Privacy policy
What we collect, why we collect it, and the choices available to you.
This policy covers the Clinique Via website and enquiries sent to us through its form or by email. It also outlines the confidentiality principles that apply to care. It does not replace consent to services or your practitioner's explanation of how your clinical file is handled.
Who is responsible for your information?
Dr. Samantha Goldwater-Adler, psychologist, is Clinique Via's privacy officer, the person responsible for protecting personal information.
For a question, request or complaint, email info@cliniquevia.ca, for Dr. Goldwater-Adler's attention. You can also write to her at Clinique Via, 3471 avenue Girouard, Montreal, Quebec H4A 3C5.
This is a shared clinic email address. Please do not send identity documents or medical files there; if a sensitive document is needed, we will agree on an appropriate way to share it.
What do we collect when you contact us?
The form asks for your first and last names, email address, a general reason for consultation, the type of enquiry, your message and permission to reply by email. If you email us directly, we receive your address and the information you choose to include.
We use this information to understand your enquiry, respond and help you connect with a clinic practitioner. The form stores a private copy on the server and sends a notification containing your enquiry to the clinic's email service.
A brief message is enough. Please avoid detailed medical histories, health insurance numbers, information about other people and sensitive documents. The form is not a clinical file or an emergency service.
You may choose not to use the form or not to share certain information. Without a way to reach you or enough information, we may be unable to follow up. Contact us to discuss another way to communicate.
Who can access it?
People authorized to handle enquiries, the practitioners concerned and those responsible for technical support may access the information needed for their role. Sharing a practice location does not automatically give practitioners access to one another's clinical files.
We use the following providers for the website and its communications:
- Render hosts the site, stored enquiries and technical data on a server in Virginia, United States.
- Google Workspace transmits and stores clinic emails, including notifications from the form.
- Google Analytics measures website use only if you accept analytics cookies, as explained below.
These services may process or store information outside Quebec, where different laws may apply. You can ask the privacy officer about providers and applicable safeguards. We do not sell your personal information or use your messages to target you with advertising.
What happens when you browse the site?
You do not need an account to read public pages. The server and hosting provider may process technical data, including your IP address, requested page addresses, date and time, and browser information, to operate and secure the site.
Some cookies and browser storage keep the site working and remember your choices. Optional cookies measure visits only with your consent. Open Privacy preferences for their names, purposes and durations, and to manage your choices. This panel is also available from the footer.
Analytics stays off until you accept it. Refusing does not prevent you from reading pages or using the form. The Privacy preferences link in the footer lets you change your choice at any time. The site also honours your browser's Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal.
After you agree, Google Analytics receives information such as visited pages and their titles, browser identifiers, device information and an approximate location derived from your IP address. Our integration does not send your message, name, email address or terms entered in the team-directory search; query parameters and fragments are removed from transmitted page addresses. It does not use advertising cookies.
We also record evidence of your choice: a random identifier, date, consent version, selected categories, language and page path. This record does not include your IP address or information entered in the form. Withdrawing consent stops future analytics collection; it cannot recall data already sent.
Links to other websites, including Google Maps and practitioners' personal sites, take you to services with their own policies. Via's fonts and consent tools are hosted locally.
How does confidentiality apply to your care?
Your practitioner maintains a confidential file separate from the website and explains, before services begin, the information needed, how it is used and the limits of professional confidentiality. For supervised counselling, the practicum student's and supervisor's roles and access to the file are also explained.
Information may be disclosed with your authorization or when the law permits or requires it, including to protect a child or prevent a serious risk of death or severe injury. Disclosure is limited to what is necessary in the circumstances.
In Quebec, consent to care for a child under 14 generally comes from the person holding parental authority or the guardian. From age 14, a young person can generally consent independently to care required by their state of health. File-access rules and applicable exceptions are explained for their situation; parental access is not automatic.
For remote meetings or email exchanges, your practitioner explains the tools used and their limits. A private connection and a protected device help safeguard your privacy, but no communication method guarantees absolute security.
How long is information kept?
Enquiries and emails should be kept only as long as needed for follow-up and applicable legal obligations. A specific retention schedule for these messages has not yet been adopted, and there is currently no automatic deletion of form enquiries. You can contact the privacy officer about the information held about you or to request its deletion, subject to legal obligations.
The cookie-choice register is configured for approximately 400 days of retention. Old monthly files are cleaned up when new choices are recorded; individual entries are not immediately deleted on day 400. Backups and email copies have a separate retention cycle.
Psychologists' files are kept for at least five years from the last professional service, and longer if an applicable obligation requires it. This is not automatic deletion after five years. Your practitioner can explain the rule for your file.
The public site uses HTTPS. Stored enquiries are protected against public downloading; viewing them requires authorized administrative access. These safeguards do not make email equivalent to a secure clinical portal. If you suspect a privacy incident, tell the privacy officer so she can assess it and the required response, including notification to affected people and the Commission where the law requires it.
What are your rights?
You may request access to information we hold about you, have it corrected, or withdraw consent to its use or disclosure. Where legal conditions are met, you may also request a copy of computerized information you supplied in a structured, commonly used format.
Send a written request to the privacy officer using the contact details above. We may need to verify your identity without collecting more information than necessary. Access or correction requests receive a written response within 30 days of receipt. Legal exceptions may apply. Withdrawal does not undo a previous lawful use or an obligation to retain a file.
For a clinical file, contact the practitioner who holds it first; Via's privacy officer can help you find the right person.
For a complaint, explain the situation and the outcome you are seeking to the privacy officer. She reviews the complaint, responds and identifies necessary corrective measures. You may also contact Quebec's Commission d’accès à l’information to learn about available remedies. You do not need our permission to do so.
If this policy changes
The current version remains available here in both languages. Significant changes will be announced on the site. If a new use requires your consent, we will ask before proceeding. The update date appears at the top of this page.