514 788-4088

info@alphapsy.ca

  

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Privacy Policy

Respecting your privacy is fundamental to our Psychology Clinic, Alphapsy. That’s why we are committed to protecting the personal information of our clients, professionals, collaborators, and psychology interns. To be transparent about the information we hold about you and to respect the confidentiality of your personal information (PI), in accordance with Law 25 on the protection of PI in the private sector.

Our privacy policy is in line with the obligations defined by Bill 25 (An Act to modernize legislative provisions respecting the protection of personal information, LQ 2021, c 250) and the Government of Quebec guidelines (Modernization of the protection of personal information | Government of Quebec). The purpose of this law is to give citizens greater control over their personal information. It modernizes the legislative framework to adapt it to today’s technological reality.

The purpose of our privacy policy is therefore to demonstrate explicitly why and how anyone acting on behalf of Alphapsy, Clinique de Psychologie, collects, processes, and uses your personal information. It is intended to be in plain language to ensure informed consent from users of our website and services. For the purposes of this Policy, “personal information” means any information about an identifiable individual or any information that directly or indirectly identifies an individual

RESPONSABLE
Stéphanie GORON, M.Ps.,DESS., Ph.D/Psy.D
Cofondatrice et administratrice
info@alphapsy.ca
514 581 2405

Collection and use of personal information

Alphapsy, Clinique de psychologie collects only the personal information required to provide its psychological services. All personal information collected from patients is obtained with their informed consent and is kept secure.

Like all the sites you visit, when a user accesses our website, their device (phone, tablet, computer, etc.) and the site’s server automatically exchange information. This communication is necessary for the server to transmit a file compatible with the computer equipment used. This information is stored and used for technical and statistical purposes in order to evaluate and improve your experience. It is used to count the number of visits, the most frequently visited pages, the technology used by visitors, the referring sites and the country of origin of visitors.

The information exchanged is as follows :

  • the domain name of the Internet service provider;
  • IP address, the unique number assigned to the device when it is connected to the Internet;
  • the type of browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc.) and operating system (Windows, Mac OS, etc.) used;
  • date and time of visit;
  • the pages consulted;

If you are a new client and you know the professional with whom you wish to begin psychotherapy, we invite you to contact this person directly by e-mail, or by telephone at his or her direct extension, to address your request for service. In this case, it is understood that only this person will communicate with you. The information gathered in this way will not be shared by your psychotherapist with other clinic professionals.

If you are a new client and would like to visit our site to obtain general information about our services or to be referred to one of our professionals, you can do so via our general clinic contact information. The personal information required to register new patients is collected via our confidential voice mailbox, where you can leave a message, or via our e-mail address info@alphapsy.ca, or by completing our online registration form on our website (this request is sent by e-mail to our clinic’s general e-mail address). The personal information collected during the first contact with a client is as follows: name, telephone number and e-mail address, age, schedule (availability) and reason for consultation. No personal information about you will be collected by any other means before you begin your psychotherapy or psychological service. Personal information is never used for any purpose other than the provision of our psychological treatment services, except as provided by law (see section of this Privacy Policy). We collect, use and disclose your information only for the following purposes:

  • Offer customers quality service and follow-up that meets their needs
  • Establish and maintain communication with you, including scheduling the first appointment with the assigned therapist
  • Allow us to contact you
  • Comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including communicating with the provincial psychological services regulatory body (Ordre des Psychologues du Québec), the Privacy Commissioner or any legislative review board, as required by law.
  • Comply with a court order in the event of legal proceedings
    The therapist will use the client’s e-mail address to bill for services and provide a receipt for payment.
  • Process payments received from the client by bank transfer
  • Recover unpaid accounts
  • Comply with regulatory requirements and the law in general

By leaving your contact information in the appointment form on the contact us page of our website (info@alphapsy.ca), or on our general IP telephony voice mailbox, you consent to the patient dispatcher contacting you by e-mail or telephone and collecting information for the purpose of responding to your request for psychological services. When a person communicates by e-mail, the return e-mail address is used to respond to that person. The clinic does not use this e-mail address for any purpose other than responding, and under no circumstances is this e-mail address shared with a third party. The only people authorized to handle your information are the clinic dispatchers and co-founders. The fact that you communicate personal information to us by e-mail, voicemail or verbally during a telephone call constitutes your consent for us to use this data for the purposes described above (to provide you with the best possible service in response to your request). Once the request for services has been processed (file handled by a member of our team: psychologist, psychotherapist or supervised doctoral student), this team member continues the process with his or her psychological assessment and will be required to collect further personal information. This information will be contained in the client file created by the team member providing the follow-up. This data is protected by the “Règlement sur la tenue de dossiers et des cabinets de consultations des psychologues” and by the “Code de déontologie des psychologues”.

How is your personal information stored and protected?

Alphapsy takes every precaution to protect our patients’ personal information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, or destruction. Our internal procedures include a range of measures to protect personal data: staff training, limiting access rights, controlling access to premises and equipment, etc. Personal information is stored securely in our systems and is accessible only by designated personnel and authorized service providers who require such information for the purposes described in this policy. Access is possible only through strong passwords that are changed periodically. Personal information is retained only as long as is necessary to provide our services.

Safeguards in place to ensure your confidentiality

If the request is received by e-mail, the information is stored in our cloud-based e-mail space hosted by Google Workspace for a limited time (once your service request has been processed, the e-mail message is deleted). The e-mail account is password-protected and access is limited to the authorized persons listed in the privacy policy.

If the request is made by telephone, via our clinic’s general number, you will be redirected to a voice mailbox whose message will be forwarded by e-mail to info@alphapsy.ca unless you communicate directly with your psychotherapist. The only people who have access to these e-mail-formatted voice messages are the clinical dispatchers and the co-founder. No one other than those mentioned above will have access to your personal information.

Exception: Risks related to e-mail transmissions

If you indicate that you would like to be contacted by e-mail, the dispatcher on duty may ask you by e-mail for details of your reason for consultation, availability or other personal information, in order to respond adequately to your request for service. This is where your consent is required, as unencrypted e-mail transmissions are not completely safe from the risk of interception by a third party. This risk is minimal, but not absent. Consequently, if you provide us with your e-mail address, we will understand that you are consenting to the transmission of unencrypted e-mails between the Alphapsy Psychology Clinic and yourself for the duration of the treatment stage and the pairing with one of our psychotherapists.

Our psychotherapists assume responsibility for protecting their confidential e-mails. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no data transmission over the Internet can be considered absolutely safe and secure. Consequently, we do not guarantee in any way that personal information will not be lost, misused or altered, and we assume no responsibility for personal information that is transmitted, nor for the use or misuse of personal information by you or third parties. For your part, if you communicate with us by e-mail, it will be your responsibility to protect access to your electronic devices and e-mail inboxes.

Alphapsy is committed to taking reasonable steps to minimize the risk of harm and to prevent similar incidents from occurring if it has reason to believe that a privacy incident involving personal information has occurred. If the incident causes serious harm, Alphapsy Psychology Clinic undertakes to notify the Commission d’accès à l’information and any person whose personal information is affected by the incident. Confidentiality incidents are recorded in a register. This register is integrated into our Clinic’s minute book.

The Code of Ethics of Psychologists requires our psychologists and psychotherapists to take strict measures to protect their clients’ identity and information. Information gathered during a psychotherapy session is protected in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec. It cannot and must not be transmitted to anyone without your consent. It is your psychotherapist’s responsibility to explain the confidentiality policy relating to psychotherapy (either before or during your first session) to ensure your free and informed consent.

Retention of personal information

Alphapsy, Clinique de psychologie keeps the data collected for different periods, depending on its nature and its usefulness in offering our services: for tacit consent, the period may be up to two years after a request for service or the end of a contract. For express or explicit consents, the duration is permanently valid, unless the author decides to withdraw it. During the retention period, we take physical and technical measures to ensure the security of data containing personal information. Physical measures: Locked workspace; Strict control of hardware usage, location and layout. Logical measures: Monitoring and anti-virus software; Alert system to detect/block computer intrusions. Organizational measures: Access and access rights limited to authorized personnel, subject to confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

The main places where personal information is stored are in cities where Alphapsy, Clinique de psychologie has virtual offices or facilities and in cities where Alphapsy, Clinique de psychologie has servers containing data collected by Alphapsy, Clinique de psychologie. The name of the cloud service is WHC Web Hosting Canada.

Personal information may be held outside the country in which you live, if a third-party supplier or other entity to whom we disclose personal information in accordance with this Policy is located outside the country. In such cases, personal information may be subject to the local laws of the countries or territories in which the information is collected, used, disclosed or stored, and may be accessible to the governmental and law enforcement authorities of those countries or territories.

Once the retention period has expired, personal information is destroyed. Only statistics or reports containing de-identified and anonymized data may be retained for an extended period.

Disclosure and reason for sharing personal information with third parties

Apart from our internal coordination, we do not share your personal information with companies, organizations, or individuals outside Alphapsy, Clinique de psychologie, with the exception of our authorized suppliers and partners who need access to the information for the purposes listed in this policy and within the limits of this policy, as well as in the following cases:

  • With your consent.
  • For storage on cloud servers, in which case personal information may be transferred to third-party jurisdictions. Please note that we only retain the services of reputable companies with privacy policies.
  • For external processing purposes: We transfer personal information to other trusted companies or persons who process it on our behalf, according to our instructions, in compliance with this privacy policy, with a level of data security at least equivalent to our own, and in compliance with any other appropriate security and confidentiality measures.
  • For legal reasons: We transfer personal information outside our company if access to it is necessary to comply with applicable laws and regulations.

Alphapsy, Clinique de psychologie will not sell or rent your personal information to a third party. All professionals working under the Alphapsy banner are subject to the same obligations of confidentiality and protection of personal information.

Teletherapy software information

Teletherapy is currently offered as the sole consultation modality by all of the clinic’s psychologists. Your psychologist conducts teletherapy sessions in a quiet, private setting, without distraction or interruption, and over a private, secure Internet connection to maintain confidentiality. However, since we have to use a teletherapy platform to communicate with each other, this adds a third party over which the psychologist has no control. It is therefore important that you familiarize yourself with the privacy terms of the platform and teletherapy technology selected is Zoom (https://zoom.us/). The fact that you accept a virtual therapy session (teletherapy) constitutes consent on your part that you have read and understand the security and confidentiality conditions associated with Zoom (https://zoom.us/fr-fr/security.html) and that you authorize your psychologist to use this teletherapy technology for your psychotherapy sessions.

In order to maintain confidentiality and fully enjoy your sessions, you understand that it is your responsibility to choose a location where you will be alone and undisturbed. You agree to turn off applications and notifications on your devices, so as not to interrupt your sessions. You have been advised by your psychologist to use a secure Internet connection, rather than a free public Wifi connection. Finally, sessions cannot be audio or video recorded by either party, unless both parties agree in writing.

Cookies

As with all websites, visitors to the clinic’s website consent to the installation of cookies on their browser. Cookies may be stored on your hard drive to enable us to track your use of our site and to provide security for user authentication. Cookie information is therefore used to facilitate the use of our website. You are free to delete cookies from your browser at any time. This site is hosted by Hébergement Canada and managed by our service provider Womko, Web Design. Visitors can view the cookies used by clicking on this link.

Please note that our Web site may contain links or references to third-party sites. This policy ceases to apply when you leave our website. Alphpsy, Clinique de psychologie is not responsible for the collection or processing of personal information by these third parties or via these external sources.

Rights of access and rectification of personal information

As a customer, you have the right to access, modify, correct or delete your personal information at any time. To correct or update personal information, 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, customers should contact the Privacy Officer, Stéphanie GORON, at the following e-mail address: info@alphapsy.ca.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our privacy practices. It is your responsibility to regularly review our Privacy Policy for any updates to this policy. The revised Privacy Policy will be posted on our website www.alphapsy.ca and changes will be effective immediately upon posting on our website.

Contact

By browsing our website or using our systems or services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this policy and consent to the processing of your personal data and information in accordance with this policy, where applicable.

If you have any questions about Alphapsy’s privacy policy, you can contact us by e-mail at info@alphapsy.ca.

Thank you for trusting us.

The Alphapsy Team