At Discourse Psychology Centre, we take your privacy seriously.
This page outlines how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal health information, as well as your rights as a client. Our practices comply with the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) of Ontario, which governs how regulated health professionals handle personal health information in this province.
If you have any questions about this policy or how your information is handled, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
All inquiries are handled confidentially.
In the course of providing psychological services, we may collect the following types of information:
• Personal identification information (name, date of birth, contact details)
• Health and mental health history
• Information shared during therapy sessions and assessments
• Emergency contact information
• Insurance and billing information
• Communications sent to our clinic via email, phone, or our contact form
Collection of this information is necessary for the provision of safe, effective, and individualized care.
Your personal health information is used for the following purposes:
• Providing and coordinating your psychological care
• Conducting clinical assessments and developing treatment plans
• Communicating with you about appointments and services
• Processing payments and issuing receipts for insurance purposes
• Fulfilling legal and professional obligations as regulated health professionals
• Supervising trainees and supervised practice clinicians within our team
We do not use your personal health information for marketing purposes, and we do not sell your information to third parties under any circumstances.
Confidentiality is a cornerstone of psychological practice and essential to the therapeutic relationship. Everything you share with your clinician is held in strict confidence.
However, there are specific circumstances under which confidentiality must be limited by law or professional obligation. Your clinician will discuss these limits with you at the outset of treatment. They include:
• If there is a risk of serious harm to you or to another identifiable person
• If there is a reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect (mandatory reporting under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act)
• If there is a reasonable suspicion of abuse or neglect of a vulnerable person in a care facility.
• If there is suspicion that a regulated health professional has acted in a sexually inappropriate manner with a patient.
• If your records are subpoenaed by a court of law
• If there is an urgent demand made from Police Officers to aid in finding a missing person, under the missing person’s act.
• If there is a need to disclose information to the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario to comply with an audit of our services, supervision responsibilities, or consult about psychological practices.
In all other circumstances, your information will not be disclosed without your explicit written consent. Where disclosure is legally required, we will notify you wherever possible.
All virtual services at Discourse Psychology Centre are delivered through secure, encrypted telehealth platforms that comply with PHIPA requirements. We currently use the Jane platform to conduct all virtual appointments. We do not conduct sessions over standard video calling platforms that do not meet healthcare privacy standards.
While we take every precaution to protect your privacy in virtual delivery, it is important to acknowledge the inherent limitations of electronic communication. These include:
• The possibility (however remote) of technical interception
• Privacy risks if sessions are attended from a shared or public space
• Disruptions or data loss due to technical failures
We recommend attending sessions from a private, secure location. If you have concerns about the security of your telehealth sessions, please raise them with your clinician.
When communicating by email, please be aware that standard email is not a fully secure medium for communication. While we use password protected, encrypted email hosting that is compliant with PHIPA requirements, our clients may not. As a result, we cannot guarantee that information sent over email will be fully secure.
We encourage clients not to share sensitive clinical information via unencrypted channels. For any private communications, please send information through our secure Jane profile. For urgent matters, please contact us by phone, or raise concerns with your clinician during a session.
Your records are stored securely using electronic health record systems that meet Ontario’s privacy standards. Access is restricted to clinicians and administrative staff directly involved in your care.
In accordance with Ontario regulations governing regulated health professionals, client records are retained for a minimum of ten years from the date of the last service. For clients who were minors at the time of service, records are retained until the age of 28, or for ten years from last service, whichever is longer.
After the required retention period, records are destroyed securely and in a manner that protects your confidentiality.
Under PHIPA, you have the following rights with respect to your personal health information:
• Right to access: You may request to view or receive a copy of your clinical records.
• Right to correction: If you believe information in your records is inaccurate or incomplete, you may request a correction.
• Right to withdraw consent: You may withdraw consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of your information, subject to legal and professional limitations.
• Right to file a complaint: If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you have the right to file a complaint with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC).
To make a request related to your records or to exercise any of the above rights, please contact our Privacy Officer using the information below.
Prior to beginning services, all clients are asked to review and sign an informed consent document. This document outlines the nature of psychological services, the limits of confidentiality, the virtual delivery model, fees, cancellation policies, and other relevant information about the therapeutic process.
Consent is an ongoing process, not a one-time formality. You are encouraged to ask questions about any aspect of your care at any time, and you may withdraw consent or discontinue services at any point.
To protect your privacy, our clinicians do not accept friend or follow requests from current or former clients on personal social media platforms. This boundary exists to maintain the professional nature of the therapeutic relationship and to protect your confidentiality.
Some clinicians have public social media profiles, where they share content related to knowledge translation about psychotherapy and mental health, or for advertising purposes. These accounts typically are Public accounts, open for anyone to follow without clinician requirement to approve a friend or follow request. If you choose to interact with our clinic’s professional social media pages (e.g., liking or commenting on posts), please be aware that this activity may be visible to others. We encourage discretion if privacy is a concern for you.
Our website may collect standard technical information through cookies and analytics tools (such as pages visited, time spent on pages, and general geographic location). This information is collected in aggregate and is not linked to your identity.
Information submitted through our website contact form is transmitted to our administrative email account and handled in accordance with this privacy policy. We recommend against including sensitive clinical details in initial contact forms.
We ask that clients provide a minimum of 24 hours notice for cancellations or rescheduling. This allows us to offer the appointment time to another client who may be waiting for care.
Late cancellations or missed appointments without adequate notice may be subject to a cancellation fee. Specific details are outlined in your informed consent document. We understand that unforeseen circumstances arise and approach these situations with flexibility and good faith.
If you have a concern about your care or about how your information has been handled, we encourage you to raise it directly with your clinician or with the Clinic Director. We are committed to addressing concerns promptly and in good faith.
If you feel your concern has not been adequately addressed, you may also contact:
• The College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO) — the regulatory body governing registered psychologists in Ontario
• The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) — for concerns specifically related to privacy and personal health information
For any questions, concerns, or requests related to your personal health information, please contact:
Dr. Belal Zia, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Privacy Officer & Clinic Director
Discourse Psychology Centre
admin@discoursepsychology.ca
647 – 203 – 1468
All inquiries are handled
confidentially and returned promptly.