Website Privacy Policy

01

Our Commitment

Dragonfly Counselling & Wellness is a group counselling practice in Brantford, Ontario. As a health information custodian, we follow Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) and the privacy standards of our regulatory colleges, the OCSWSSW and the CRPO.

Our Privacy Contact is responsible for how we handle your information and is happy to answer any questions about this policy.

02

Information We Collect

We only collect the information we need to support you and run our practice.

When you become a client

• Contact details: your name, phone number, email and address.
• Health information: what you share at intake and in sessions, along with your therapist's clinical notes.
• Personal details: such as your date of birth and emergency contact.
• Billing details: such as your insurance or NIHB information. Card payments are processed securely through Jane. We do not store your full card number.

When you visit our website

• Information you send us: such as your name, email and message when you use our contact form.
• Website usage data: general information such as the pages you visit, your browser and device type, and your approximate location, collected through cookies and our website analytics.

03

How We Use Your Information

• To provide counselling and related services, and to plan your care.
• To book appointments and send reminders.
• To process payments, direct-bill your insurer and bill NIHB.
• To answer your questions and messages.
• To understand how our website is used so we can make it easier to navigate.
• To meet our legal and professional obligations.

We never sell, rent or trade your personal information, and we don't use your health information for marketing.

04

When We Share Information

We share your information only when it's needed to care for you, with your consent, or when the law requires it.

• Service providers: trusted companies that help us run the practice, such as Jane (our secure booking, records and billing system) and Squarespace (our website host). They may only use your information to provide their services to us and must keep it secure.
• Insurers and NIHB: the details needed to process your claims.
• Other care providers, with your consent: for example, when you take part in our Psychiatry Program, or when you ask us to share information with your family doctor.
• When required by law: such as a serious risk of harm, a child protection concern, a court order or a request from our regulatory college. See our Client Policies for more detail.

05

Protecting & Keeping Your Information

How we protect your records

Client records are kept in Jane, a secure, password-protected system built for health care in Canada. Jane is compliant with Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). Only the people involved in your care, and staff who need access to support it, can see your information.

How long we keep your records

Ontario law and our regulatory colleges set how long we must keep clinical records. The rules depend on which college your therapist belongs to and whether you were an adult or under 18 when you saw us.

Example: if a child's last session was at age 8, their record is kept until they turn 28.

When the retention period ends, records are securely destroyed.

A note about email

Email and website forms aren't fully private. Please don't send personal or clinical details this way. Save them for your session or your Jane account.

06

Your Personal Health Information

You may request access to your personal health information or ask that information in your record be corrected, subject to applicable legal requirements and exceptions.

If you have questions or concerns about our privacy practices, please contact Dragonfly Counselling and Wellness using the contact information provided below.

You also have the right to make a privacy complaint to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) at ipc.on.ca.

07

Links to Other Websites

Our site links to other websites, such as Jane and community resources. We're not responsible for how those sites handle your information, so we encourage you to read their privacy policies.

08

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we'll post the new version here and update the effective date at the top of the page.