Privacy Policy

Summary

The following is the Privacy Policy of Aimee Edmonds Counselling. It exists to inform you of your rights around the collection, storage, use and disclosure of your personal information, as well as how you can access and change your information, provide us with feedback or make a complaint, under British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). Your personal information is readily available should you require to make any amendments.  

When you have an online counselling session with Aimee Edmonds Counselling, you will be asked to fill out and sign a Client Intake and Informed Consent Form. This form includes notices about confidentiality, privacy, and requests your consent. The privacy statement in various forms specify how any information about you may be used and disclosed.

When you complete a consent form online, you consent to us collecting, maintaining, using and disclosing personal information about you and provided by you or by another person in accordance with the privacy statements in the form and this privacy policy, as amended from time to time.

The information handling processes outlined in this policy also relates to any personal information collected online via our website.

Consent Forms

Before your first online counselling session with Aimee Edmonds, you will be asked to sign a Client Intake and Informed Consent form and to provide certain personal information including:

1. Your name, address, phone number and email contact details:
2. Your gender, date of birth and marital status;
3. Contact details of your Emergency contact and your family doctor;
4. Information about your mental health, any diagnosis and any medication you may be taking.
5. What has brought you to counselling, what you would like to accomplish in counselling and payment information.

You will also be asked to consent to counselling assessment and treatment, and whether you are agreeable to your personal information being shared with other practitioners or medical practitioners where this may enhance your treatment.

Other People 

We will try to collect your personal information directly from you. However, there may be instances where we will need to collect your information from other persons or entities. Whenever possible we will request this other person to have your signed consent or email giving your permission for them to provide us with your personal information. Exceptions may be if you suddenly take ill and are incapable of providing certain information which may be important to your therapy.  

If you have provided us with information about another person, then you will need to tell that person that you have done so, that they have a right to access their information and that they can refer to this policy for information on how we will handle their personal information.

Website 

When you access our website, anonymous technical information may be collected about your activities on the website. This may include information such as the type of browser used to access the website the website and the pages visited. This information is used to make decisions about maintaining and improving the website and online services. This information remains anonymous and is not linked in any way to personal identification details.

Disclosure of Personal Information

Aimee Edmonds Counselling will keep your identity, attendance and all personal information you share in therapy strictly confidential, with the following exceptions:

1. The courts subpoena my files.
2. I am subpoenaed as a witness in court.
3. I suspect cases of child abuse that have not been previously reported. This includes physical harm, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, and emotional harm. In this case I am required by law to report to the Ministry for Children and Families.
4. If you threaten to harm yourself or another. In this case I am also required to report this to the proper authorities.
5. Our preferred and secure form of communication is through phone calls and we cannot guarantee confidentiality through emails and texts. Although we do our best to ensure that all communication is confidential. 
6. In order to ensure that I am providing my clients with the best possible service, I consult with professional colleagues and supervisors. Should I consult on my work with you, no identifying information will be used.

Personal information is used to:

1. Contact you about your appointment or any other matter in relation to your booking;
2. Contact your next of kin or GP in an emergency;
3. Discuss your case with other practitioners and / or Supervisor if you have consented to this and only if it is felt necessary to do so in support of your case and in your best interest;
4. Answer your enquiries and resolve complaints;
5. Send you invoices for payment.

Sharing your personal information

Aimee Edmonds Counselling takes seriously the trust you place in us and on no account will we sell, rent or lease your personal information to others. We will not share your personal information with any third party without your permission unless required by law enforcement action or subpoena.       

Personal information may be disclosed to anyone to who you have given written and signed consent to have access to this information (e.g. a health professional – psychiatrist, accountant or a person who has authority to act as your attorney). This could also include referees, any financial institution nominated by you (for example in a direct debit) or anyone else you request.

Access to your Personal Information

If you have completed a consent form online, you can request access to your personal information at any time. By law it is necessary to make the request in writing and emailing to: .

Upon receiving your request we will discuss your access options. A copy will be supplied to you within ten working days depending on the nature of the request. We will endeavour to make your file available earlier if possible.

In very few cases we may be unable to give you access to certain information for example where:

1. We no longer hold or use the information;
2. Providing access would pose a serious threat to the physical or mental health of any individual;
3. Providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
4. The request is vexatious;
5. Providing access would be unlawful;
6. The information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings;
7. Providing access would prejudice or be likely to prejudice the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of unlawful activity;
8. Disclosure would pose a threat to the life or health of any individual.

If your request is refused, we will tell you the reason why. If we are not required to provide you with access to the information requested, we will consider, if reasonable, where the use of a mutually agreed intermediary would allow sufficient access to meet our mutual needs. 

Correcting your Personal Information

We strive to keep your personal information accurate, however, it is your responsibility to notify Aimee Edmonds Counselling when your details change. If you believe any information held about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, you may ask to be provided with a copy of your information to view and following your authorisation your information will be corrected.

To protect your privacy and security, you may be asked to verify your identity before being granted access to your data. In some cases, you may be asked to put your request in writing.

Security of your Personal Information 

Security includes a range of systems and communication security measures, as well as the secure storage of hard copy documents. These include:

• An encrypted and two forms of authentication client database for collection of client information and password secured digital client notes;
• Individual database user logins for effective auditing of data amendments;
• A password protected server;
• A closed WiFi network strictly accessible to Aimee Edmonds Counselling only
• Password locked screens on all computers.

How your Personal Information is stored

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is stored securely and is protected from misuse and loss from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes a range of systems and communications security measures. Your personal information will be kept for as long as it is required to provide you with the service you request and to comply with legal requirements. If your personal information is no longer required for any purpose, including legal purposes, we will take any reasonable steps to archive and securely destroy your personal information.

It is your responsibility to advise Aimee Edmonds Counselling should your personal details change so that your record is kept up to date. 

Inquires or Complaints

You can ask at any time if you have any questions or concerns about this policy or about how your personal information has been handled.    

I value your comments and opinions and will try to answer any questions, correct any errors or resolve any complaint that you may have about how your information is handled.

If you have questions or require further information about my privacy policy please contact me by emailing .