Privacy & Confidentiality

At Harbourside Counselling Collective, we understand that starting therapy means sharing personal and often deeply private information. Protecting your privacy and keeping your information confidential is an important part of the care we provide.

How we handle your information

We collect, use, store and disclose personal information in line with British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), other applicable privacy laws, and Standard 10 (Privacy and Confidentiality) of the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC) Code of Ethical Conduct.

We collect only the information reasonably needed to provide therapy, manage your care, communicate with you, process payment, and meet our professional, legal and administrative responsibilities.

Who is responsible for your privacy

Chantale Pamplin, Clinical Director, is Harbourside’s Privacy Officer and is responsible for how we protect your personal information. Macy Pamplin, our Clinic Coordinator, can help with day-to-day privacy questions.

Confidentiality

What you share with your therapist is confidential. Your therapist will not share information about you without your knowledge and consent, except where the law requires or permits it.

To support quality care, our therapists may consult with one another or with a clinical supervisor. These consultations never include your name or any identifying details. Your name and personal information are not shared with other therapists, even within the collective, without your consent.

Limits to confidentiality

There are a few situations where we may be legally or ethically required to share information without your consent:

• if we believe a child or youth under 19 may be at risk of abuse or neglect, as required by BC’s Child, Family and Community Service Act

• if there is an imminent risk of serious harm to you or someone else

• if we believe a vulnerable adult is being abused or neglected

• if we receive a court order or subpoena, or another legal duty applies

If this ever happens, we share only what is necessary, and where possible we talk with you first.

Teens and consent

We work with young people aged 14 and older. Under BC’s Infants Act, a young person under 19 can consent to their own therapy, without a parent or guardian, when their therapist is satisfied they understand what’s involved and that it’s in their best interest. Otherwise, consent from a parent or guardian is needed. At the start of therapy, we talk with each young person, and with their parent or guardian where appropriate, about what will and won’t be shared.

Virtual sessions and electronic communication

Sessions take place by secure video through Jane App, or by phone. Therapy sessions are not recorded. Clinical supervision sessions may be recorded only with the consent of everyone involved.

We recommend joining from a private space where you can’t be overheard, on a personal device and network rather than a shared or work one.

Email and text messages are not fully secure. Please avoid including sensitive personal or health details in email. If something is urgent or private, let us know and we’ll arrange a better way to connect.

Who we share information with

We use trusted service providers to run our practice, including Jane App for booking, clinical records, video sessions and payment. Jane is designed to meet Canadian privacy requirements under PIPA and PIPEDA. These providers are required to protect your information and use it only to provide their services to us.

We share information with employee assistance programs (EAPs), insurers, WorkSafeBC, ICBC, physicians or other referring programs only when you ask us to, and only with your permission.

How long we keep records

We keep therapy records for seven years, as required by our professional obligations, then securely destroy them.

When you visit our website

Our website does not collect health information.

If you use our contact form, we collect your name, email address, phone number if you choose to share it, how you prefer to be contacted, the topic of your message and the message itself, so we can reply.

Messages sent through the contact form go to our admin inbox, where they may be read by members of our administrative team. Everyone on the team works under a confidentiality agreement. You don’t need to share everything in the form, and we’ll arrange a private way to talk about anything sensitive.

Cookies and analytics

Our website runs on Squarespace, which uses cookies to keep the site working. We also use Squarespace Analytics and Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site, such as which pages are viewed. We look at this information in total and don’t use it to identify you. You can manage cookies at any time through Cookie Preferences at the bottom of every page.

Your rights

You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, and to ask us to correct anything inaccurate or incomplete, subject to legal and professional requirements.

You can also withdraw or change your consent to how we use your information at any time, subject to legal and professional limits. We’ll explain how any change might affect your care.

Questions or concerns

If you have questions about your personal information, privacy or confidentiality, please contact Harbourside Counselling Collective.

If we haven’t been able to resolve a concern, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC at oipc.bc.ca.