How I handle your family’s information.

This policy reflects Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and, where it applies to health information, the Health Information Act (HIA) — along with the standards and code of conduct of the College of Alberta Psychologists.

When you fill out the intake form, you give me: your child’s first name, age, and grade; what you’ve been noticing; the school your child attends and its board; any prior assessments, reports, or doctor’s notes you mention; what you’ve already tried; your name and your relationship to your child; your email and phone number; how and when you’d like me to reach you; and anything else you choose to add.

During an assessment, I also gather clinical information — test results, observations, and the report I write. This is health information, and I handle it under my professional and legal obligations.

When you visit this website, some technical information is collected automatically: your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you view, and the site that referred you. See Cookies and analytics below.

I use the information you give me to:

• read your intake and reply to set up a call;
• decide, together with you, whether an assessment is the right fit;
• carry out the assessment and write the report;
• stay in touch with you about the process.

I only collect what I need for these purposes.

When you send the intake form, you’re consenting to my collecting and using your information for the purposes above. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting me — though some information must be kept to meet my legal and professional record-keeping obligations.

I keep your information secure and limit who can access it. This website’s intake form is handled by Basin; the site is hosted by Vercel. The intake form collects only your initial contact information — your child’s clinical and assessment records are kept separately, in a secure clinical records system, in line with the College of Alberta Psychologists’ Standards of Practice.

I do not sell your information, ever. I share it only:

• with your child’s school, a doctor, or another professional — and only with your explicit written consent;
• with the service providers that run this website (Basin for forms, Vercel for hosting, Google Tag Manager + Analytics for usage measurement, and the other analytics providers noted below), who handle information on my behalf;
• where I’m required to by law or by my professional duty — for example, a duty to protect a child from harm.

Some of the service providers above store information on servers outside Canada, including in the United States. Where that’s the case, your information may be subject to the laws of those countries.

I keep assessment records for the period required by the College of Alberta Psychologists’ Standards of Practice, including the longer period that applies to records for children. Intake submissions that don’t go on to an assessment are kept only as long as they’re needed, and then securely deleted. Technical and analytics data is kept for a limited time.

Under Alberta’s privacy laws, you can ask to see the personal information I hold about you, and ask me to correct it if something is wrong. Just email me and I’ll respond within the time the law requires.

This site may use Google Analytics (through Google Tag Manager) and the Meta Pixel to understand how the site is used; these set cookies in your browser. You can control cookies through your browser settings, and where these tools are active you’ll find a cookie notice and controls here.

This website is for parents and caregivers, not for children. Any information about a child is provided by their parent or guardian.

If something here concerns you, please contact me first — I’d much rather hear from you directly. You also have the right to contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta at oipc.ab.ca.

If I make a material change to how I handle your information, I’ll update the “last updated” date at the top of this page and, where it makes sense, let you know directly.

Questions about your privacy? Email me at vanessa@benchpsychology.com. Bench Psychology, Calgary, Alberta.