Privacy Policy

What personal information this practice collects, why, how it is kept, and how to ask to see it or have it corrected.

Last updated [Month] [Year]

This policy covers andradediu.com and the counselling practice of Andra Dediu, Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC #3298), operating in British Columbia. It explains what happens to your personal information both on this website and in the course of therapy.

Personal information collected in the course of private-practice counselling in British Columbia is handled under the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) of BC, and under the confidentiality obligations of the Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists of Canada (ACCT).

Who is responsible for your information

Andra Dediu is the privacy officer for this practice. Questions, access requests and complaints go to [email address], or by post to [mailing address, or “the address given on the Contact page”].

What is collected

When you use this website

Contact form and email. Whatever you choose to write — usually your name, email address, phone number and a short description of what you are looking for.
Booking. Appointments are booked through [booking platform, e.g. Jane App], a third-party scheduling service. What you enter there is held by that provider under its own privacy policy, linked from the booking page.
Technical logs. The web host records IP addresses, browser type and pages requested as part of running and securing the server.
Analytics. [Delete this line if you use no analytics.] Aggregate visit statistics are collected using [analytics tool], which [does / does not] set cookies and [does / does not] store IP addresses.

When you become a client

Identifying and contact details, and an emergency contact.
Intake information: what brings you to therapy, relevant history, and relevant health information, including medications and other providers involved in your care.
Clinical records: session notes, assessments, correspondence and treatment plans.
Administrative records: consent forms, appointment history, fees paid, and — where you use them — insurance or extended-health details.

You are never obliged to give any particular piece of information. Some of it, though, is necessary to provide safe care, and without it therapy may not be able to go ahead.

Why it is collected

To reply to enquiries and arrange consultations.
To provide, plan and document counselling services.
To bill for sessions and keep the financial records the law requires.
To meet professional-association, regulatory and legal obligations.
To keep the website working and secure.

Your information is not sold, rented, or traded. It is not used for advertising, and it is not shared with anyone for their own purposes.

When information is disclosed

What you say in session is confidential. It is disclosed outside the practice only in these circumstances:

With your written consent — for example to a doctor, a lawyer, another therapist, or a family member you have named.
Risk of serious harm to you or to an identifiable other person.
A child or youth under 19 needs protection. Reporting this is a legal duty for everyone in British Columbia under the Child, Family and Community Service Act.
A court order, subpoena or other legal requirement.
Clinical supervision and consultation — a normal and expected part of ethical practice. Identifying details are removed wherever it is possible to do so, and supervisors are bound by the same confidentiality.

Couples and group work have their own limits, which are explained in full before the first session. In couples work the record is kept for the relationship rather than for either partner, and information cannot usually be released at the request of one partner alone. In a group, confidentiality is agreed to by every member, but it cannot be guaranteed the way it can be in individual work.

Service providers

A small number of vetted providers process information on the practice’s behalf — currently [practice-management or booking software], [video-session platform], [email provider] and the website host. Each is bound by contract to use it only for the service being provided.

Some of these providers store data outside Canada, and information held in another country is subject to that country’s laws. Where a Canadian-hosted option is available and practical, it is used. If you would prefer your information not to be stored outside Canada, say so and arrangements can be discussed.

How long records are kept

Clinical records are kept for at least [7] years after the date of the last session, and, for a client who was under 19, for at least [7] years after the date they turn 19. This follows the record-retention standard expected of counsellors in British Columbia.

Enquiries that do not become clients are deleted within [12] months. Records are destroyed securely — paper shredded, digital files permanently deleted.

How it is protected

Digital records are held in [encrypted / password-protected] systems, on devices that are themselves encrypted and password-protected.
Any paper records are stored in a locked cabinet.
Online sessions use a platform intended for healthcare use, with end-to-end encryption where the platform offers it.
Access is limited to Andra Dediu, and to anyone providing administrative support under a confidentiality agreement.

Ordinary email and text messaging are not secure. They are used for scheduling and brief administrative notes only. Please do not send clinical detail by email or text, and never use them to report an emergency — this inbox is not monitored outside working hours.

Your rights

Under PIPA you may ask to see the personal information held about you, ask for a correction if something is wrong, withdraw a consent you have given, or ask what has been disclosed and to whom.

Write to the address above. Requests are answered within 30 business days. There is no fee for a straightforward request; if a large volume of copying is involved you will be told the cost first and can decide whether to go ahead.

Access can be refused in the narrow circumstances PIPA allows — most commonly where releasing a record would reveal personal information about another person, such as a partner in couples work, or where release could reasonably be expected to cause harm. If a request is refused you will be told why, and told how to complain.

If you are not satisfied with the response, you may complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia at oipc.bc.ca.

Cookies

This website sets no advertising or tracking cookies. WordPress may set a cookie if you leave a comment or log in. [Delete or amend if you add analytics, a chat widget, embedded video, or an embedded booking widget — each of those can set cookies of its own.] Browsers can be set to refuse cookies; the site will still work.

The site does not respond to Do Not Track signals, because there is no agreed standard for what a response should be.

Children

This website is not directed at children, and information is not knowingly collected from anyone under 19 through it. [Amend if you see youth clients — in BC a mature minor may consent to their own care, and the confidentiality that follows should be described here.]

Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated as the practice or the law changes. The date at the top shows the current version. Material changes affecting existing clients will be raised directly.

Questions about your privacy? Email [email address] — it is a fair question to ask before booking, and it will be answered plainly.