LEGAL
Privacy Policy
1. Purpose and scope
This Privacy Policy explains how Banksia Consulting & Supervision collects, uses, discloses, stores, protects, and retains personal information in connection with clinical supervision, professional consultation, training, workshops, communications, scheduling, billing, records, and related services.
Banksia Consulting & Supervision provides professional supervision and consultation services to regulated and/or professional practitioners. It does not provide therapy, psychotherapy, medical care, crisis services, or emergency services to supervisees through these Terms unless expressly agreed in a separate written agreement.
2. Key privacy points
·We collect personal information necessary to provide supervision/consultation, manage scheduling
and billing, maintain records, communicate with you, comply with legal and professional obligations, and protect rights and safety.
·Supervisees and consultees remain responsible for complying with their own privacy, confidentiality, professional, and regulatory duties.
·You must avoid disclosing identifiable client/patient information unless it is necessary for supervision or consultation and you are legally/professionally permitted to disclose it.
·Information may be processed or stored through third-party platforms and service providers, including scheduling, payment, video-conferencing, email, cloud storage, and record-keeping tools.
·Confidentiality has limits, including child protection, risk of serious harm, court orders, regulatory obligations, professional obligations, mandatory reporting, and legal requirements.
·Email and online platforms are not perfectly secure. Do not send unnecessary sensitive information by email.
3. Definitions
Banksia, we, us, and our refer to Banksia Consulting & Supervision.
Supervisee, consultee, client, and you refer to a regulated professional, practitioner, student, organization, or other person who receives or accesses supervision, consultation, training, workshops, communications, or related services.
Services refers to clinical supervision, professional consultation, supervision groups, dyadic supervision, individual consultation, workshops, training, and related professional services.
Personal information refers to information about an identifiable individual, including information that alone or with other information can identify an individual.
Client/patient information refers to information concerning a supervisee's or consultee's own clients, patients, service users, or third parties discussed for supervision or consultation purposes.
4. Information we collect
·Identity and contact information, such as name, email address, telephone number, professional title, organization, billing address, and account information.
·Professional information, such as professional designation, regulator/College, registration number, areas of practice, supervision requirements, practice setting, employment/contract status, and learning goals.
·Scheduling and attendance information, including session dates, cancellations, attendance, supervision hours, consultation records, and communications.
·Billing and transaction information, including invoices, receipts, payment status, billing details, and payment processor records.
·Supervision and consultation information, including questions, notes, issues discussed, professional development goals, case consultation information, risk issues, ethical/regulatory issues, and action items.
·Client/patient information that you choose to disclose during supervision or consultation. You must de-identify this information wherever possible and disclose only the minimum necessary information.
·Technical and platform information, such as IP address, device/browser information, log data, email metadata, scheduling data, and platform usage data.
·Feedback, testimonials, reviews, and communications, where provided.
5. Purposes for collection, use, and disclosure
1. to provide clinical supervision, consultation, training, and related professional services;
2. to assess suitability, supervisee needs, professional goals, risk issues, and service requirements;
3. to schedule sessions, track attendance/supervision hours, manage cancellations, issue invoices, process payments, and maintain business records;
4. to communicate with you about services, professional matters, administrative issues, and support;
5. to maintain supervision/consultation records and comply with legal, professional, regulatory, accounting, insurance, and record-keeping obligations;
6. to consult with legal counsel, insurers, accountants, regulators, professional advisors, or consultants where appropriate;
7. to address complaints, disputes, risk issues, professional obligations, safety concerns, or legal/regulatory requests;
8. to comply with mandatory reporting, child protection, risk-of-harm, subpoena, court order, regulatory, or other legal obligations;
9. to improve services and administer training or workshops; and
10. for any other purpose to which you consent or that is permitted or required by applicable law.
6. Supervisee/consultee responsibility for client/patient information
You remain responsible for complying with your own privacy, confidentiality, professional, College/regulatory, employment/contractual, and legal obligations when discussing client/patient information during supervision or consultation.
Unless identifiable information is necessary for the supervision or consultation purpose and you are permitted to disclose it, you must de-identify client/patient information before sharing it. This includes removing or avoiding names, contact details, exact dates, rare facts, locations, photographs, documents, audio/video, and other details that could reasonably identify a client/patient or third party.
You must not send identifiable client/patient records, screenshots, clinical notes, reports, photographs, audio, video, or other sensitive records by email or through insecure platforms unless specifically requested and legally/professionally appropriate.
7. Consent and withdrawal of consent
By using the Services or providing information, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. Withdrawal of consent may limit or prevent Banksia from providing Services. Banksia may continue to collect, use, disclose, and retain information where permitted or required by law, including for legal, professional, regulatory, accounting, insurance, dispute-management, safety, and record-keeping purposes.
8. Confidentiality and limits
Banksia will use reasonable efforts to maintain confidentiality of information received through the Services. Confidentiality is not absolute. Banksia may disclose information where permitted or required by law or professional obligation, including for child protection reporting, risk of serious harm, abuse/neglect reporting where applicable, court orders, subpoenas, regulatory or College processes, complaints, insurance/legal defence, professional consultation, supervision of Sarah's own practice, collection of fees, or protection of rights and safety.
Where reasonably possible and appropriate, disclosures will be limited to the information necessary for the purpose.
9. Duty to report and professional obligations
Sarah Binks is a Registered Social Worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. In providing supervision, consultation, training, and related professional services through Banksia Consulting & Supervision, Sarah is subject to applicable legal, professional, regulatory, ethical, and record-keeping obligations, including obligations under the OCSWSSW Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, applicable Ontario legislation, and any other applicable professional requirements.
Confidentiality is subject to legal and professional limits. Banksia and/or Sarah may disclose information without your consent, and in some circumstances without prior notice to you, where permitted or required by law or professional obligation. This may include disclosure where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is or may be in need of protection, where there is a risk of serious harm to any person, where disclosure is required by court order, subpoena, warrant, regulator/College process, complaint, investigation, insurance/legal defence process, or other applicable legal or professional requirement.
In Ontario, the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 imposes a duty to report where a person has reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is or may be in need of protection. The report must be made directly to a children’s aid society and the duty is not displaced by confidentiality obligations. Banksia may also make disclosures where necessary to obtain legal, regulatory, clinical, professional, or insurance advice, provided that disclosure is limited to what is reasonably necessary in the circumstances.
Where the supervisee or consultee is a registered professional, including a registered social worker, social service worker, registered psychotherapist, or other regulated professional, the supervisee or consultee remains responsible for understanding and complying with their own reporting, privacy, confidentiality, documentation, professional, College, employment, and legal obligations. Supervision or consultation with Banksia does not transfer those obligations to Banksia and does not relieve the supervisee or consultee of responsibility for their own professional judgment or required reporting.
10. Email, video, and online-platform risks
Email, video-conferencing, scheduling platforms, payment processors, cloud storage, and other digital tools are not perfectly secure. You acknowledge that electronic communications may be intercepted, misdirected, delayed, stored on third-party servers, or accessed under applicable law. You should not send unnecessary sensitive information by email.
Banksia may use third-party platforms for scheduling, payment processing, video sessions, email, cloud storage, record keeping, forms, and communications. Those platforms may process or store information in Canada, the United States, or other jurisdictions.
10.1 Website cookies, analytics, and embedded content
Banksia’s website may use cookies, analytics tools, embedded content, scheduling widgets, forms, video players, or similar technologies provided by third parties. These tools may collect technical information such as IP address, browser/device information, usage data, referring pages, and interaction data. Third-party tools may process information according to their own terms and privacy policies. You may adjust cookie settings through your browser, although some website functions may not operate properly if cookies are disabled.
11. Recordings
Supervision or consultation sessions will not be recorded unless expressly agreed in advance or required for a specific training/supervision purpose. If a session is recorded, Banksia will identify the purpose, access limits, retention, and whether participants may opt out where possible.
You must not record, screenshot, transcribe using third-party tools, copy, or distribute supervision or consultation sessions without prior
written consent from Banksia and all applicable participants, and only where legally and professionally appropriate.
11.1 Testimonials and promotional use
Banksia will not use your name, image, likeness, voice, testimonial, identifiable feedback, supervision comments, case discussion, or other identifiable information for marketing or promotional purposes without your express consent. Banksia may use anonymized or de-identified feedback for internal quality improvement or general service improvement where individuals cannot reasonably be identified.
12. Service providers and professional advisors
Banksia may disclose information to service providers and professional advisors who assist with scheduling, payment processing, accounting, bookkeeping, legal advice, insurance, practice consultation, video conferencing, email, cloud storage, IT support, website hosting, analytics, and record keeping. Banksia does not sell personal information.
12.1 Business transfers
Banksia may disclose or transfer personal information in connection with a proposed or completed sale, merger, restructuring, transfer, or other disposition of all or part of the business, subject to applicable legal, professional, regulatory, confidentiality, and record-keeping obligations. Where professional records are involved, any transfer will be handled to preserve confidentiality, maintain record continuity, and comply with applicable professional obligations.
13. Cross-border processing and storage
Personal information may be processed or stored in Canada, the United States, and other jurisdictions where Banksia or its service providers operate. Information outside Canada may be subject to lawful access by courts, law enforcement, regulators, or government authorities in those jurisdictions.
14. Safeguards
Banksia uses reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, including access controls, password protection, reputable platforms, reasonable confidentiality practices, and secure handling of records. No system is completely secure.
15. Breach response
If Banksia becomes aware of a suspected or actual privacy or security incident, it will take reasonable steps to contain, investigate, assess, and respond to the incident. Banksia will notify affected individuals, regulators, professional bodies, or other organizations where required by applicable law or professional obligation.
16. Retention
Banksia retains records in accordance with applicable legal, professional, regulatory, accounting, insurance, and business requirements.
Because Sarah Binks is a registered social worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, Banksia will retain supervision, consultation, and related client records for at least ten (10) years from the date of the last entry in the record. If the client was less than eighteen (18) years old at the date of the last entry, the record will be retained for at least ten (10) years from the date the client became, or would have become, eighteen (18) years old.
Where the services involve supervision or consultation connected to another regulated professional’s practice, including a registered psychotherapist or other regulated professional, Banksia may retain records for the longer of: the OCSWSSW retention period applicable to Sarah, any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, any contractual or insurance requirement, and any period reasonably necessary to address complaints, disputes, regulatory matters, audits, legal claims, risk management, or continuity of professional services.
Records may include intake information, contact information, professional information, supervision or consultation notes, attendance records, supervision-hour confirmations, communications, invoices, payment records, forms, risk-management notes, and related administrative or professional records.
After the applicable retention period expires, Banksia may securely destroy or delete records unless continued retention is required or reasonably necessary for legal, professional, regulatory, accounting, insurance, complaint, dispute-management, or risk-management purposes. Deletion requests are subject to these retention obligations and may be refused where Banksia is required or permitted to retain the record.
17. Access, correction, deletion, and complaints
You may request access to or correction of your personal information by contacting Banksia. Access may be refused or limited where permitted or required by law, including where disclosure would reveal information about another person, privileged information, confidential professional consultation, information relevant to a legal/regulatory dispute, or information that cannot be disclosed for legal/professional reasons.
Deletion requests are subject to legal, professional, regulatory, accounting, insurance, dispute-management, and record-retention obligations.
18. Marketing communications
Banksia may send service-related communications about scheduling, invoices, supervision, consultation, training, or administrative matters. Marketing or promotional communications will be sent only where permitted by applicable law and will include an unsubscribe mechanism where required.
19. Changes to this Privacy Policy
Banksia may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material updates will apply prospectively where reasonably possible. The effective date will be updated when the policy changes.
20. Contact
Banksia Consulting & Supervision
Privacy Contact: Sarah Binks
Email: admin@banksiasupervision.com
Mailing Address: PO Box 1572, Lakefield, Ontario, K0L 2H0 Canada
Website: www.banksiasupervision.com