Service Privacy Policy

Rooted in Counselling (“Rooted in Counselling”, “we” or “us”) values the relationship it has with its clients and is committed to protecting their Personal Information (as defined below in Section III, “Definitions”) in accordance with applicable laws. When used herein, the term “client” means any individual who is receiving or has signed up or requested to receive the Rooted in Counselling Services and Partnership Services. (defined below).

b) Partnership Services
Rooted in Counselling provides psychotherapy services (“Partnership Services”)  as an agent to its healthcare provider partners (our “Partners”). Rooted in Counselling contracts our team of mental health therapists (“Rooted in Counselling Health Professionals”).

By receiving the Rooted in Counselling Services or Partnership Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy, and you agree and consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with the terms set out below. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, you must not supply your Personal Information to us.

I. Background

a) Rooted in Counselling Services
Included in the services that Rooted in Counselling provides is the provision of assistance to individuals to find, choose, and facilitate access to therapists and mental health programs based on individuals current situation and goals for therapy;• Insurance coverage considerations;• scheduling and logistical preferences; and• therapist preferences,(collectively, the “Rooted in Counselling Services”).
Therapists and mental health programs suggested by Rooted in Counselling for clients based on the above criteria are referred to in this Privacy Policy as “Therapists”. Rooted in Counselling selection of a Therapist is a suggestion only. The Therapists are regulated healthcare professionals and are solely responsible for the services that they provide, and Rooted in Counselling is unable to guarantee the Therapist’s services. Clients are free to accept or reject such suggestions. Rooted in Counselling may engage the assistance of regulated health professionals (other than Therapists) such as social workers, social service workers, and psychotherapists (“Contracted Professionals”) to assist it in providing the Rooted in Counselling Services.

II. Application of privacy policy

This Privacy Policy describes Rooted in Counselling Personal Information management policies and practices, including how Rooted in Counselling collects, uses and discloses Personal Information in the course of providing the Rooted in Counselling Services and Partnership Services.
This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Information collected by Rooted in Counselling from individuals in the course of providing the Rooted in Counselling Services and Partnership Services.
This Privacy Policy does not cover:
• Personal Information provided by clients to a Therapist directly or indirectly through the Therapist’s employees or agents;
• use of Rooted in Counselling website, www.rootedincounselling.ca and all webpages of that website, any other websites, digital properties, audio offerings, mobile applications and/or mobile-enabled sites that are owned and/or operated by Rooted in Counselling and that do not have separate terms and conditions (collectively, the “Rooted in Counselling Website”). A separate privacy statement, can be found at www.rootedincounselling.ca . This Privacy Policy is in addition to and not in substitution for the privacy policy that applies to the use of Rooted in Counselling Website; and
• any third party websites, including any websites linked from the Rooted in CounsellingWebsite.  Clients are responsible for reviewing the privacy policies (if any) of any such third parties. Rooted in Counselling has no control over, and disclaims all responsibility for, the content, privacy policies or practices of any such third-party websites

III. Definitions

“agent” means a person that, with the authorization of a health information custodian (as defined in section 3 of the Personal Health Information Protection Act, Ontario, 2004 (“PHIPA”), acts for or on behalf of the custodian in respect of personal health information for the purposes of the custodian and not the agent’s own purposes.
“collect” means to gather, acquire, receive or obtain Personal Information by any means from any source, and “collection” has a corresponding meaning.
“consent” means voluntary agreement to the collection, use and/or disclosure of Personal Information for identified purposes.  Consent can be either “express” or “implied” and can be provided directly by the individual or by an authorized representative. “Express” consent can be given orally, electronically or in writing, but is always unequivocal and does not require any inference on the part of Rooted in Counselling.  “Implied” consent is consent that can reasonably be inferred from an individual’s action or inaction.
“disclose” means to release or make available Personal Information that is in the custody or control of Rooted in Counselling to another person who is not using the Personal Information as an agent of Rooted in Counselling, and “disclosure” has a corresponding meaning.
“health information custodian” means health information custodian as “Personal Health Information” means identifying information about an individual in oral or recorded form, if the information:
• Relates to the physical or mental health of the individual, including the individual’s medical history and the individual’s family medical history;
• Relates to the providing of health care to the individual, including the identification of a person as a provider of health care to the individual;
• Relates to the payment or eligibility for health care;
• Is the individual’s health care number; or
• Identifies an individual’s substitute decision-maker.
“Personal Information” means information about a specific, identifiable individual, regardless of form, including, for example, name, date of birth, address, and Personal Health Information, but does not include, for example, information related to a person in their professional (work) capacity.
“use” means to handle or deal with Personal Information that is in the custody or control of Rooted in Counselling, transferred from our Partners to Rooted in Counselling, and includes transferring the information to an agent acting on behalf of Rooted in Counselling.

IV. Collection of personal information by Rooted in Counselling

Rooted in Counselling may collect the following Personal Information from clients:
• name, contact information (including home address and email address), date of birth, religious affiliation(s), gender, employment status, Personal Health Information, and certain other Personal Information about the client
• credit card information and/or bank account information (where provided to us for the purposes of paying for the Rooted in Counselling Services); and
• other identifying information about the client that we did not request but that is provided by the client or any other person authorized to provide such information on the client’s behalf.
Please refer to Section V of this Privacy Policy for information regarding how Personal Information is used by Rooted in Counselling .
We will always collect Personal Information by fair and lawful means.  We may collect Personal Information from clients directly and/or from third parties (including our Partners), where we (and/or those third parties) have obtained the client’s consent to do so, or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law. Generally, however, we collect Personal Information directly from clients when they voluntarily provide it in the course of accessing the Rooted in Counselling Services and Partnership Services. For example, Personal Information will be collected when a client:
• completes a client profile or intake form on Jane;
• provides it to Rooted in Counselling Health Professionals in the course of the client’s care;
• communicates with representatives of the Rooted in Counselling via telephone, email or mail.
In any event, we limit our collection of Personal Information to that which is necessary to fulfill the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy.

Rooted in Counselling privacy practices are intended to comply with applicable privacy laws, including, without limitation, the Personal Health Information Protection Act (Ontario) ("PHIPA") and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) ("PIPEDA").We will maintain the privacy of Personal Information as required by applicable privacy laws in applicable jurisdictions.

V. How we use client’s personal information

We use client’s Personal Information for the following purposes:
• to provide mental health and assessment treatment services;
• to plan, administer and monitor the Rooted in Counselling  Services and Partnership Services;
• for quality control purposes;
• for billing purposes;
• to communicate with Therapists and their agents about the client in order to determine whether the client will be matched with the Therapist and if so, to provide the Therapist with information to assist in their provision of services (e.g. psychotherapy, counselling) to the client; and
• to de-identify it (i.e. make it so that it is no longer identifies a client). Rooted in Counselling may use de-identified and/or aggregate information (i.e. information that is no longer Personal Information) for any reason it determines appropriate.
‍
From time to time and in addition to the Therapists, we may retain third party individuals or companies act as service providers to assist us in the provision of the Rooted in Counselling Services and Partnership Services, or to perform certain tasks related to our business operations such as to provide accounting and financial, audit, legal, consulting, operational and practice management, and or other services to us. Any such service providers will be subject to any restrictions and conditions that are necessary to enable Rooted in Counselling to continue to provide the Rooted in Counselling Services and Partnership Services in accordance with applicable law.

VI. Access to client’s personal information

Client’s Personal Information will be accessible to Rooted in Counselling employees, Rooted in Counselling Health Professionals, and third party service providers, including Contracted Professionals and the Therapists, on a “need-to-know” basis (i.e. where the employee or service provider requires such information for a purpose described above in Section V and according to the principles of the Circle of Care). However, prior to gaining access to Personal Information, we require all parties to enter into agreements with us under which they are bound to abide by applicable law (including privacy laws), this Privacy Policy and our other related policies and procedures.

VII. Disclosure of personal information

Rooted in Counselling will maintain the client’s Personal Information in strict compliance with this Privacy Policy, including by only disclosing Personal Information in accordance with applicable laws.
We identify to whom, and for what purposes, we may disclose Personal Information, at the time we collect such information from the client to whom it relates and obtain such client’s consent to such disclosure except as required or permitted by applicable law. For example, in accordance with section 7(2)(b) of the Personal Information and Protection of Electronic Documents Act, Rooted in Counselling may - without the knowledge or consent of the client - use the client’s Personal Information for the purpose of acting in respect of an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual.  In the event that we are required by applicable law to disclose a client’s Personal Information without their consent, we will aim to disclose only the specific information that is required in the circumstances and unless prohibited by applicable law from doing so, will inform the client about the disclosure.

VIII. Security and safeguards

Information that we collect may be processed and stored on servers located in Canada, or outside of Canada. If Personal Information is processed and/or stored outside of Canada, it will be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction where it is processed and/or stored (as the case may be) and may be accessible to that jurisdiction’s governments, courts, law enforcement or regulatory agencies. Rooted in Counselling uses standard security procedures and practices and other reasonable means appropriate to the nature of the Personal Information to protect it from theft, loss or unauthorized access, use (including modification and copying), disclosure or destruction.

IX. Retention of personal information

We will use, disclose or retain Personal Information that clients provide to us for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which that Personal Information was collected, and as permitted or required by applicable law.
Rooted in Counselling will return the Personal Information to its Partners following completion of the Partnership Services agreement between Rooted in Counselling and the specific Partner.

X. Contracted professionals and Rooted in Counselling health professionals

Without limiting or affecting any other part of this Privacy Policy (including, for example, Section VI):
• by receiving the Rooted in Counselling Services, you agree that: (i) Rooted in Counselling may use Contracted Professionals to assist it in delivering the Rooted in Counselling Services;(ii) the Contracted Professionals may, themselves, be subject to other privacy legislation, such as PHIPA; and(iii) the Contracted Professionals may: (a) use Personal Information collected / received from Rooted in Counselling, its employees and third party service providers for the purposes of assisting Rooted in Counselling in delivering the Rooted in Counselling Services; and (b) provide Rooted in Counselling, its employees and other third party service providers with Personal Information that the Contracted Professionals have received in the course of carrying out their duties to Rooted in Counselling; and
• By receiving Partnership Services, you agree that:
Rooted in Counselling Health Professionals may (a) use Personal Information collected/ received from our Partners, Rooted in Counselling, its employees and third party service providers for the purpose of assisting Rooted in Counselling Health Professionals in delivery the Partnership Services, and (b) provide our Partners, Rooted in Counselling and other third party service providers with Personal Information that Rooted in Counselling Health Professionals have received from you in the course of their provision of services
• Rooted in Counselling requires Contracted Professionals and Rooted in Counselling Health Professionals to enter into written agreement with us under which they agree to abide by applicable law (including PHIPA, as applicable), this Privacy Policy and other related policies and procedures.

XI. Changes to our privacy policy

Rooted in Counselling may, in its sole and absolute discretion, change this Privacy Policy from time to time. Rooted in Counselling will post a copy of the Privacy Policy as changed on the Rooted in Counselling Website. The top of the Privacy Policy will contain the date on which the Privacy Policy was last updated.

You should review the Privacy Policy from time to time. A client’s continued use of the Rooted in Counselling Services constitutes his/her/their agreement to abide by the Privacy Policy as changed.  If, at any point, a client objects to any term of the Privacy Policy, this client's sole recourse shall be to cease using the Rooted in Counselling Services. We will make a copy of the most recent Privacy Policy available on the Rooted in Counselling Website. Anyone may also request a copy of the Privacy Policy currently in effect at any time by contacting us via the contact information listed below in Section XII.

XII. Access, correction, or other requests

Our Chief Privacy Officer can be contacted as follows: Email: hello@rootedincounselling.ca Telephone: 705-718-8815
Clients have the right to request access to the Personal Information we have collected about them. Clients may request their Personal Information by submitting a written request to our Chief Privacy Officer. If you believe there is a mistake in your Personal Information you have the right to request that it be corrected, by sending a request to our Chief Privacy Officer.  If you have any other questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy-related practices and procedures, please contact our Chief Privacy Officer.