Consent for Services Delivered by Phone or Video

 
The use of telephones or video conferencing can come with some unique risks, and it is important to be familiar with these.
 
We only use video platforms (eg, VSee, VirtualCare) that are designed for healthcare, use end-to-end encryption, and do not record and store the session.  Only the people on the call can access it, and once terminated, there is no audio or video record of the call’s contents.  However, you will be asked to consent to the service’s privacy policy, and will need to provide some information such as your email address.  The service will also maintain a record of the time and date of the call, as well as any messages sent via the secure messaging service in the app.

Instructions on using VirtualCare can be found here.
 
Although we do our best to ensure that the services are fully encrypted and secure, we encourage you to review the privacy policy of the service before agreeing to its use.
 
While we can research the security of a particular online tool, we are not internet security experts. The internet is constantly evolving and changing in terms of online security and threats to such security. Therefore, clients should bear in mind that there is some loss of control over issues of confidentiality and privacy, in that your clinician cannot guarantee complete security of information exchanged.  However, we can assure you that we consider our online security to be of paramount importance, and that we are reasonably assured of the security of our systems.

It’s important for us to know where you are during the session, so that we can take action in the event of an emergency. 

Because loss of communication could happen at any point during online service (eg, loss of the internet connection), it is important to have a plan in place. This will usually involve us calling the phone number we have on file for you; please let us know if any other arrangements are necessary.

To benefit from phone or video sessions, you will need to ensure that you have a private space in which to make contact with your therapist. If none is available in your home, you might consider doing a phone session from inside a parked car.

Video sessions will consume a considerable amount of cellular data, so you might want to consider using video only when you have access to a wireless network.
 
Note that telephones are rarely encrypted, putting them at hypothetically greater risk of hacking or tapping, though this appears to be quite rare.

If you are paying out of pocket for services, please contact the office following the session to provide your credit card information, or you can pay via Interac e-transfer to DrJDouglas@CentralOntarioPsych.ca.