At The Secure Child, we are committed to providing a professional and safe environment, both for the people who work there and the people who benefit from the services.
In order to offer you optimized psychological services, we use, record and analyze certain personal information that we have collected from you during the assessment or during interventions.
All personal information we receive from you is protected by our commitment to prioritizing your right to confidentiality. Our confidentiality policy complies with the obligations defined by Law 25 (Act modernizing legislative provisions relating to the protection of personal information, LQ 2021, c 250) and the guidelines issued by the Government of Quebec (Modernization of the protection of personal information).
As mentioned in the consents that you have signed or will sign, your personal information will never be disclosed or used without your free and informed consent with the legal exceptions outline in the consent forms.
When you give us your authorization for the transfer of information, we adhere to the principle of only disclosing the information essential to this situation. All the people who work within the clinic have received training on the importance of ensuring the security and confidentiality of your information.
What types of information do we collect and how?
Normally, we collect different types of information and/or data. The first type includes personal information such as name, address or other contact information.
We also collect and produce personal information, including: psychiatric history, medications, family history, history of your psychological visits, life history (childhood, adolescence, adult life), diagnoses and results of psychological tests, treatment recommendations, intervention plans and progress notes, information exchanged about consent and, if applicable, signed consent forms, reports and recommendations following consultations with specialists.
Any personal information we collect is done in the following ways: if you leave a message on our clinic’s confidential voicemail, if you send an electronic message to our email or finally, via a request for services by using the contact form (book a session) on our website. The latter is transferred by email to the clinic’s inbox. No personal information about you will be collected by any other means before you begin psychotherapy or nutritional therapy process.
If you have signed up via this website to receive the newsletter from Dr. Tamara Soles, you are consenting to receive emails from Dr. Tamara Soles regarding parenting tips and resources. This emails are sent using a third party provider software (Flodesk) and the information is not distributed or sold to any other 3rd party.
The personal information collected during the first contact with a client is limited to the most essential information required to respond to their request for services. The personal information collected during a psychotherapy, psychoeducation or counselling session protected by the professional code of ethics of the professional with whom the session takes place. Your therapist will explain their confidentiality policy to you (either before or during your first session), to obtain your informed consent.
Your information may be saved in paper form (files). They are then protected by the workers, are stored in secure/locked filing cabinets. Digital information is stored in Owl Practice and is encrypted per Owl Practice policy (https://faq.owlpractice.ca/security-compliance) and some information may be saved on computers belonging to your worker. Digital information is protected by several passwords.
For what purposes is this information collected?
A minimum of information is collected in order to offer you the best possible service, while protecting your confidentiality. Our goal is to find the professional who is best suited to respond to your needs. A brief collection of information allows us to ensure the most appropriate fit between you and a member of our team, based on a personalized clinical analysis of your situation, the expertise of our team of professionals, as well as your respective availabilities. This information also allows us to schedule the first appointment with the therapist with whom you will be matched.
We believe it is important that you know how we use your information. We collect, use and disclose information about you only for these purposes:
- Offer you quality service and follow-up that meets your needs.
- Establish and maintain communication with you, particularly to schedule the first appointment with the assigned therapist.
- Allow us to contact you.
- Communicate with other health professionals
- Assist in teaching and supervision while still mindful of your privacy
- Comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including communicating with the provincial order of psychologists (Ordre des Psychologues du Québec), the Privacy Commissioner or any legislative review board, in accordance with the law.
- Comply with regulatory requirements and the law in general.
- Comply with a court order in the event of legal proceedings.
- Invoicing for services provided by the professional and to provide receipt of payment.
- Processing of payments received from the client by electronic bank transfer.
- Collection of any unpaid balances.
Obligations related to consent
When you communicate personal information by email, voicemail, or verbally during a telephone call, we consider that this constitutes consent on your part for us to use this information for the purposes described above (to offer you the best service). Once the request for service is received and processed (request processed by a member of our team: psychologist, counsellor, psychoeducator, psychotherapist or supervised doctoral student), a member of the team continues the process with their own assessment and collection of personal information. This information will be stored in a client file created by the therapy provider. This personal information will be protected by the “Regulation respecting the keeping of records and consultation offices of psychologists” and by the “Code of ethics of psychologists” or by the code of ethics of dietitian nutritionists of Quebec.
In summary, no personal data or information allowing you to be identified will be shared outside of our clinic or with any other people, other than certain members of our admin and professional team unless we have your free and informed consent or where required by law.
Remember, before using or disclosing your personal information, your practitioner will ensure your free and informed consent. According to the code of ethics of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec, you will also have 15 days to retract your decision to transmit information if you wish.
Information on teletherapy software
The advantage of teletherapy is that we can conduct therapy sessions even when it is not possible to meet face-to-face. Teletherapy is currently offered as an option by most psychologists and therapists. Your psychologist or therapist carries out teletherapy sessions in a quiet and private place, without distraction or interruption, and over a private internet connection, in order to preserve confidentiality.
However, since we must use a teletherapy platform to communicate with each other, this adds a third party over which the psychologist or therapist has no control. It is therefore important that you familiarize yourself with their privacy terms. The technology selected for meetings is Zoom (https://zoom.us/) or Owl Practice (https://owlpractice.ca/). The fact that you accept a virtual therapy session (teletherapy) constitutes your consent to us, meaning that you have read and understood the security and confidentiality conditions associated with Zoom (https://zoom.us/fr-fr/security. html), and/or to Owl Practice (https://faq.owlpractice.ca/security) and that you authorize your psychologist to use this technology for your sessions.
In order to preserve confidentiality and fully benefit from your sessions, you understand that it is your responsibility to choose a place where you will be alone and without distractions. You agree to turn off applications and notifications on your devices, so as not to interrupt sessions. You have been advised by your psychologist to use a secure internet connection, rather than a free public Wi-Fi connection. Finally, sessions cannot be recorded on audio or video media by either party, unless both consent in writing.
Rights of access, rectification of personal information and complaints
As a client, you have the right to access personal information concerning you at any time. To make corrections to your personal information or to update it, to request the removal of personal information from the clinic’s contact list or for any other questions regarding the collection and use of personal information, the client must contact the Personal Information Protection Officer, Tamara Glen Soles at the following email address email hidden; JavaScript is required
Contact details for the person responsible for the protection of personal information
Dr. Tamara Soles
514-699-3890
email hidden; JavaScript is required
4150 Sherbrooke ouest, Suite 210
Westmount, QC H3Z 1C2