Privacy Policy

Overview

Mistaya Child & Adolescent Psychology ("Mistaya," "we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality, and security of personal information collected through our clinical services, website, and practice-management systems.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect personal information in accordance with applicable Canadian and Alberta privacy legislation and professional standards, including Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and, where applicable, other privacy legislation and the standards of the College of Alberta Psychologists.

Information We Collect

We collect only information that is reasonably necessary to provide services, communicate with clients and families, administer our practice, and meet our legal and professional obligations. Depending on how you interact with us, this may include:

• Contact information: name, address, telephone number, and email address.
• Clinical information: information provided during counselling, assessment, screening, consultation, or other psychological services, including relevant personal, developmental, family, mental health, and treatment information.
• Clinical records: assessment information, clinical notes, treatment plans, correspondence, screening results, progress measures, and other records related to services provided.
• Administrative and financial information: appointment information, billing and payment information, insurance details, and information required to administer claims or payments.
• Communications: information contained in emails, telephone communications, contact-form submissions, and other communications with our practice.

We may collect information directly from you or, where appropriate and authorized, from parents or guardians, other professionals, insurers, or other relevant sources.

How We Use Personal Information

We use personal information only for purposes that are reasonably necessary to:

• provide and coordinate psychological services;
• assess needs and develop, monitor, and adjust treatment;
• communicate with clients, parents/guardians, and other authorized individuals;
• schedule appointments and administer our practice;
• process payments and insurance claims;
• maintain clinical and administrative records;
• meet legal, regulatory, professional, and accounting requirements; and
• protect the safety and security of our clients, staff, and practice.

We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information or use it for third-party marketing.

Disclosure of Personal Information

We keep personal information confidential except when disclosure is authorized or required by law. Information may be disclosed:

• With your consent, such as when coordinating care with another professional or providing information to an insurer.
• When required or permitted by law, including circumstances involving a legal order, regulatory requirement, or a legal duty to report concerns about a child or vulnerable person.
• When necessary to address a serious and imminent risk of harm to the client or another person.
• To service providers who support the operation of our practice, such as our practice-management platform, payment processors, website or technology providers, and IT/security providers. These providers receive only the information reasonably necessary to provide their services and are expected to maintain appropriate privacy and security safeguards.

Practice-Management and Third-Party Services

We use third-party service providers to support practice operations. These may include practice-management, scheduling, electronic record, payment, communications, website hosting, and IT/security services. For example, we use Jane App for practice management and clinical records. Jane states that Canadian clinic data can be stored in Canadian data centres and that its systems use encryption and SOC 2 security controls.

Some third-party providers may process information outside Canada. Where this occurs, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction where it is processed. We take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate contractual and security safeguards are in place.

Website, Cookies, and Analytics

Our website does not intentionally use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or third-party analytics services such as Google Analytics.

Our website or hosting providers may nevertheless collect limited technical information necessary to operate, secure, and maintain the website, such as IP address, browser type, device information, or access logs. We do not use this information to create profiles for advertising or marketing purposes.

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. Their privacy practices are governed by their own privacy policies, and we encourage you to review those policies before providing personal information.

Email and Electronic Communication

Email and other electronic communications may not provide the same level of privacy as our clinical record systems. Please avoid sending highly sensitive clinical information by ordinary email unless we have discussed an appropriate method of communication.

We will use reasonable safeguards when communicating electronically and will provide secure communication options where appropriate.

Confidentiality and Its Limits

Psychological services are confidential, but confidentiality is not absolute. Information may need to be disclosed without consent in circumstances required or permitted by law, including certain situations involving child or vulnerable-person protection, serious and imminent risk of harm, court orders, or professional/regulatory requirements. The specific limits of confidentiality will be discussed as part of the informed-consent process.

Children and Youth

When services are provided to a child or youth, privacy and access to information are managed in accordance with applicable law, professional standards, the young person's developmental capacity, and the rights and responsibilities of parents or guardians.

The privacy of children and youth receiving psychological services is taken seriously. We will discuss appropriate boundaries around confidentiality with the child or youth and their parent(s)/guardian(s) as part of the consent process.

Minor Children

We do not knowingly collect personal information from a minor child without appropriate consent from a parent or legal guardian, where required under the Personal Information Protection Act (Alberta) ("PIPA").

If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a minor child without the consent required by PIPA, we will take reasonable steps to stop using or disclosing that information and, where appropriate and legally permitted, delete it from our records.

A parent or legal guardian who believes that a minor child has provided personal information to us may contact us through the contact methods noted below. We will take reasonable steps to verify the requester's identity and relationship to the minor child and address the request in accordance with PIPA.

Nothing in this section limits any rights available to a minor child, parent, or legal guardian under PIPA or other applicable law.

Storage, Security, and Retention

We use reasonable physical, administrative, and technical safeguards to protect personal information against unauthorized access, use, disclosure, loss, or destruction. These safeguards may include access controls, authentication, encryption, secure storage, backups, and secure disposal procedures.

No electronic system or method of transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Clinical records are retained in accordance with applicable legislation and professional requirements. For records maintained by psychologists in Alberta, the College of Alberta Psychologists' standards provide for retention of adult records for at least 10 years after the last professional service and, for minors, the longer of two years after reaching the age of majority or 10 years after the last professional service.

When information is no longer required, we take reasonable steps to securely destroy or anonymize it.

Privacy Breaches

If we become aware of a privacy breach involving personal information, we will take reasonable steps to contain and investigate the breach, assess the risk, and provide notification where required by applicable law.

Accessing or Correcting Your Information

You may request access to personal information we hold about you and request correction of information that is inaccurate or incomplete, subject to applicable legal and professional limitations.

Because clinical records may contain information about other individuals or information subject to professional or legal restrictions, access may sometimes be limited or provided in another appropriate form.

To make a privacy request or ask a question about how your information is handled, please contact us using the contact information provided below.

No Therapist-Client Relationship Through the Website

Submitting a contact form, email, or other inquiry through our website does not establish a psychologist-client relationship. Information provided through the website will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal and professional requirements. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to make a privacy request, or have concerns about how your personal information has been handled, please contact:

You may also contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta if you have concerns about the handling of your personal information under applicable Alberta privacy legislation.