Privacy policy.
[Effective Date 2025-01-27]
A Thread of Clarity Inc. (“we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal and health information. This policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, store, and protect your information in accordance with applicable Canadian privacy laws (including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act – PIPEDA – and substantially similar provincial laws in Alberta and British Columbia).
By accessing our website, submitting forms, phone calls, SMS messaging or engaging our services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
1. Collection of Personal Information
We collect personal information necessary to provide counselling and related services. This may include:
A. Personal Information
Name
Contact details (email, phone number, address)
Date of birth
Communications you send to us
B. Health Information (when you provide it through intake forms or clinical interaction)
Mental health or counselling history
Symptom descriptions
Goals for therapy
Relevant medical/mental health information related to the services provided
Any other details you provide voluntarily through our website or during communications
C. Technical/Website Data
Website usage information (via cookies or analytics, if applicable)
This information is collected when you:
Inquire about our services through our website, phone, or email
Schedule or change appointments
Communicate with us through SMS messaging
Use our services or sign up for newsletters or updates
2. Why We Collect Your Information
We collect and use your information for the following purposes:
To respond to inquiries and manage communications
To assess your needs and provide counselling and clinical care
To process billing and payments
To schedule appointments and provide reminders
To manage and store your health records in our clinic management software (JaneApp)
To send newsletters, updates, and other information related to our practice (with your consent)
To comply with legal, professional, and regulatory obligations
To improve our services and communications
We limit our collection to what is reasonably necessary for these purposes.
3. Legal Basis & Consent
We collect, use, and disclose your information only with your knowledge and consent, except in limited situations permitted by law. Meaningful consent means you understand what you are agreeing to and the consequences of consent.
Consent is typically obtained when you:
Submit an intake form or inquiry
Provide information in a clinical context
Continue using our services after receiving this policy
You may withdraw consent at any time (subject to legal/contractual restrictions) by contacting us directly.
4. Consent & Communications (Including SMS/Text Messaging)
We rely on your consent to collect, use, and disclose your personal information as described in this policy. Consent may be provided at the time you submit information through our intake forms, communicate with us verbally, or otherwise engage our services.
SMS/Text Message Consent
By providing your phone number to A Thread of Clarity Inc., you expressly consent to receive SMS/text messages from us regarding:
Scheduling details
Appointment confirmations
Cancellations or changes in clinician availability
Other administrative matters related to your care
Standard messaging rates may apply depending on your wireless carrier.
Message frequency may vary based on appointment activity and communication needs. Messages may be recurring.
Opt-Out/STOP Instructions
You may opt out of SMS/text messaging at any time:
Reply STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE to any SMS message to discontinue SMS communications.
You may also opt out of phone or email contact by emailing hello@athreadofclarity.ca or calling 780-900-8055.
After unsubscribing from SMS, you will receive one final SMS confirming that you have been unsubscribed, and we will remove your number from our SMS database within 24 hours.
For help or support with messaging preferences, contact:
A Thread of Clarity Inc.
Phone: 780-900-8055
Email: hello@athreadofclarity.ca
You may withdraw consent for other forms of contact (telephone, email, or other messaging) at any time by contacting us directly.
5. Use and Disclosure of Your Information
Your information will be used only for the purposes described above. We do not sell personal information to third parties.
We may share information with:
Service providers who assist with scheduling, records, communications, or clinic management (e.g., JaneApp)
Legal authorities if required by law
Other professionals with your consent
We will ensure that third parties with whom your personal information is shared maintain reasonable safeguards.
No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All other categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties. Third-party service providers we work with (such as JaneApp) have their own privacy policies in place to ensure your information is handled securely.
If your information is stored or processed outside Canada, it remains subject to applicable Canadian privacy laws.
6. Use of Technology and Data Storage & Security
We are a paperless practice and do not maintain physical files. All personal information and communications are securely stored within our clinic management software, JaneApp. For more information about JaneApp’s privacy practices, please click here. We also use Zoom for telehealth sessions, phone calls, and SMS messaging, where applicable. For more information about how Zoom protects your privacy, please review Zoom’s privacy policy.
We use secure encryption protocols to protect your data when transmitted through our website, via email, or during virtual sessions. However, even with these measures, the transmission of information over the internet is never 100% guaranteed. While we make every effort to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of any data transmitted electronically. All personal information is only accessible by authorized personnel who are required to keep your information confidential.
We employ Microsoft Clarity to understand how visitors interact with our website. It provides insight into things like where visitors click, how far they scroll, and what pages they spend the most time on. This helps us see what’s working well and what might need improvement—kind of like a highlight reel of how people use our site. Clarity does NOT collect any text you type in. Your personal messages, form entries, and private details stay private. Clarity uses cookies and other tools. It helps us make the website more user-friendly and improve your experience and protect against fraudulent visits. Clarity also helps us detect fraudulent visits, so we can protect our advertising funds and make sure our marketing efforts reach real people, not bots. For more details on how Microsoft collects and uses data, check out the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
We implement reasonable physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to protect your information from unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or disclosure. This includes secure server storage, access controls, and encryption where appropriate.
However, no system is 100% secure. If a security incident occurs, we will respond in accordance with legal requirements and notify you if your rights are affected.
7. Data Retention
We retain personal and health information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, comply with legal or professional requirements, meet contractual obligations, or requirements set by our regulatory bodies. Once your client relationship with us ends, we may retain some information for a period required by these standards unless a longer retention period is required by law.
Once information is no longer needed, it will be destroyed or anonymized in a secure manner.
8. Your Rights & Choices
You have the right to:
Access your personal information
Correct or update inaccurate or incomplete information
Withdraw consent subject to legal and contractual limitations
Request deletion of your personal information (where appropriate)
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information provided in the footer of our website or on our contact page.
9. Cookies & Website Tracking
Our website may use cookies or analytics tools to improve your experience. You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. We do not link this data with personally identifying information unless you voluntarily provide it.
10. Children’s Privacy
We provide counselling and related services to clients of all ages, including minors. We do not knowingly collect personal or health information from anyone under the age of 18 without the express consent of a parent or legal guardian, except in rare circumstances where a minor is assessed as a “mature minor” and has the capacity to consent for themselves in the context of their care.
Under Canadian privacy law, there is no strict minimum age for consent to the collection of personal information; however, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has indicated that in most circumstances, meaningful consent for individuals under age 13 should be obtained from a parent or guardian.
What this means in practice:
If you are under 18, we will obtain parent/guardian consent before collecting or using your personal or health information in our practice.
In exceptional situations in which a clinician determines that a minor has the maturity and understanding to make decisions about their own care (mature minor), we may proceed based on that professional assessment. Such situations are uncommon and handled in accordance with ethical and legal standards.
If we reasonably believe a minor cannot consent for themselves, we will not collect personal or health information from them without an authorized adult’s consent.
We take extra care in handling minors’ information and tailor our consent practices to balance privacy rights with clinical needs.
11. Changes to the Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. If changes materially affect how we use your information, we will notify you by posting an updated version on our website.
12. Consent
By interacting with our website, providing personal information through contact forms, phone, email, or SMS, and using our services, you consent to the collection, use, and storage of your personal information as outlined in this Privacy Policy.
For clients using SMS messaging, by providing your phone number, you consent to receive SMS communications for appointment scheduling, reminders, cancellations, and changes to availability. If you prefer not to receive SMS messages, you may opt-out by replying STOP or notifying us directly.
13. Contact Us
If you have questions about this policy or wish to exercise your privacy rights, please contact:
A Thread of Clarity Inc.
Email: hello@athreadofclarity.ca
Phone: 780-900-8055