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Our Clinic is staffed by a Clinic Director who is a registered Psychologist, as well as a Staff Psychologist, and an Administrative Assistant. In addition, Clinical Faculty from the Psychology Department and Psychologists in the Community complement the training and services provided.
Graduate students in clinical psychology provide the majority of the clinical services at the Psychology Clinic at Queen’s. These graduate students are under the direct supervision of registered psychologists. Every supervisor is a member of the  .

We follow the code of ethics of the and the Standards of Conduct prescribed by the . As such, all information that you share will be kept confidential and will not be revealed to anyone without your permission except in the following circumstances:

• If there is reason to believe that a vulnerable person (e.g., a child who is under the age of 16 or someone in a long-term care facility or retirement home) is being abused and/or needs to be protected

• If there is reason to believe that you present a danger to yourself or others

• If you reveal that you have been abused by a health care provider who is covered by the Regulated Health Professions Act (such as a psychologist, a nurse, a physician), the name of the perpetrator must be reported to his or her governing body

• If there is reason to believe we have information about a missing person, and we receive a written request from the police

• If a court of law subpoenas your file

• As a member of the , our psychologists may be randomly selected to participate in its Quality Assurance Program which is designed to protect the public. As part of this process, your file could be potentially reviewed by another member of the College (a psychologist who must adhere to the principles of confidentiality). In the event of such a review, we will notify you and discuss your options.

The staff and students at the Psychology Clinic at Queen’s understand the importance of your privacy and are committed to protecting it. Before participating in psychological services with our Clinic, please review the following information so that we know you are aware of our privacy policies. These policies will also be reviewed with you at your initial appointment and may be revisited periodically at your request or if the Psychologist or graduate student in training believes that it would be beneficial to do so.

We collect, use, disclose, retain, and dispose of your personal health information in accordance with the Personal Health Information Protection Act (2004, PHIPA).

This means:

We may use or disclose your personal health information to:

• Provide psychology services to you.

• Plan, administer and manage our internal operations (for example, waitlist prioritization, choosing clinicians to work with you and services to offer you).

• Evaluate the quality and usefulness of our services.

• Monitor wait times, patterns of referrals, and other statistics related to our services.

• Provide clinical training and supervision.

• Support you in accessing other services and supports. With your consent, we can share information with other service providers.

We protect your personal health information by:

• Only asking for information we believe is needed to provide you with clinical services.

• Ensuring that only people involved with providing you services have access to your information.

• Keeping your information in a secure, locked area or in a secure electronic format (encrypted).

• Retaining your file for at minimum ten (10) years after our final service or your 18th birthday, whichever is later.

• Asking for your consent before using your information for research.

You can access your personal health information:

• You have the right to see the information in your file. If we believe there is a possibility of harm to you or someone else by seeing the information, we may support you with accessing the information in a way that we feel protects your safety.

• If you believe that information in your record is inaccurate, you may make a written request to correct your record. If we disagree with the correction you request, you may file a notice of disagreement into your record.

• In certain instances, you may request that some information not be shared and ask for what is called a “lock box” on specific information. We will discuss this with you in the context of providing services through the Clinic and let you know if this is possible. If we can honour the “lock box” provision, we will let you know. However, in reporting to other professionals we are required to let them know that there is some non-identified information which we are not sharing.

The Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, Section 43(1) (h) permits a health information custodian to disclose health information without consent as permitted or required by law including section 37(1) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.*

This means:

We may be required to share your information if:

• there are concerns about someone at risk of serious bodily harm,

• there is a vulnerable person in need of protection,

• there are concerns about abuse by a regulated healthcare provider,

• there is reason to believe we have information about a missing person, and we receive a written request from the police;

• there is a subpoena authorizing its release; or

• our files are audited by the .

* Note: If you are a Client accessing services through the WSIB, it is important that you are aware that our team and Supervising Psychologists must provide reports to the WSIB on your progress. We will discuss the reporting process with you and keep you informed about the nature of these reports.

You can ask questions about the privacy policies:

All inquiries, questions, and concerns about privacy policies may be addressed to the Psychology Clinic Director:

Dr. Sheelagh Jamieson, C.Psych
613-533-6021
s.jamieson@queensu.ca

If you prefer to speak with someone other than the Clinic Director, concerns and questions can be directed to Queen’s University’s Chief Privacy Officer:

Carolyn Heald
613-533-6095
access.privacy@queensu.ca

You also have the right to complain to The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario via .

We recognize that using the internet and other forms of electronic communication can help increase accessibility and reduce barriers to accessing our services, as well as allow us to obtain and respond to requests for services in a more timely and efficient manner.  That being said, it is also important that individuals and service providers are aware of the potential risks associated with using electronic forms of communication to share personal information.

Before proceeding to our electronic referral, please review the privacy policy above and the following information so that we know you are aware of these risks and alternative options to accessing our services. We will be collecting personal health information from the electronic referral form and using your personal email to communicate and book a subsequent phone screen.

What does the electronic referral process involve?

Disclosing personal information such as contact information (e.g., telephone numbers and email) and details about the reason for referral. Our electronic referrals are collected and stored in a secure data management system that is protected by firewall system and updated through regular vulnerability scans. This data management system uses the email address you provide to send an immediate automated email confirming your referral and another email to invite you to a phone screen. If you proceed with services at the Clinic, the same system may be used to collect further information to support the services you receive.

• A copy of each referral is downloaded for storage on to the password protected and encrypted Queen’s Psychology Clinic server.

• The phone screen booking takes place through a secure practice management platform. You will be asked to create an account to book this appointment and any subsequent appointments. This electronic platform will also be used to collect contact information, complete any relevant consent forms, and provide details regarding service and fees.

• We will communicate with you over email about appointment scheduling and fees, unless you indicate that you would prefer to be contacted by telephone. Your personal health information will not be shared via email without your permission. As the confidentiality of email communication cannot be guaranteed, we do not correspond with clients about sensitive matters over email.

Risks associated with electronic communication include, but are not limited to:

• The privacy and security of email communication cannot be guaranteed.

• It is impossible to verify the true identity of the sender and guarantee that only the intended recipient will read the email once it has been sent.

• Emails can introduce viruses that damage or disrupt a computer or system.

• Email messages can be modified, forwarded, intercepted and shared, without your knowledge or permission, making it particularly vulnerable to fraud, privacy breaches, and unintended disclosures to third parties.

• The risks of interceptions or errors in sending email or text messages can be significant.

• Email messages are permanent. Even after deleting copies of the email, back-up copies may exist on a computer, with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), on a server in another country, or elsewhere in cyberspace.

• Your employer may have a legal right to inspect and keep emails that pass through their system if you use a work device or account to communicate with us.

• Email messages may be subject to access requests and used as evidence in a court of law.

• It is also important to know that emails may leave Canada during transmission and may be subject to laws in other jurisdictions that have inadequate or no protections at all.

If you are not able to complete the electronic referral form, you may complete this form (PDF, 178 KB) and submit to:

The Psychology Clinic at Queen’s
Department of Psychology
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6
Fax: 613-533-3282
Email: psycclin@queensu.ca

Referrals can be made by clients, parents, schools, and health professionals.

Effective Monday, June 19, 2023, masks are no longer mandatory for most circumstances at the Queen’s Psychology Clinic.

Routine masking is strongly advised for patients at higher risk for more serious outcomes from COVID-19 infection, and please refrain from attending the Clinic if you are experiencing symptoms. All individuals will be supported in their decision to wear a mask, and Queen’s Psychology Clinic staff, students, and faculty will adhere to patient requests for masking. Free masks are available at the Clinic, and Queen’s University is a mask-friendly campus.

We ask that our community be considerate and respectful of one another’s decisions regarding masking. Public Health information for the Kingston region can be accessed through .

This fund was established by alumni and friends of the Department of Psychology to provide pro bono psychological services to children who would not otherwise qualify. The Psychology Clinic at Queen’s provides pro bono or very low cost psychological assessments and intervention services to many children and adolescents each year, with support from donors to this fund.

This fund was established to support the operations and programming of the ����ֱ�� Psychology Clinic to enhance clinical training of graduate students in Clinical Psychology through the provision of psychological services to the Kingston and area community. Donations to this fund are used to support innovation at The Psychology Clinic at Queen’s, such as establishing a new service or offering low cost clinical training opportunities for graduate students in Clinical Psychology.

This fund was established in memory of Dr. Kevin Parker, the Director of the Psychology Clinic at Queen’s from 2007-2013. Our goal is to develop a bursary in Kevin’s name for graduate students in Clinical Psychology to fund participation in clinical training workshops, with a special focus on clinical supervision. Donations to this account will be used to support the development of this award, or support students and/or the Psychology Clinic in other ways.