FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Questions not addressed here may be covered in your service agreement with your Practitioner, or can be directed to info@allofyou.ca or to your Practitioner.

Codes of Conduct or Standards of Practice exist within the context of codes of ethics to specify the expected standards that a member of the professional must uphold in every Client interaction.

Every profession also has a Code of Ethics, often stating in general terms the goals, principles and highest standards of the profession. which members of the profession strive to attain and uphold.

Codes of Conduct / Standards of Practice and Codes of Ethics are promulgated by professional regulatory bodies that exist to protect the public interest and by associations which support the professions.

General

Non-emergency general enquiries can be directed to 416-972-6622 or info@allofyou.ca.  The Contact tab of this page provides additional contact options.  Practitioner contact information forms part of their individual profile.

Bookings, Changes and Cancellations

The Centre does not centrally manage bookings for services. Clients book appointments directly with their Practitioner as this leads to fewer delays and fewer misunderstandings. Your Practitioner's contact information is available at the top of their profile in the Team section of this site.

First Line of Complaint

The first line of complaint registration is with the Director of All of You Wellness Centre at admin@allofyou.ca. 

Secondary/Formal Complaint

If you are not satisfied with the Centre's attempts to deal with your concern, you have recourse to the complaint processes of the Practitioner's regulatory body; for example:

The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO)

The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO, www.crpo.ca) investigates concerns regarding member psychotherapist’s professional conduct or competence. The Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (ICRC) of CRPO handles member-specific concerns regarding alleged professional misconduct, incompetence and incapacity; it does not handle claims about professional negligence (i.e., civil lawsuits). The ICRC handles only formal complaints meeting the following requirements:

  • the complaint must be in writing or recorded (as set out in the Canadian Health Professional Procedural Code)
     
  • the complainant must be identified
     
  • the CRPO Member must be identified
     
  • the complaint must identify specific conduct or action of the Member and the circumstances of concern 
     
  • the complainant must intend the matter to be a complaint

The CPRO Member is given 14 days to respond to notification of the complaint from the ICRC Registrar whereupon the ICRC will decide whether to investigate the complaint. Complaints are addressed within 150 days of being filed with the College, failing which the parties will be notified and/or request that the Ontario Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (HPARB) become involved. The complete statement of the CRPO complaint process is available at: https://www.crpo.ca/filing-a-complaint-about-a-member/. /p>

The Ontario College of Social Workers & Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW)

The Ontario College of Social Workers & Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW, www.ocswssw.org) investigates concerns regarding the conduct or competence of its Members. The Complaints and Discipline Committees of OCSWSSW handle member-specific concerns regarding alleged professional misconduct, incompetence and incapacity; it does not handle claims about professional negligence (i.e., civil lawsuits). The Complaints and Discipline Committees handle only formal complaints meeting the following requirements:

The OCSWSSW Member is given 35 days to respond to notification of the complaint from the Complaints Committee whereupon the Complaints Committee will decide whether to investigate the complaint. Complaints are addressed within 120 days of being filed with the College, failing which the parties will be notified and/or request that the Ontario Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (HPARB) become involved. The complete statement of the OCSWSSW complaint process is available at: . https://www.ocswssw.org/complaints-discipline/cd_general_information/.

All of You Wellness Centre does not provide emergency services. In the case of emergency, the Client should call 911, contact their physician, or go to the Emergency Department of the nearest hospital.

List of Community Crisis Services

 

General

  • Fees at All of You Wellness Centre vary by service and Practitioner.  The fee is agreed between the Client and their Practitioner prior to the first session.
     
  • Payment for the session is to be made by the Client to the Practitioner at the end of the session unless otherwise arranged with the Practitioner.  
     
  • A receipt will be issued if requested by the Client.  Clients may request a Statement (e.g., monthly, quarterly, etc.) instead of individual session receipts.   
     
  • Service fees include HST, if applicable, unless otherwise advised to the Client.
     
  • A Client requesting a variance from the regular fee schedule must file an Application for Fee Reduction.  Filing of the Application does not guarantee that the fee reduction will be granted.

Fees for Other Services

Letter, Reports and Phone Consultations with Other Professionals on the Client’s Care Team

Preparation of letters or documents and consultations with other care team members will be charged to the Client pro rata at the Practitioner's regular hourly rate.

Duplication of Records

Duplication of records will be charged pro rata at the Practitioner's regular session rate plus the cost of duplication, postage and courier charges as applicable.

Attendance Outside Office

Practitioner attendance outside of regular office appointments required due to emergency or other necessity of the Client will be charged at the Practitioner's regular hourly rate.

Psychometric testing involving royalties to publishers

Personality tests and other assessments that are used under licence will be provided when required at reasonable extra cost to the Client and may be subject to HST.   The Practitioner may also charge at their regular hourly rate for non-session time required for the preparation of interpretive reports.

Payments

Payments for services are made directly to your Practitioner. The methods of acceptable payment vary by Practitioner and are something the Client and Practitioner agree upon prior to the commencement of services. Payments may be received by the Centre on behalf of the Practitioner on a Client-by-Client basis if approved by the Centre in advance.

Insurance & Benefit Plans

Psychotherapy and Massage services are not covered by OHIP, but are sometimes partially or fully covered by employee benefit or other private health insurance plans. Before the first session, the Client is advised to check their benefit or insurance plan to ensure compliance with its coverage and claim procedures (e.g., whether or not a letter or referral from your physician is required, the details required on receipts, etc.). Referrals need only state, "I refer ________ for psychotherapy." There are three factors that influence the applicability of benefits. These are stipulated in the benefit plan prospectus:

  • services covered; e.g., psychotherapy, counseling, psychology, marriage counseling, couples therapy, family therapy, social work, etc. Your Practitioner will be asking about this information; please be prepared.
     
  • who may provide the service; e.g., a Registered Psychotherapist (RP), Registered Social Worker (RSW), Registered Psychologist (C.Psych.), Registered Massage Therapist (RMT), etc.
     
  • coverage limits per session and per annum

If your All of You Practitioner is a Registered Psychotherapist or Registered Social Worker, the portion of fees not reimbursed by an employee benefit plan may be claimed as a medical expense when a filing Canadian income tax return.

Neither your Practitioner nor the Centre bills insurance companies/benefit plan administrators directly. The Client must pay for the service at the time it is rendered and seek reimbursement, if any, subsequently.

Cancellations / Appointment Changes

Your appointment time and office accommodations for your appointment are reserved exclusively for you. Missed appointments and short notice cancellations (less than the minimum agreed upon between the Client and the Practitioner, usually 24 to 48 hours) impact your Practitioner, other Clinicians and other Clients. If you must change or cancel an appointment, do NOT call the Centre's general number or email the Centre. If you must change or cancel an appointment, advise your Practitioner directly (not the Centre) as soon as possible by phone or text message if you are not going to attend at your reserved time in order to avoid incurring costs. Irrespective of the agreed upon notice period, if less than 48 hours remain before an appointment you wish to change or cancel, phone or text; do NOT use email to notify your Practitioner.

Should you provide notice of a change or cancellation of an appointment less than the agreed upon advance notice period (24 to 48 hours, depending on the Practitioner and the service), the following fees apply:

  • missed appointment / no show: full session rate
     
  • cancellation charge with less:  (varies by Practitioner)
     
  • change of appointment:  (at the discretion of the Practitioner)

Known Benefits of Psychotherapy

Research has shown that most of the common approaches to therapy are about equally successful. In general, psychotherapy Clients are better off after therapy than they were before it, and they are better off after therapy than 80% of untreated persons. Therapy is very helpful when the Client is depressed, anxious, unhappy, a survivor of trauma, or suffering from a life-problem which requires lots of emotional energy and attention. People who are depressed may find their mood lifting. Others may no longer feel afraid, angry, or anxious. In therapy, people have a chance to talk things out fully until their feelings are relieved or the problems are solved. Clients’ relationships and coping skills may improve greatly. They may get more satisfaction out of social and family relationships. Their personal goals and values may become clearer. They may grow in many directions—as persons, in their close relationships, in their work or schooling, and in the ability to enjoy their lives. At All of You Wellness Centre, we do not take on Clients we do not think we can help.

Common Risks Associated with Psychotherapy

There are potential risks to psychotherapy. People may initially feel worse as the therapy progresses. Beginning to focus on issues that the Client may have been avoiding may evoke sadness, guilt, anxiety, anger, frustration, loneliness, helplessness, or other negative feelings. Clients may recall unpleasant memories. These feelings or memories may bother a Client at work or in school. Sometimes, too, a Client’s problems may temporarily worsen after the beginning of treatment. Most of these risks are to be expected when people are making important changes in their lives. In rare cases, psychotherapy may even trigger some people to have thoughts about wanting to hurt themselves or end their lives. It is always important that you tell your Therapist if you are having any frightening or dangerous thoughts or feelings, or if you are considering harming yourself or someone else. If there is significant suicidal ideation or a history of suicidal attempts and we do agree to work together, we will expect that your family or significant other supports are aware of this, and that you are prepared to use a crisis service if necessary.

Some Clients develop strong feelings about their Practitioner. This is especially true in longer therapies. Such feelings are normal, even if sometimes uncomfortable or confusing. Any feelings are possible, and the rule for them all is to talk them over with the Therapist. They are experienced with this and will help you understand how this is part of your progress.

Therapy can also be very challenging, as it is often about making changes or about looking at yourself differently. Therapy can change how you live, and it can change how you feel about your relationships.

Some research suggests that when one spouse or partner meets alone with a Practitioner.to discuss problems involving the other partner, there is a chance that this could increase tension for a couple. Therapy may disrupt a marital relationship and sometimes may even lead to a divorce. For this reason, many marital or relationship problems are best addressed with both individuals coming to therapy together.

Finally, the effectiveness of therapy cannot be predicted. If you have been in therapy for several weeks or months, and it does not feel like you are making progress, you should speak to your Practitioner. It may be that you would do better with a different approach to therapy, or even with a different Practitioner. Practitioners cannot be everything to everybody, and we are comfortable helping you make a change if needed. If you wish for another professional’s opinion at any time, or wish to talk with another Practitioner., the Centre will help you find a qualified person and will provide him or her with the information needed.

Personal Responsibility and Psychotherapy

The Client acknowledges that responsibility for personal actions in or outside the Centre is not altered by virtue of receiving therapeutic services. The Client agrees to hold the Practitioner free of all liability and responsibility for any actions or results or adverse situations created as a direct or indirect result of actions taken by the Client during or after the termination of treatment.

Agreement for the Provision of Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy services are provided with the consent of the Client who will be asked to sign a permission to treat agreement prior to the commencement of treatment.   Practitioner will information about the therapeutic approach they use, but it is the Client’s responsibility to raise any questions or concerns that they may have if they do not feel fully informed.

Disclaimer:   The purpose of this section is to raise awareness of standards and obligations of Practitioners around the handling of personal health information.  The information provided below reflects legislation, common law and provincial regulation which should be consulted if more detail is desired about any of the topics in this section.

Collection of Information

In accordance with the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), only information relevant to your treatment and safety is collected.

Storage

Physical record storage must meet the standards of the Practitioner’s regulatory college and PHIPA. Practitioners making use of electronic record storage must also make use of encryption technologies for locally stored electronic records, and, where cloud storage of electronic records is involved, such third party cloud services must meet Canadian privacy standards which cannot be guaranteed if cloud servers are located outside of Canada in jurisdictions with different or no privacy laws or standards. 

Retention

In accordance with the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), psychotherapists are required to retain psychotherapy records of Clients for 10 years, or in the case of children, 10 years from the date of their 18th birthday. Subsequent to this retention period, psychotherapy records are to be destroyed in a PHIPA compliant secure manner.

Access

In accordance with the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), the Client has the right to look at their records kept by the Practitioner at any time.  On payment of the applicable fee (see Fees section) by the Client, the Practitioner must provide a copy of this information within a reasonable period of time and must make any corrections or changes to these records that the Client requests. Such corrections will be noted as such in the record, dated, and may be annotated by the Practitioner. Requests for corrections or changes to the Client’s record pertain only to factual information, and not to comments or opinions of the Practitioner of a parenthetic nature.

Sharing of Information with Others

In accordance with the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), Information in a Client’s psychotherapy record may be shared with other health care providers only on the Client’s informed written permission which specifies the information to be shared, the time-frame of validity of this consent. The Client must be informed that they may revoke this permission to share information at any time. Exceptions to this consent provision include:

  • incapacity of the Client where sharing information in the psychotherapist’s records may be of urgent or life saving value to other health care Practitioners attending to the Client.
     
  • circumstances where the Limits to Confidentiality provisions are invoked.

Limits to Confidentiality

In any of the following circumstances, your All of You Practitioner is required to information, including confidential information:

 

  1. If a child has been abused or is being abused, the Practitioner is required to report this to the Children's Aid Society.
     
  2. If another health care provider has sexually abused the Client, the Practitioner must report it to the appropriate professional regulatory body.
     
  3. If a Client reports that they are planning to harm themselves or someone else, the Practitioner will intervene to ensure that the Client and/or the other individual are safe.
     
  4. Most requests for information relate to specific issues and not the entire Client case record.  Your Practitioner will limit the information released to pertinent details, write letters or provide reports instead of turning over the entire file of the Client.  If and only if explicitly required by a court subpoena – not the basis of a request from a lawyer or a public agency -- will the Client’s case record in full be turned over.

Breach or Privacy

A person’s health information is considered to be the most sensitive type of personal information and as such must be treated with utmost care. Unfortunately, there are a growing number of cases in where personal health information is being accessed. In today’s society were electronic systems hold a vast amount of a personal information, authorized users of these electronic information systems can abuse their access privileges and posing a risk to the Client’s privacy.

A privacy breach occurs when personal health information is stolen, lost or if it used or disclosed without authorization or permission. The Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) requires that health information custodian implement reasonable measures and safeguards to protect the personal health information in their care or control.  They are responsible to ensure that this information is protected against theft, loss and unauthorized use and disclosure, including unauthorized copying, modification or disposal. They must take reasonable steps to ensure that personal health information is retained, transferred and disposed of in a secure manner. They may become aware of a privacy breach in many ways. These can include:

  • finding out during the normal course of business
     
  • an individual makes a complaint 
     
  • a notification from the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) when a formal complaint has been filed with that office
     
  • the IPC initiates their own investigation

There are seven situations when immediate notification to the Ontario Privacy Commissioner is required because of a privacy breach failing which substantial fines may be levied against the Practitioner:

  • Use or disclosure without authority the information of a family member, a celebrity, or a politician’s records, whether out of curiosity or for malicious intent. Limited exceptions: accessing a record by mistake, or mailing a letter to the wrong address.
     
  • Stolen Information - laptop, tablet or paper theft or physical loss or access/loss due to malware or ransom-ware.
     
  • Extended Use or Disclosure; e.g., following a reported breach, a sales company uses records to market its products or services.
     
  • A pattern or similar breaches; e.g., letters are being sent to the wrong address repeated; or employees are repeatedly inappropriately accessing a patient’s records.
     
  • Disciplinary action against a regulatory college member; e.g., a college member resigns, is suspended, or has their licenses revoked following or during a breach.
     
  • Disciplinary action against a person not a member of a regulatory college; e.g., resignation, suspension, or firing of an employee following or during a breach.
     
  • Significant breach: the information is sensitive, large volume, large number of affected individuals, and more than one custodian or agent is involved.

As of January 1, 2018, Custodians are required to track privacy breach statistics. Starting March 2019 all health information custodians will be required to provide the Ontario Commissioner with an annual report on privacy breaches occurring during the previous calendar year. This requirement is found in section 6.4 of Ontario Regulation 329/04 of the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 Act. (https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/04p03)

To inform yourself regarding regulations protecting the health information individuals, here are some web links:

Electronic Communications

Text messages and emails related to appointment times and scheduling are handled without charge. Under no circumstances will text messaging be used to conduct therapy.

Standard e-mail and text messaging do not meet the digital privacy standards of the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). Any personal information sent by a Client using conventional e-mail or text message is sent with this understanding and is at the Client's risk. PHIPA-compliant e-mail exchanges for the purpose of addressing therapeutic issues must be handled through an encrypted system. The Centre does not currently provide such a system.

Telephone or video conferenced communications for the purpose of addressing therapeutic issues will be charged pro rata at the regular session rate and must be conducted over PHIPA-compliant video-conferencing software. Please note that Skype and Facetime do not meet the necessary standards of data security and privacy.

The Centre and its Practitioners are not responsible for the personal property of Clients inadvertently leave behind in offices of the Centre. While every effort will be made to put lost and found items aside for a reasonable period of time, the safekeeping of such items cannot be guaranteed. It is the responsibility of Clients to reclaim such items promptly. 

Our practitioners depending on the registered designations are regulated by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO, crpo.ca), the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Support Workers (OCSWSSW, ocswssw.org), the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO, cno.org), and the College of Naturopaths of Ontario (CNO, collegeofnaturopaths.on.ca)