability cannot be enforced after the expiration of the retention period.

Region-specific notices

Out of respect for your privacy, we have implemented additional measures to comply with the obligations and rights associated with the collection of Personal Information as dictated by the laws governing the regions of our users.

- Disclosures for residents of Canada

If you are a resident of Canada, you have certain rights in relation to your Personal Information based on the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) that we comply with as part of our commitment to your privacy. This supplemental section, together with other relevant sections of the Policy, provides information about your rights and how to exercise them. Unless otherwise expressly stated, all terms in this section have the same meaning as defined in the PIPEDA.

(a) Right to access: You have the right to access the Personal Information we hold about you if you wish to review, verify, or correct your information.

(b) Right to correct: We strive to maintain the accuracy of your Personal Information and will promptly make necessary corrections when you identify inaccuracies in your data.

(c) Right withdraw consent: You can withdraw your consent regarding the handling of your Personal Information at any time, subject to legal or contractual limitations.

(d) Right to complain: You have the right to file a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you feel your Personal Information is being handled in a way that violates PIPEDA.

(e) Right to challenge compliance: You can challenge our compliance with PIPEDA, including how we handle your Personal Information, consent, access requests, and how we respond to your correction requests.

(f) Right to know about breaches: You have the right to be notified in cases of a security breach involving your Personal Information that poses a real risk of significant harm.

How to exercise your rights

Any requests to exercise your rights can be directed to us through the contact details provided in this document. Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests. Your request must provide sufficient information that allows us to verify that you are the person you are claiming to be or that you are the authorized representative of such person. If we receive your request from an authorized representative, we may request evidence that you have provided such an authorized representative with power of attorney or that the authorized representative otherwise has valid written authority to submit requests on your behalf.

You must include sufficient details to allow us to properly understand the request and respond to it. We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information unless we first verify your identity or authority to make such a request and confirm that the Personal Information relates to you.

Privacy of children

We do not knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, please do not submit any Personal Information through the Website and Services. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 18 has provided Personal Information to us through the Website and Services, please contact us to request that we delete that child’s Personal Information from our Services.

We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and to help enforce this Policy by instructing their children never to provide Personal Information through the Website and Services without their permission. We also ask that all parents and legal guardians overseeing the care of children take the necessary precautions to ensure that their children are instructed to never give out Personal Information when online without their permission.

Do Not Track signals

Some browsers incorporate a Do Not Track feature that signals to websites you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Tracking is not the same as using or collecting information in connection with a website. For these purposes, tracking refers to collecting personally identifiable information from users who use or visit a website or online service as they move across different websites over time. How browsers communicate the Do Not Track signal is not yet uniform. As a result, the Website and Services are not yet set up to interpret or respond to Do Not Track signals communicated by your browser. Even so, as described in more detail throughout this Policy, we limit our use and collection of your Personal Information. For a description of Do Not Track protocols for browsers and mobile devices or to learn more about the choices available to you, visit internetcookies.com

Email marketing

We offer electronic newsletters to which you may voluntarily subscribe at any time. We are committed to keeping your e-mail address confidential and will not disclose your email address to any third parties except as allowed in the information use and processing section or for the purposes of utilizing a third-party provider to send such emails. We will maintain the information sent via e-mail in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

In compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, all e-mails sent from us will clearly state who the e-mail is from and provide clear information on how to contact the sender. You may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails or by contacting us.

Links to other resources

The Website and Services contain links to other resources that are not owned or controlled by us. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other resources or third parties. We encourage you to be aware when you leave the Website and Services and to read the privacy statements of each and every resource that may collect Personal Information.

Information security

We secure information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards in an effort to protect against unauthorized access, use, modification, and disclosure of Personal Information in our control and custody. However, no data transmission over the Internet or wireless network can be guaranteed.

Therefore, while we strive to protect your Personal Information, you acknowledge that (a) there are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control; (b) the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and the Website and Services cannot be guaranteed; and (c) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party, despite best efforts.

Data breach

In the event we become aware that the security of the Website and Services has been compromised or Users’ Personal Information has been disclosed to unrelated third parties as a result of external activity, including, but not limited to, security attacks or fraud, we reserve the right to take reasonably appropriate measures, including, but not limited to, investigation and reporting, as well as notification to and cooperation with law enforcement authorities. In the event of a data breach, we will make reasonable efforts to notify affected individuals if we believe that there is a reasonable risk of harm to the User as a result of the breach or if notice is otherwise required by law. When we do, we will send you an email.

Changes and amendments

We reserve the right to modify this Policy or its terms related to the Website and Services at any time at our discretion. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page. We may also provide notice to you in other ways at our discretion, such as through the contact information you have provided.

An updated version of this Policy will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Policy unless otherwise specified. Your continued use of the Website and Services after the effective date of the revised Policy (or such other act specified at that time) will constitute your consent to those changes. However, we will not, without your consent, use your Personal Information in a manner materially different than what was stated at the time your Personal Information was collected.

Acceptance of this policy

You acknowledge that you have read this Policy and agree to all its terms and conditions. By accessing and using the Website and Services and submitting your information you agree to be bound by this Policy. If you do not agree to abide by the terms of this Policy, you are not authorized to access or use the Website and Services.

Contacting us

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints regarding this Policy, the information we hold about you, or if you wish to exercise your rights, we encourage you to contact us using the details below:

anacancian@fluxopsychotherapy.com

We will attempt to resolve complaints and disputes and make every reasonable effort to honor your wish to exercise your rights as quickly as possible and in any event, within the timescales provided by applicable data protection laws.

This document was last updated on June 7, 2024