Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Privacy of personal information is an important principle to us at Radiant Mind. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide.

Our policy is made under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA“) It is also determined by and complies with The Ontario Personal Information Act. Our policy to protect your privacy is more stringent than the legislation required because of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario’s (“CRPO’s”) Professional Practice standards, which the counsellors at Radiant Mind follow as Student Psychotherapy Interns.

We strive to be open and transparent regarding how we handle personal information. This document describes our privacy policies.

What is Personal Information?

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. It includes information that relates to:

  • 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)
  • Activities and views (e.g., occupation/profession, ideas, concerns)

Personal information is different from business information (e.g., an individual’s business address and telephone number). This is not protected by privacy legislation.

PURPOSES FOR COLLECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect, use and disclose a client’s personal information only to provide counseling services to clients. For example, we collect information about a client’s health history, including their family history, physical condition and function and social situation in order to help assess what their health needs are, to advise them of their options and then to provide the services they choose to receive.

Another important reason for collecting a client’s personal information is to obtain a baseline of health and social information so that we can monitor treatment progress and identify changes that occur over time. To the extent practical, client information will be collected, used and/or disclosed only for the purposes that have been identified to the client at, or before, the time of client registration through a variety of means, except with the consent of the client or as required by law.

In some situations, we collect personal information to conduct an assessment to provide a professional opinion about an individual’s psychological functioning. With the client’s informed and written consent, that opinion would be reported to the appropriate person or agency (e.g., to a referring clinic, or an insurance company).

Client consent (implied or expressed) is required before Radiant Mind or it’s designates collects, uses, and discloses a client’s personal information. It would be rare for us to collect such information without the client’s expressed consent. However, this might 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 passing a message on from our client and we have no reason to believe that the message is not genuine).

Additional Reasons

Like other health care practices, we must also collect, use, and disclose information for several other reasons. The most common examples include the following:

  • To invoice clients for unpaid services, to process credit card payments, or to collect unpaid.
  • Psychotherapy is regulated by the CRPO, which means that by law, it may inspect our records and interview us as part of its regulatory activities in the public interest (the CRPO has its own strict privacy obligations).
  • The cost of some services we provide to clients is sometimes paid for by third parties (e.g., insurance companies). These third-party payers often have your consent or legislative authority to direct us to collect and disclose to them information that demonstrates client entitlement.
PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

We understand the importance of protecting personal information. We have therefore taken the following steps:

  • Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked and restricted.
  • Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked and restricted area. Encryption and passwords are used on all computers.
  • Client data is not discussed, and any media containing client files (i.e. mail, files, laptop computers) are carefully positioned, packaged, stored, transported and/or disposed of in reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized access or viewing.
  • If your therapist were to become incapacitated or die, your records would be placed in the care of another therapist for protection.
  • If you were to see another counsellor or psychotherapist, your records could be sent to her or him with your written consent.
CONFIDENTIALITY & LIMITS TO THE PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Everything that you share with us during our sessions is confidential. No information we obtain about you can be released to anyone without your expressed written consent. However, there are some limits to confidentiality that are true for all health care providers in Ontario. These few exceptions are designed to ensure your safety and the safety of the general public. They are as follows:

  • If you give us reason to believe that you are at risk of harming yourself or someone else, we have a duty to share whatever information is necessary to ensure that you and/or others are safe.
  • If you give us reason to believe that a child is being abused, we have a duty to report that information to the Children’s Aid Society.
  • If you tell us that you have been sexually abused by a health professional, we have a duty to report that information to the relevant regulating organization for that. However, your name cannot be included in the report without your written consent.
  • Is required to do so by a court of Therapists’ files are not “privileged” documents. A court of law could subpoena your records. In such cases, your therapist will make every effort to satisfy the subpoena with a letter that will be discussed with you before submitting the requested records.

As part of ongoing professional development, we may consult with other health and mental health professionals about a case. During a consultation, no identifying information about the client is revealed. The other health professionals are also legally bound to keep the information confidential. All consultations will be documented in the clinical file.

As some of the therapists at Radiant Mind can also be pre-licensed Psychotherapy Interns, the Supervising Psychotherapist may review your clinical file and will discuss your case at regular intervals as required by the CRPO, for the purpose of providing clinical supervision. 

Please be aware that submitting a mental health invoice for reimbursement to a third party such as an insurance provider may carry a certain amount of risk to confidentiality, privacy or to future capacity to obtain health or life insurance. The risk stems from the fact that mental health information is likely to be entered into and stored in the insurance companies’ computer system. Accessibility to companies’ computer systems is always in question as they are inherently vulnerable to hacking and unauthorized access. It is the client’s responsibility to become familiar with the privacy and data security policies of their own insurance provider, and Radiant Mind bears no responsibility for any losses occasioned by any data breaches/losses of/by said providers.

RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

 We retain personal information for some time to ensure we can answer any questions clients might have about the services provided and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies. We retain client information for a minimum of 10 years after the last contact so we can reference the records from previous assessment or treatment services provided for clients who seek services on an ongoing basis. The CRPO also requires the retention of client records for ten years.

As a health information custodian, Radiant Mind must ensure that, during the period of retention of records, client date remains usable and unaltered, despite aging record media. This may require storing records in a controlled environment and may require transferring records to fresh or and/or different media from time to time. Such transfers will only be done after confidentiality is assured. We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is replaced or discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed. All paper information is destroyed through shredding.

You Can Look at Your Information

With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. All you have to do is ask. However, your request to access your own health record must be refused if:

  • Personal health information pertaining to another person would be simultaneously disclosed and that other person has not consented to that disclosure
  • If you or someone else may be harmed as a result of permitting access, as determined by a healthcare professional under the provisions of the Mental Health Act.

 

We will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g., short forms, technical language, etc.). We will ask you to confirm your identity before providing you with this access, and your access will need to be delayed until any references to other identifiable persons are removed. We reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests and we may ask you to put your request in writing. If we cannot give you access, we will tell you the reason within 30 days of receiving your request.

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

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