Confidentiality

The Oakville Centre for Cognitive Therapy seeks to maintain the strictest standards of confidentiality and privacy with respect to patient information. As such, it is our policy that no patient information leaves the Centre in any form without the fully informed consent and written authorization of the patient and/or his or her legally-designated decision-maker. This having been said, in the Province of Ontario, psychologists—and every other group of registered health care professionals—are required to break confidentiality under four specific circumstances. These circumstances constitute the "limits of confidentiality" and are as follows:

1) In cases of suspected child abuse, psychologists must immediately report their concerns to local authorities (i.e., the Children's Aid Society or the police) with or without patient consent. 

2) In cases where patients are deemed to be at imminent risk for causing physical harm to themselves or to others, psychologists must take whatever actions are necessary to protect patients and/or third parties even if doing so involves breaking confidentiality.

3) Where psychologists discover that another registered health care professional (e.g., a dentist, chiropractor, physician, etc.)  has sexually abused, sexually assaulted or sexually harrassed a patient, they must report that practitioner to his or her own regulatory body.  However they are not required to identify their patient unless they have received permission to do so.

4) Where a judge subpoenas a patient's clinical records, psychologists may be required to turn them over as ordered.