Privacy Policy

This policy explains how Lambton Counselling Services handles information: both what you send us through this website, and the clinical record we keep once you become a client. Ontario law treats those two things differently, and this policy keeps them apart throughout.

1. Who we are

Lambton Counselling Services is a counselling practice at 108 Kathleen Avenue, Sarnia, Ontario N7T 1C8. We offer individual, couples, child and youth, trauma and spiritual psychotherapy, in person and virtually.

Our therapists are registered with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) or the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW). Some practitioners listed on this site work in modalities that are not regulated health professions in Ontario. The Terms of Service page explains what that means for you.

In this policy, "we" and "us" mean Lambton Counselling Services and the clinicians and staff who work here.

2. Two kinds of information, two different laws

It matters which one you are asking about, because the rules and the complaint route are not the same.

• This website. What you send through the contact form, and what our host records automatically. Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) applies.
• Your clinical record. The notes, assessments, consent forms, correspondence and appointment history the practice keeps once you become a client. Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA) applies.

This policy does not cover other websites we link to, including our online booking system or a practitioner’s own website. Each of those is governed by whoever operates it.

3. What we collect through this website

When you use the contact form we collect your name, your email address, your phone number if you give it, the service you select, and whatever you write in the message field. You decide what goes into that message.

When you book online, booking is handled by Jane, our practice management system, on its own pages. What you enter there goes to Jane and to us, not through this website, and Jane’s own privacy policy applies to that system alongside this one.

Automatically, our hosting provider records standard server information such as your IP address, browser type and the pages you view. This keeps the site running and helps us spot abuse.

This website itself takes no payments, asks for no health card number, and hosts no intake questionnaire or client portal. If that changes, this policy will be updated before the change goes live.

4. Your clinical record

Lambton Counselling Services is the health information custodian for your record under PHIPA. That means the practice is responsible for it: for keeping it accurate, for keeping it secure, and for deciding what may be done with it. The therapist you see works with your record as an agent of the practice.

Records are kept in our secure practice management system. They are not shared between therapists here without your consent. Administrative staff see only what they need in order to book you, correspond with you and issue receipts.

Your therapist will go through their own confidentiality and consent process with you in writing before treatment begins. This page is a public summary. It is not a substitute for that conversation, and where the two differ, the agreement you sign with your therapist governs your care.

5. How we use it

• To answer the question you sent us.
• To route your inquiry to the therapist or to the intake coordinator best placed to help.
• To arrange, confirm and change appointments.
• To provide counselling, to document it as our colleges require, and to issue receipts.
• To keep a record of correspondence so that a request does not get lost.

We do not sell your information. We do not rent it, trade it, or use it for advertising.

6. Consent

For counselling we rely on your consent. You will be asked for it in writing before treatment begins, and you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent stops us using your information going forward. It does not erase what has already been recorded, because our colleges require that records be kept.

Where information would go to someone who is not providing you with health care, for example an insurer, a lawyer, an employer or a family member, we ask for your express written consent first, and that consent names who it goes to and what it covers.

Where a client is a child or youth, who holds the right to consent depends on the child’s capacity to understand the decision rather than on their age. Your therapist will explain how that works in your family’s situation at the first appointment.

7. The limits of confidentiality

The law protects the relationship between a client and a therapist, and what you say is not disclosed without your written permission. There is a short list of exceptions, and the law requires every one of them.

• Where we suspect that a child is or may be in need of protection, we are required to report it to a children’s aid society.
• Where we have reasonable grounds to believe someone is at significant risk of serious bodily harm, we may disclose what is needed to prevent it, including to the police or to the person at risk.
• Where a client intends to harm themselves, we will make every effort to work with them to keep them safe. If that is not possible, we will take the further steps the law allows in order to protect them.
• Where a court orders disclosure, or a subpoena, summons or warrant requires it.
• Where a regulatory college requires records as part of an investigation, an inspection or a quality assurance review.
• Where the law requires a mandatory report about a regulated health professional, including a report of sexual abuse of a patient, or a report about a long term care or retirement home resident.

Your therapist will go through this list with you before you begin, and will tell you as early as they reasonably can if one of these situations arises. If you are unsure how any of it applies to you, ask before you share something. That is a fair question and you will get a straight answer.

8. Who else sees it

• Your therapist, and where you consent to it, other clinicians involved in your care.
• Our intake coordinator and office administrator, for booking, correspondence and receipts.
• Where a practitioner works under clinical supervision, their supervisor, which is a requirement of the college and part of keeping your care safe.
• Jane, our practice management and booking system, which holds appointment and client information on our behalf under a written agreement.
• Rocket.net, which hosts this website and stores contact form submissions, and our email provider, which delivers them to us.
• Google, which provides Google Analytics, only if you accept analytics cookies (section 13).
• An insurer or a third party payer, only where you have given written consent, or where a funder such as Non-Insured Health Benefits requires it for a claim you have asked us to make.
• Anyone we are legally required to disclose to under section 7.

That is the whole list. We do not share your information with anyone else.

Jane, our practice management system, stores client information on servers located in Canada. This website is a separate matter: it is hosted by Rocket.net, a company based in the United States, so contact form submissions and server logs can be processed outside Canada, where they can be subject to the laws of the country they sit in. That is one of the reasons we ask you to keep detailed personal health information out of the contact form. If you want to know where any particular system stores your information, ask us and we will tell you.

9. Email, text and video are not fully secure

Messages sent through the contact form reach us as email. Email and text can be intercepted, misdelivered, or read on a device you do not control. Please do not put detailed personal health information into the contact form.

Tell us enough to be routed to the right person, and save the rest for a private conversation. If your matter is urgent, call 519-336-9612. If it is an emergency, call 9-1-1 or use the crisis resources page.

Video sessions run on a platform built for health care use. No online system is perfect, so we ask you to take your own precautions as well: a private room, a device only you use, and a network you trust.

10. How long we keep it

Clinical, appointment and financial records are kept for at least ten years from your last interaction with your therapist. Where you were under eighteen at that point, they are kept for at least ten years from your eighteenth birthday, whichever date is later. That is the minimum our colleges set, and we treat it as a floor rather than a target.

Contact form submissions are kept only as long as we need them to deal with your inquiry and hold a reasonable record of the correspondence, and are then deleted. Server logs are kept for a short period by our host.

If you would like an inquiry deleted sooner, ask, and we will do it unless we are legally required to keep it.

11. Keeping it secure

Records are held in access controlled systems. Paper files are locked. Devices are password protected and encrypted. Clinicians and staff see only what their role requires, and everyone here is bound by confidentiality whether or not they are a regulated professional.

If a privacy breach happens that could put you at risk, we will tell you at the first reasonable opportunity, tell you plainly what happened, and tell you that you may complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. Where the law requires it, we will also report the breach to the Commissioner and to the relevant college.

12. Your rights

You can ask to see your record, ask for a copy of it, ask us to correct something you believe is wrong, ask what information we hold about you, withdraw your consent, or ask us to stop contacting you.

Write to admin@lambtoncounselling.com or call 519-336-9612, and we will respond within thirty days. There are narrow circumstances in which access can be refused, for example where releasing information would create a significant risk of serious harm to you or to someone else. If that applies we will tell you why in writing, and you can challenge our decision.

For information collected through this website, PIPEDA applies, and an unresolved complaint goes to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

For clinical records, PHIPA applies, and an unresolved complaint goes to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

A concern about a therapist’s professional conduct can also be raised with their college: the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario, or the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. Ask us and we will tell you which one applies and how to reach them.

13. Cookies and tracking

This site uses Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are used, so we can improve the site. It runs only if you choose Accept on the cookie notice, and you can change your choice at any time with the Cookie settings link at the foot of every page. Google Analytics data is processed by Google, which is based in the United States. As of the date at the foot of this page this site runs no advertising trackers.

If other analytics or advertising tools are added later, this section will name the provider and the date below will change. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings and the site will still work.

14. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the date at the foot of the page changes with it. Anything significant will be flagged on the page itself for a reasonable period so that returning visitors notice it.

15. Reaching us about privacy

Privacy questions, requests to see or correct a record, and complaints all go to our privacy contact at the practice. We will acknowledge your request and tell you who is handling it.

Lambton Counselling Services, 108 Kathleen Avenue, Sarnia, Ontario N7T 1C8.

Last updated 2 October 2026.