Privacy Policy
At Talk It Out Clinic, your privacy matters. We are committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality, and security of the personal information and personal health information entrusted to us.
This Privacy Policy explains how Talk It Out Clinic collects, uses, discloses, stores, and protects information when you visit our website, contact our practice, participate in our intake process, or receive psychotherapy services from us.
Our privacy practices are designed to comply with applicable Ontario and Canadian privacy laws, including Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), as applicable.
1. Who We Are
Talk It Out Clinic is an Ontario psychotherapy practice providing psychotherapy and related mental health and wellness services.
In providing health care services, Talk It Out Clinic and/or the regulated health professional responsible for your care may act as a Health Information Custodian under PHIPA and is responsible for personal health information within their custody or control.
Therapists and other authorized individuals who work with or on behalf of Talk It Out Clinic are required to respect the confidentiality and privacy of information to which they have access.
2. Information We May Collect
Website and General Inquiries
When you visit our website or contact us, we may collect information such as:
your name;
telephone number;
email address;
information you voluntarily provide through a contact or intake form;
appointment or consultation requests;
communications you send to us; and
limited technical information associated with your use of our website.
Please avoid including highly sensitive or urgent clinical information in general website contact forms or ordinary email unless specifically requested.
Intake and Psychotherapy Services
If you proceed with intake or become a client, we may collect personal health information reasonably necessary to provide and administer services, including:
identifying and contact information;
date of birth and demographic information where relevant;
emergency contact information;
information about your health, mental health, history, concerns, symptoms, and treatment goals;
information provided during intake or psychotherapy sessions;
clinical notes and records;
information regarding medications, health-care providers, or other supports where relevant;
consent forms and treatment-related correspondence;
appointment and attendance information;
billing, payment, and insurance-related information; and
other information reasonably necessary to provide psychotherapy services.
We seek to collect only the information reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it is required.
3. How We Use Your Information
Talk It Out Clinic may use personal information and personal health information to:
respond to inquiries;
arrange introductory consultations and appointments;
determine whether our services may be appropriate for you;
match prospective clients with an appropriate therapist;
provide psychotherapy and related services;
develop and manage a plan of care;
communicate with you regarding appointments or services;
maintain appropriate clinical and administrative records;
process payments and provide receipts;
assist with insurance or benefit claims where authorized;
coordinate care with other health-care professionals where appropriate and authorized;
operate and administer our practice;
maintain the security and functionality of our systems;
meet professional, regulatory, insurance, legal, and record-keeping requirements; and
carry out other purposes permitted or required by law.
Personal health information will not be used for unrelated purposes without appropriate authority or consent.
4. Consent
Where required, Talk It Out Clinic obtains consent for the collection, use, and disclosure of personal health information.
Consent may be express or implied where permitted by law and appropriate in the circumstances.
You may withdraw consent to certain uses or disclosures of your information, subject to legal, professional, contractual, and record-keeping requirements.
Withdrawing consent does not require Talk It Out Clinic to delete information that we are legally or professionally required to retain and may affect our ability to provide certain services.
5. Confidentiality and Disclosure
Information shared during psychotherapy is confidential.
Talk It Out Clinic does not disclose personal health information to third parties unless:
you have provided consent;
the disclosure is reasonably necessary to provide or coordinate your care and is permitted by law;
the disclosure is required or authorized by law; or
another exception recognized under applicable legislation applies.
There are circumstances in which a therapist may be legally or professionally required or permitted to disclose information without your consent. These circumstances are addressed more fully during the informed-consent process and may include situations involving safety, mandatory reporting, legal proceedings, regulatory requirements, or other circumstances provided by law.
6. Service Providers and Technology
Talk It Out Clinic uses third-party technology and service providers to support the operation of the practice. These may include services for electronic health records and client management, appointment scheduling, email and productivity tools, secure forms, videoconferencing, payment processing, website hosting, information technology and security, and other administrative functions.
For example, Talk It Out Clinic uses Google Workspace for business email and productivity functions and Calendly for certain scheduling functions. Our electronic health record and practice-management platforms may change from time to time as the needs of the practice evolve.
These providers may process information on our behalf where necessary to provide their services. Where personal health information is involved, we take reasonable steps to select, configure, and use services in a manner consistent with applicable privacy and professional requirements.
Some technology providers may store or process information outside Ontario or Canada. Where applicable, information may therefore be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which it is processed or stored.
7. Virtual Psychotherapy
Talk It Out Clinic may provide psychotherapy using electronic communication technologies.
Although reasonable measures are taken to protect privacy and confidentiality, electronic communication and virtual care involve risks, including the possibility of technical failures, unauthorized access, or inadvertent disclosure.
Clients receiving virtual services will be provided with additional information regarding electronic communication and virtual care as part of the informed-consent process where appropriate.
8. Email, Text Messages, and Electronic Communications
Email and text messaging may be convenient but cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Unless otherwise arranged with your therapist, email and text messaging should generally be used for administrative matters such as scheduling and should not be relied upon for urgent or emergency clinical communication.
By choosing to communicate electronically, you acknowledge that electronic communication carries privacy and security risks.
Talk It Out Clinic will take reasonable steps to safeguard electronic communications containing personal health information.
9. Website Cookies and Analytics
Our website may use cookies or similar technologies to support website functionality, understand how visitors use the website, improve its performance, and maintain security.
Depending on the services used on our website, third-party providers may collect technical information such as browser type, device information, pages visited, approximate location derived from an internet connection, and referring website information.
Where required, visitors will be provided with appropriate choices regarding non-essential cookies.
We do not intend to use website analytics or advertising technologies to disclose psychotherapy records or clinical information for advertising purposes.
10. How We Protect Your Information
Talk It Out Clinic uses reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information we hold.
These safeguards may include access controls and passwords; secure electronic record systems; encryption or other secure transmission methods where appropriate; limiting access to information to individuals who require it for authorized purposes; confidentiality obligations; privacy and security practices; secure storage and disposal procedures; and measures intended to protect information against loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, modification, or disposal.
No electronic system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We nevertheless take reasonable measures to protect information within our custody or control.
11. Privacy Breaches
If personal health information in our custody or control is lost, stolen, accessed, used, or disclosed without authorization, Talk It Out Clinic will respond in accordance with applicable legal and professional requirements.
Where required, affected individuals and the appropriate regulatory or privacy authorities will be notified.
We will also take reasonable steps to contain the incident, investigate what occurred, and reduce the risk of recurrence.
12. Retention and Destruction of Records
Talk It Out Clinic retains personal health information and clinical records for the periods required by applicable legislation, professional standards, and other legal requirements.
When information is no longer required to be retained, it will be securely destroyed, deleted, or otherwise disposed of in accordance with applicable requirements.
Closing your file or ending psychotherapy does not necessarily mean that your clinical record can immediately be deleted.
13. Access to Your Personal Health Information
Subject to limited exceptions under applicable law, you have the right to request access to personal health information about you that is held by Talk It Out Clinic or the applicable Health Information Custodian.
Requests for access should be made to our Privacy Officer using the contact information below.
We may need to verify your identity before releasing information.
Any applicable fees associated with responding to an access request will be handled in accordance with applicable law.
14. Correction of Your Information
If you believe that personal health information in your record is inaccurate or incomplete for the purposes for which it is used, you may request that the record be corrected.
Requests should be made in writing to our Privacy Officer.
Certain information may not be subject to correction under PHIPA, including particular professional opinions or observations made in good faith and certain information that was not originally created by the Health Information Custodian.
15. Children, Adolescents, and Substitute Decision-Makers
Where services are provided to children or adolescents, consent and privacy will be managed in accordance with applicable Ontario law and professional requirements.
The ability of a parent, guardian, or substitute decision-maker to consent to services or access information depends on the circumstances, including the young person's capacity to make decisions concerning their own care.
These issues will be discussed as part of the intake and informed-consent process where applicable.
16. Website Links
Our website may contain links to third-party websites or services.
Talk It Out Clinic is not responsible for the privacy practices, security, or content of independent third-party websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of services you choose to use.
17. Questions, Access Requests, and Privacy Complaints
If you have questions about our privacy practices, would like to request access to or correction of your personal health information, or wish to raise a privacy concern or complaint, please contact:
Privacy Officer
Bashir Syed
Talk It Out Clinic
Email: hello@talkitout.clinic
Telephone: (647) 475-2447
Toll Free: (866) 801-6554
We will review privacy concerns and respond in accordance with applicable requirements.
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe your privacy rights under PHIPA have been violated, you may also contact or make a complaint to the:
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC)
2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8
Telephone: 416-326-3333
Toll Free: 1-800-387-0073
Website: www.ipc.on.ca
18. Changes to This Privacy Policy
Talk It Out Clinic may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes to our practices, services, technology, or applicable legal and professional requirements.
The current version will be posted on our website together with the date of the most recent update.
19. Contact Us
For general questions about Talk It Out Clinic or this Privacy Policy, please contact:
Talk It Out Clinic
Email: hello@talkitout.clinic
Telephone: (647) 475-2447
Toll Free: (866) 801-6554