Whole Kids Health Privacy Policy.

Last Updated: August 24, 2026

Privacy of personal information is an important principle to Whole Kids Health Psychology Group / S. Dentakos Psychology PC (“Whole Kids Health”, “us”, “we” or “our”) and we respect the privacy of our clients (“you”, which includes your child who is a client). We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for services we provide. We are open and transparent as to how we handle personal information. This document describes our privacy policies.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION/PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION?

The term “personal information” has the same meaning as set out in the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and refers to any information about an identifiable individual including, but not limited to contact information, name, address, phone number, email address, gender, and date of birth.

The term “personal health information” has the same meaning as set out in Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) and includes information that relates to: an individual’s personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, home address or phone number, education and training, family circumstances); health (e.g. history, health conditions, health services received); or, activities and views (e.g., occupation/profession, ideas and concerns expressed by an individual). Personal information is different from business information (e.g., an individual’s business address and telephone number), which is not protected by privacy legislation.

WHO WE ARE

Whole Kids Health Psychology Group (S. Dentakos Psychology PC) is a group private practice that can include psychologists, psychologists in supervised practice, and Ph.D. psychology students working under the supervision of a psychologist. Where the clinic’s services expand, this may include other regulated health professionals. The Whole Kids Health team can also include students, administrative staff, and volunteers, depending on who is working with the clinic at any given point in time.

At times, Whole Kids Health may work with external individuals and entities that may, in the course of their duties, have limited access to personal health information we hold. These may include consultants, administrative and technical support staff, bookkeepers and accountants, payment providers (e.g., Stripe), lawyers, and insurance providers. We only provide the information necessary to them in order to complete their respective roles and restrict their access to any personal information we hold as much as is reasonably possible.

COLLECTION, USE, AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Collecting Personal Information About Members of The General Public Who Call for Information about our Services

For members of the general public, our primary purposes for collecting personal information (e.g., contact numbers, email addresses) are to provide notice of special events (e.g., a workshop), and/or to make them aware of the range of services available at Whole Kids Health and to direct them to the appropriate psychologist/clinician.

On our website we only collect, with the exception of cookies, the personal information you provide and only use that information for the purpose you gave it to us (e.g., to respond to your email message, to register for a workshop, to be notified of future events). We will upon request promptly remove you from our distribution list.

Collecting Personal Information About Clients

For clients, we collect, use and disclose personal information only to provide our psychological services which include any or all of consultation, psychological assessment and therapy (the “Services”). For example, we collect information about a client’s health history, physical condition and function, and social situation in order to help us assess what their mental health needs are, to advise them of their options and then provide the health care they choose to have. We also collect and use personal information to carry out all of the functions reasonably necessary to provide the Services (e.g., scheduling and billing; service planning, monitoring, and evaluation; record keeping). We also obtain a baseline and ongoing record of functioning so that in providing the Services we can monitor treatment progress and identify changes that occur over time. And, we collect personal, health and social information in order to provide diagnostic information, current status, and recommendations to clients’ family physician or other health care providers.

As part of providing the Services, we also use your personal information to: communicate with clients, including to distribute health care information and book/confirm appointments; to send invoices and to process payment by credit card payments; and to collect unpaid accounts. We may also communicate to you about special events or opportunities (e.g., workshops, new group) that we have available.

We collect personal information directly from the client unless he/she/they have provided consent for us to obtain such information from others (e.g., previous care providers, parents/guardians). It would be rare for us to collect or disclose personal information without the client’s express consent, but this might occur if the client is deemed incapable of providing consent, in an emergency situation (e.g., the client is unconscious), where we are aware of or reasonably foresee harm to the client or to others, or where we are legally compelled. (see Required Disclosure below)

By law and in accordance with professional standards, we are required to keep a record of our Services to and contacts with you. Your record includes information you provide to us or authorize us to receive, results of any assessments, your service plan, consent forms, contact notes, progress summaries, billing information, and correspondence that we have sent or received related to your service. The physical records are the property of our practice. However, you have rights regarding access to and sharing of information in your record.

With respect to the disclosure of personal information, Whole Kids Health operates in a team-based model. This means that we may consult with one another about our clients or potential referrals to facilitate the provision of quality care. Sharing your personal information with others outside of our practice (e.g., family doctor, parents, school) typically only occurs with the client’s knowledge and consent and would be to coordinate care or to advocate for additional supports (e.g., school accommodations, parent-based intervention), although there are some exceptions. The exceptions are listed in the Required Disclosure section below.

In addition, we may be required to provide information to third-party payers (e.g. insurance companies). These entities will have either obtained your consent independently or may possess legislative authority, directing us to collect and disclose specific information. This disclosure is necessary to address queries related to the Services you have received. Similarly, if someone else (e.g., a parent, caregiver, or family member) is responsible for covering the costs of your Services at Whole Kids Health, they are entitled to limited information. This includes the name of your service provider, the dates of your appointments, and the duration and cost of sessions, all of which are part of your billing record. However, without your consent, no other details about your treatment will be provided to them.

When consenting to the disclosure of your personal health information, you may restrict us from sharing all or any part of your personal information. However, if in our opinion the information is reasonably necessary for another health service provider to provide appropriate service, we have to inform the other provider that you have refused consent to provide some needed information.

REQUIRED DISCLOSURE 

There are limits to the protection of private information, which include the following:

  • Harm to self: If you pose an imminent risk of harm to yourself/themself, your clinician is required to eliminate or reduce this harm. For example, this may involve notifying a caregiver or family member. There may be other emergency health care related circumstances where disclosure is reasonably necessary for the protection of health, in which case your clinician may disclose personal information to other health care professionals.

  • Harm to others: If you or your child pose an imminent risk of harm to others, your clinician is required to eliminate or reduce the risk. For example, this may involve notifying a caregiver, other health care provider, or police.

  • Risk of or Abuse or Neglect of Vulnerable Populations: When information is disclosed about a child under the age of 16 being or at risk of being physically abused, sexually abused, sexually exploited, trafficked, seriously emotionally harmed, or neglected, your clinician is mandated to report this information to the appropriate Children’s Aid Society. When information is disclosed of neglect or abuse of residents living in long-term care facilities or retirement homes, your child’s clinician is required to notify the appropriate regulating body (i.e., Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority). When information is disclosed of a regulated health professional (e.g., physician, nurse, dentist, etc.) having sexually harassed and/or sexually abused a patient in the past or presently, your clinician is mandated to report the regulated health professional to their respective college.

  • Missing Persons: If there is a missing person who has been searched for and not found, if the police have reason to believe that your clinician’s file may have information that would help to locate the missing person, we are required to release that information to the police.

  • Court Order: When personal health information is requested by court order, your clinician is required to provide it.

  • Regulatory Review: As a part of the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO) Quality Assurance program, your clinician’s files may be externally audited, which may include a review of your records. Individuals involved in the audits are licensed professionals bound by CPBAO standards for confidentiality.

  • Consultation, Supervised Services and Quality Reviews: Whole Kids Health operates in a team-based model, such that your clinician may consult with other internal and external psychologists, mental health professionals, or team members on an as needed basis. This is to facilitate the provision of high-quality care. Certain clinicians may also require clinical supervision by a registered healthcare practitioner (e.g., psychologist). In such instances, all Services will be reviewed with, and conducted under the supervision of the clinical supervisor who will have access to all relevant information. You will be informed of any such supervisory arrangement and be provided with the contact information of the supervisor. You will have the ability to arrange meetings with the supervisor at your request. The Whole Kids Health Clinic Director, Dr. Stella Dentakos, may review client files to ensure we provide high quality Services, including assessing the performance of our staff. In addition, external consultants (e.g., auditors, lawyers, practice consultants, voluntary accreditation programs) may on our behalf do audits and continuing quality improvement reviews of our clinic, including reviewing client files and interviewing our staff.

PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

We understand the importance of protecting personal information and are committed to protect it. We have put in place reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data security, and correctly use your personal information.

Your personal information may be stored on our database servers or hosted by third parties. At this time, our practice makes use of Jane, an industry web-based practice management system to store and manage client records. This includes information such as client appointments, billing documents, session notes, contact details, and other client-related information and documents. Information about the privacy and security of Jane can be found on its website (https://jane.app/guide/privacy-and-security/privacy-compliance-for-clinics-in-ontario).

USE OF AI TO SUPPORT NOTE-TAKING

We use Jane’s AI Scribe tool to assist with preparing clinical notes, which lets your clinician be more present in the session. With your consent, session audio is recorded and processed to generate a draft note which is then deleted.

Recording is never automatic. Your clinician chooses when to start and stop it, and only for the purpose of preparing the clinical note. You can ask to pause or stop the recording at any point during a session.

The tool produces a draft only - it does not diagnose, assess, or offer any clinical judgment. Your clinician reviews every note and is responsible for its accuracy.

The tool uses a service provider that may process the audio temporarily in the United States before the note is created and stored in the Canadian data centre. You may decline the use of AI Scribe at any time without affecting your care.

USE OF THIRD-PARTY ASSESSMENT PLATFORMS

In the course of psychological assessment, and at times during treatment, your clinician may use industry-recognized third-party platforms to administer, score, or produce reports from standardized tests and questionnaires. Only the information needed for that purpose is entered into these platforms. Some of these providers are located outside of Canada, including in the United States, which means that assessment information may be processed or stored outside of Canada and subject to less stringent privacy laws.

Your clinician may temporarily store your personal information outside of Jane. For example, your provider may take handwritten notes that they keep in a locked area. Although we will make reasonable efforts to protect personal information from unauthorized access, you should be aware that there is always some risk that an unauthorized third party could find a way to thwart our security systems.

We have taken many additional steps to protect your personal information, including:

  • Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area.

  • Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked restricted area at all times.

  • Encryption and passwords are used on computers.

  • Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable couriers or Canada Post.

  • All associates/members of our practice and administrative/support staff are trained to collect, use and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our privacy policy.

RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION 

We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary, for the purpose for which it was collected, in accordance with CPBAO standards. We are required to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions you might have about the Services and for our own accountability to regulators.

Clients or other individuals we deal with may have questions about our Services after they have been received. We also provide ongoing services for many of our clients over a period of months or years for which our previous records are helpful. We retain our client information for a minimum of ten years from the date of last contact to enable us to respond to those questions and provide the Services. For clients who are seen before the age of 18, records are retained for ten years following their 18th birthday.

We will destroy electronic information by deleting it and when the hardware is replaced or discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed. Personal information that is not part of the permanent clinical file is shredded or otherwise destroyed or erased.

We retain any personal information relating to our general correspondence (e.g., workshops, service inquiry discussion) with people who are not clients for about 12 months after the activity is over.

YOU CAN ACCES YOUR INFORMATION

With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. Upon your written request, we will tell you what records we have about you, and try to help you with any information you do not understand (e.g., abbreviations, technical language, etc.). We may need to confirm your identity, if we do not know you, before providing you with access. We may charge a fee for such requests. We will respond to your request as soon as possible and generally within 30 days, if at all possible. If we cannot give you access, we will tell you the reason.

If you believe there is a mistake in your information, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected. This applies to factual information and not to any professional opinions we may have formed. We may ask you to provide documentation that our files require correcting. Where we agree, we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we sent the incorrect information. If we do not agree that the information is incorrect, we will still agree to include in our file a brief statement from you on the point and we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the incorrect information.

PRIVACY POLICY CHANGES

Whole Kids Health may change its Privacy Policy from time to time (although changes are likely minor), and at our sole discretion. We encourage clients and visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to this Privacy Policy. Continued use of this website, or our Services, after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal information, you may contact Dr. Stella Dentakos at drstella@wholekidshealth.ca.

For general inquiries about personal health information, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario oversees the administration of personal health information legislation in Ontario, and can be reached at: 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8. 416-326-3333 or 1-800-387-0073. TDD/TTY: (416) 325-7539. FAX: (416) 325-9195. www.ipc.on.ca