Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY & SMS TERMS OF SERVICE

Effective date: September 12, 2026

Psychotherapy for You (“Psychotherapy for You,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the personal information and personal health information entrusted to us.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, when it may be shared, and the choices available to you. We handle information in accordance with applicable Canadian privacy legislation, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), and other applicable provincial privacy requirements.

PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Your name, telephone number, email address, mailing address, date of birth, pronouns, and other contact or identifying information.

• Information provided through our website, intake forms, contact forms, email, telephone calls, text messages, or appointment-booking system.

• Appointment information, including dates, times, therapist preferences, availability, and the type of service requested.

• Personal health information that you voluntarily provide, including information about your mental health, medical history, symptoms, treatment goals, medications, and other information relevant to providing psychotherapy services.

• Billing and payment information, insurance information, and information required for benefit plans or programs, such as the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program.

• Communications between you and Psychotherapy for You, including emails, telephone calls, text messages, appointment-related messages, and inquiries.

• Technical information collected when you visit our website, such as your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, referring website, and cookie or analytics information.

Please do not submit urgent, highly sensitive, or crisis-related information through ordinary website forms, email, or text message. These communication methods are not monitored continuously.

HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION

We may collect information:

• Directly from you.

• Through our website, contact forms, intake forms, appointment-booking system, email, telephone, or text messaging.

• From a parent, guardian, substitute decision-maker, or authorized representative.

• From healthcare providers, insurance providers, employee assistance programs, government programs, or referral sources when you have provided consent or when collection is otherwise permitted by law.

• Automatically through website cookies, analytics, and similar technologies.

HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may use your information to:

• Respond to questions and requests for information.

• Match you with an appropriate therapist.

• Schedule, confirm, change, or cancel appointments.

• Send appointment reminders and other appointment-related communications.

• Provide psychotherapy and related services.

• Maintain clinical and administrative records.

• Process payments, receipts, insurance documentation, and benefit claims.

• Communicate with you about your care, account, inquiries, or services.

• Manage consent, privacy requests, and legal or regulatory obligations.

• Operate, maintain, secure, and improve our website and services.

• Prevent fraud, misuse, security threats, or unauthorized access.

• Meet professional, legal, accounting, insurance, and regulatory requirements.

• Send promotional or educational communications only where permitted by law and where any required consent has been obtained.

We only collect and use information for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances.

WHO WE SHARE INFORMATION WITH

We do not sell or rent personal information.

Personal information may be shared only as reasonably necessary with:

• Psychotherapists, clinical supervisors, administrative staff, and authorized contractors working with Psychotherapy for You.

• Service providers that support our operations, such as our practice-management system, telephone and text-message provider, secure email provider, website host, payment processor, information-technology provider, analytics provider, and document-storage provider.

• Insurance companies, benefit providers, government programs, or employee assistance programs when authorized by you or permitted by law.

• Professional advisors such as lawyers, accountants, insurers, auditors, or privacy and security consultants.

• Regulatory bodies, law-enforcement agencies, courts, or government authorities when disclosure is required or permitted by law.

• Other healthcare providers or persons involved in your care when you have provided consent or disclosure is otherwise permitted by law.

Service providers are permitted to use information only as necessary to provide their contracted services or as required by law.

SMS consent and telephone numbers collected for SMS communication purposes are not shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

Your information may be disclosed without consent when required or permitted by law, including where necessary to address a serious and imminent risk of harm, comply with a court order, report suspected abuse where legally required, or meet professional and regulatory obligations.

SMS AND TEXT-MESSAGE PRIVACY

If you provide your mobile telephone number and agree to receive text messages, we may use it to send conversational messages, respond to inquiries, coordinate scheduling, and provide appointment reminders or account notifications.

SMS consent is not shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

We may use a contracted communications provider to transmit and deliver messages on our behalf. Mobile carriers and communications providers may process message-routing information as necessary to deliver messages.

Text messaging may not be completely secure. Please avoid sending detailed personal health information by text message.

Text messaging is not intended for emergencies or crisis support. If you are in immediate danger or experiencing an emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency department.

You may withdraw your SMS consent at any time by replying STOP. Reply HELP for assistance.

CONSENT

By providing personal information to us, you consent to its collection, use, and disclosure for the purposes explained in this Privacy Policy, except where another form of consent is required or where the law permits collection, use, or disclosure without consent.

You may withdraw your consent, subject to legal, professional, contractual, and record-retention requirements. Withdrawing consent may affect our ability to provide certain services.

SAFEGUARDING INFORMATION

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. These may include access controls, passwords, staff confidentiality requirements, secure systems, encryption where appropriate, and policies governing the handling and retention of information.

No electronic system or communication method can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If a privacy breach occurs, we will investigate and provide any notifications required by law.

RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION

We retain personal and clinical information for as long as required to provide services and meet legal, professional, insurance, accounting, and regulatory obligations.

When information is no longer required, it is securely destroyed, deleted, or anonymized in accordance with applicable requirements and our record-retention practices.

ACCESSING OR CORRECTING YOUR INFORMATION

You may request access to your personal information or ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete, subject to limited exceptions permitted by law.

We may need to verify your identity before completing a request. Certain requests may be subject to a reasonable fee where permitted by law. We will explain any applicable fee in advance.

COOKIES, ANALYTICS, AND WEBSITE TECHNOLOGIES

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to operate properly, remember preferences, understand website traffic, and improve user experience.

You can adjust your browser settings to limit or block cookies. Some website functions may not work properly if cookies are disabled.

THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES AND SERVICES

Our website may contain links to external websites or use services supplied by third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or security of websites and services that we do not control. Please review their privacy policies before providing personal information.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

Where services are provided to children or youth, consent and information-handling practices will reflect applicable legislation, the young person’s capacity to consent, professional obligations, and any appropriate involvement of a parent, guardian, or substitute decision-maker.

PRIVACY POLICY UPDATES

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes to our practices, services, technology, or legal obligations. The effective date at the beginning of this page identifies the latest version.

SMS TERMS OF SERVICE

By opting in to receive SMS messages from Psychotherapy for You through a website form, intake form, telephone conversation, text message, or another method, you agree to receive SMS messages from Psychotherapy for You at the mobile number you provided.

TYPES OF SMS MESSAGES

Messages may include:

• Responses to your questions or inquiries.

• Appointment scheduling, confirmations, reminders, changes, or cancellations.

• Account or administrative notifications.

• Requests to contact our office.

• Other conversational messages related to services you requested.

MESSAGE FREQUENCY

Messaging frequency may vary depending on your appointments, inquiries, and communications with our office.

MESSAGE AND DATA RATES

Message and data rates may apply according to your mobile telephone plan and carrier.

OPTING OUT OF SMS MESSAGES

You may opt out of SMS messages at any time by replying STOP to any message.

After opting out, you may receive one final message confirming that your request has been processed.

SMS ASSISTANCE

For assistance, reply HELP or visit:

https://www.psychotherapyforyou.ca/

SMS PRIVACY

SMS consent is not shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

Please review the other sections of this page for complete information about our privacy practices.

CONTACTING US

Questions, concerns, access requests, correction requests, privacy complaints, or requests for SMS assistance may be directed to:

Privacy Officer

Psychotherapy for You

Telephone: 289-205-3505

Email: [contact@psychotherapyforyou.ca]

Website: https://www.psychotherapyforyou.ca/

We will review and respond to privacy questions and complaints in accordance with applicable privacy requirements.