Psychological Services FAQ

The following privacy policy is made in consideration of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, 2004 (PIPEDA) and the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA). PIPEDA is a federal act that came into effect on January 1, 2004; PHIPA is a provincial act that came into effect on November 1, 2004.

These acts set out obligations that must be followed when collecting, retaining, releasing, and destroying personal health information. All for-profit agencies (e.g., medical clinics, private rehabilitation facilities) are mandated to follow these Acts. This means that, among other details, they must make accessible to their clients a copy of their privacy policy and designate a person who is accountable for ensuring the organization’s compliance with PIPEDA and PHIPA.

Ensuring privacy and confidentiality of personal information is a key priority at this private practice. 

I am committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services that I provide. My objective is to be open and candid as to how I handle personal information. This document describes my privacy policies so that those who use our services, are affiliated with me, or do business with me, can understand my ongoing commitment to service provision with respect to privacy.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Personal information is that which refers to a specific individual. This includes information that relates to personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address, phone number, family status), their health (e.g., health history, previous treatment) or other activities and views (e.g., political affiliation, opinions expressed by the individual, and opinion or evaluation of an individual by a second party). Personal information is different than business information (e.g., an individual’s business address or phone number) which is not protected by PIPEDA or PHIPA.

WHO AM I: Dr. Jennifer Barbera, psychologist.

I am a registered psychologist in the province of Ontario. I work in a close-knit team of other psychologists, psychotherapists and/or graduate students or recent graduate students in my own established private practice. No personal information that you disclose will be shared with any other individual outside of the practice unless you give me express written consent to share this information or unless issues of safety, abuse, legal subpoena or unpaid fees arise which compel me to disclose your information to the appropriate agency.

WHY IS PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED?

1) PRIMARY PURPOSES

Information About Clients:

Like all psychologists, I collect, use and disclose personal information in order to serve clients. Failure to collect, review or consider personal background information about clients would be negligent on my part. For my clients, the primary purpose for collecting personal information is to provide psychological assessment, treatment, and consultation services. For example, I collect information about a client’s health history, including family history, physical and psychological functioning and social situation, to help me assess their mental health needs, advise them of their options, and provide psychological services they choose.

A secondary primary purpose is to obtain a baseline of current psychological, cognitive or vocational status. In providing ongoing services, I can identify changes that are occurring over time. Another primary purpose is to collect personal, health and social information to provide diagnostic information, current status, and recommendations to the client’s family physician and/or referral source.

Information About Associates (Independent contractors) and Students: 

For those persons who are contracted to do supervised work for my private practice, my primary purpose for collecting personal information is to ensure that I can contact them in the future (e.g. for new referrals) and for necessary professional communications (e.g. sending out invoices, completing therapist competency assessments, clinical supervision etc). Examples of the types of the personal information I would collect for those purposes include home addresses and telephone numbers, previous work history, ongoing behaviour and/or performance relevant to the clinical services they provide. It is rare for me to collect such information without prior consent. Still, it may occur in the case of a health emergency (e.g. a SARS outbreak) or investigate a possible breach of the law (if a theft were to occur in my office building). If an associate or student requests a letter of reference or an evaluation, I will collect information about their work-related performance and provide a report as authorized by them.

2) RELATED AND SECONDARY PURPOSES

Like most organizations, I also collect, use, and disclose information for purposes related to, or secondary to, my primary purposes. The most common examples of related and secondary purposes are as follows:

• to invoice clients for goods/services that were not paid for at the time
• to advise clients of my need to obtain their approval for treatment or for information about their treatment plans
• to advise clients and others of opportunities relevant to them (e.g., development of new service, seminar, services etc)

It is possible that external individuals (auditors, lawyers, graduate students, accreditation programs) may, on my behalf, do audits and continuing quality improvement reviews of my work. At times, this may involve interviewing me and reviewing records. 

The cost of some goods/services provided by myself to clients is paid for by third parties (e.g., auto insurance companies, long-term disability insurance companies, WSIB etc.). In these cases, I will ask for your express written consent to disclose to them certain information to demonstrate your entitlement to this funding (except for confirming the date and costs of services provided).

I retain client information for a minimum of 10 years after the last contact to permit me to respond to questions arising after services have been received. If the client is a child at the time he or she receives services, his or her record will be retained for 10 years after she or he reaches the age of 18 years.

If my practice or my assets were to be sold, the purchaser would want to conduct a “due diligence” review of the clinic’s records to ensure it is a viable business that has been honestly portrayed to the purchaser. This due diligence may involve some review of my accounting and service files. The purchaser would NOT be able to remove my records or record any personal information. Before being provided access to the files, the purchaser would be required to provide a written promise to keep all personal information confidential. Only reputable purchasers who can maintain the standards required by the College of Psychologists of Ontario would be provided access to personal information, and only for the purpose of completing the due diligence search prior to closing the purchase.

Psychologists are regulated by the College of Psychologists of Ontario. This organization may inspect my records as part of regulatory activities in the public interest. Also, various government agencies (e.g. Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Information and Privacy Commissioner, the Human Rights Commission, etc.) have mandated the legal authority to review my files without patient consent.

You can choose not to be part of some of these related or secondary purposes (e.g. by paying for your services at the time they are rendered). However, you do not have much choice about the disclosure of your personal information with respect to many of these related and secondary purposes (e.g. external regulations and audits).

PROTECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

I take the importance of protecting personal information very seriously. For that reason, I have taken the following steps:

• Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked area (currently, no paper information is kept as we have moved solely to electronic record keeping).
• Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area at all times.
• My cell phone is digital, meaning that its signals are more difficult to intercept, and personal information other than names and telephone numbers are not kept on cell phones.
• Paper information (e.g., requests for a chart copy) is transmitted through fax or via sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies and only when explicitly requested by a client or their representative or other healthcare providers. 
• I discourage clients from sending me personal information by email because communications carried over the Internet are neither secure nor verifiable.

If your information was stolen, lost or accessed by an unauthorized person, I would be responsible for notifying you of this security breach at the first reasonable opportunity and taking any required steps, such as notifying the privacy commissioner of Ontario.

RELEASING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Release of information requests are filled only with your written authorization or, in unusual circumstances, with your verbal consent that is explicitly documented to the chart/file.

I do not release any type of raw data from psychological testing to any other party, other than to registered psychologists, even with your consent.

I will only release information that has been collected in my office, with your consent, to other individuals.

In some instances, I may be compelled to release information without your consent. These instances may include the following:

• for debt collection purposes to a collection agency
• to share information with my lawyer
• to comply with a subpoena, warrant or court order at the request of a government institution for national security, law enforcement or administration
• where there is an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual (e.g., suicide threats, suspected child or elder or animal abuse, reports that another health care provider has abused you).

RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

I need to retain personal information to ensure that I can answer any questions you might have about services provided and for my accountability to external regulatory bodies.

I destroy paper files containing personal information after 10 years past the last date of service by shredding or burning the information.

If I die or become unable to practice for any reason, your file will be forwarded to and become the responsibility of an alternate designated clinician.

LOOKING AT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

With a few rare exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information I hold about you. Often, all you have to do is ask. I can help you identify what records I might have about you. I will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g. short forms, technical language, etc.). I reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests.

If there is a problem, I may ask that you put your request in writing. Suppose I cannot provide you with access. In that case, I will tell you within 30 days, if possible, and tell you the reason as to why I cannot give you access (e.g., because the requested information reveals a third party and/or may jeopardize the health or safety of a third party; because the information relates to a legal proceeding/subpoena/warrant).

If you believe that there is a mistake in the information, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected. This applies to factual information and not to any professional opinions I may have formed. If necessary, I will ask you to provide documentation that the information in my file is wrong. Where we agree that a mistake was made, the correction will be made, and I will notify anyone to whom the original information was sent. If we do not agree that a mistake was made, I will still agree to include in my file a brief statement from you on the point(s), and I will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.

DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions about my privacy policy, please feel free to ask Dr. Barbera C. Psych, Registered Psychologist, via telephone at (905) 407-5758 or by emailing:  Admin@findinnercalm.ca

If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, please do so in writing to Dr. Barbera. I will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, ensure that it is investigated promptly and that you are provided with a formal decision and reasons in writing.

If you have a concern about the professionalism or competence of my work as a psychologist or any of the associates or students in my practice, I would ask you to discuss those concerns with me. However, if I cannot satisfy your concerns, you are entitled to make a complaint to my regulatory body, the College of Psychologists of Ontario:

The College of Psychologists of Ontario

110 Eglinton Avenue West, Suite 500

Toronto ON, M4R 1A3

tel: 1-800-489-8388 fax: 1-416-961-2635

www.cpo.on.ca

My Privacy Policy is made in compliance with both PIPEDA and PHIPA. These acts are complex and are too detailed to be set out in full here. For more information, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada oversee the administration of the PIPEDA legislation in the private sector. The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario oversee the administration of the PHIPA act. These Commissioners also act as mediators for privacy disputes. Their contact information appears below:

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada

112 Kent Street

Ottawa ON, K1A 1H3

tel: (613) 995-8210/1-800-282-1376

fax: (613) 947-6850, TTY: (613) 992-9190

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400

Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8

Tel: (416) 326-3333 or 1-800-387-0073

Fax: (416) 325-9195, TTY: TDD/TTY: (416) 325-7539

Psychologists have more extensive education & training than a therapist, counsellor or psychotherapist. Most Psychologists, including Dr. Jennifer Barbera, have a PhD and attend university for approximately 10 years, plus a year of rigorous licensing exams, before providing psychological services.

According to healthdirect.gov.au Psychologists are experts in human behaviour as they study how people think, feel and act. Psychologists can diagnose, while counsellors, therapists and psychotherapists cannot provide a diagnosis because diagnosis is a controlled act that only a doctor can perform. 

Psychologists are regulated by the College of Psychologists of Ontario to ensure a high standard that protects the public. Counsellors and therapists are not necessarily regulated. 

What is the difference between Psychologists & Psychiatrists?

Psychologists and psychiatrists both undergo many years of extensive formal training & both focus on emotional and psychological disorders or ailments. A key difference is the focus of the training they have received and their primary method of treatment.

Like your physician or family doctor, psychiatrists have a degree in medicine, but this is followed by specialized training in the diagnosis & treatment of mental illness, emotional disorders, & behavioral problems. 

Psychiatrists usually prescribe medication to treat emotional & psychological difficulties. Their fees are covered by OHIP, but there can be long waiting lists to be seen. In Ontario, they are licensed and regulated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

Psychologists have completed a bachelor’s degree and then further graduate training (usually an MA & a PhD) in psychology (the study of human development, learning, & abnormal psychology, and have specialized in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness, behaviour problems, and emotional disorders. 

Although psychologists may have training in psychotropic medication to treat psychological symptoms, they do not prescribe medication.

Psychologists work to help people understand the nature of difficulties they may be dealing with, develop insight and skills to minimize and manage the impact of problems, and may coordinate with other health service providers, including physicians, and occupational therapists. 

Psychologists are also the only professionals specifically trained and qualified in the administration of specialized psychological tests used to assess things such as intelligence or achievement, personality characteristics, mental and emotional disorders. 

Fees for psychologists’ services are not covered by OHIP, but are often covered by extended benefit plans, employee assistance programs, or through government agencies or other special programs like the WSIB. 

Psychologists in Ontario are licensed and regulated by the College of Psychologists of Ontario

The specific training and background of a counsellor or therapist varies. Most have at least a master’s degree in psychology, counselling or social work. 

The title "counsellor" or "therapist" is not regulated under the Health Professional Act.

When you work with a therapist or counsellor under the supervision of psychologist Dr. Barbera you can be assured that the services are being informed by a high level of education and College of Psychologists enforceable standard. This  is  because Dr. Barbera is directly responsible for the services and ensures that the service falls under her declared areas of competency. 

To see Psychologist Dr. Jennifer Barbera's bio click here.

In Dr. Barbera C. Psych's practice in Hamilton all intakes are directly reviewed by Dr. Barbera and she assists with the therapy plan. 

*Stress

*Improving coping skills

*Improving work-life balance

*Depression

*General anxiety & worry

*Health anxiety

*Social anxiety

*Agoraphobia 

*Panic attacks and Panic Disorder 

*Phobias

*OCD  

*Trauma 

*Post-traumatic Stress Disorder  

*First-responder  traumatic  exposure

*Workplace injury

*Grief & loss

*Self-criticism 

*Perfectionism

*Low self-esteem & low self-worth 

*Low self-confidence

*Imposter syndrome

*Assertiveness

*Addiction & alcohol use

*Anger

*Relationship stress & conflict

*Caregiver and  work  burnout

*Decision conflict 

*Chronic pain 

*Disrupted sleep or insomnia

We can also provide therapeutic training in:

*assertiveness training

*anger-management training

* self-compassion training

* mindfulness training 

* coping skills training (including distress tolerance skills).

Psychological services can help people gain clarity by better understanding themselves and why they feel & act the way they do. 

PsychologiIcal services can teach people how to modulate  their reactions & emotions by helping them learn how to tap into their "observing self". This can help people to cope with unpleasant or difficult thoughts, feelings and situations in a more adaptive way that improves their well-being. Improved coping can lead to more confidence, self-esteem and life-satisfaction. 

Psychological services can also help people to work on underlying causes to their symptoms or concerns so that they don't find themselves continuing to repeat the same patterns or experience the same symptoms.

Psychological services can help people to identify their life goals & values in order to move in a direction that leads to a more satisfying and fulfilling life, including calmer and more connected relationships.

Are there things that you want to better understand about yourself?

Are there things that you wish you could change about yourself?

Are there things that still bother you that you wish you could let go of or heal from?

Do you want a more fulfilling and harmonious relationship? 

Ask us how psychology services can assist you with your specific concerns. 

To read more about ways you could benefit from therapy with a psychologist we recommend reading the following post at Psych Central.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy- CBT: Is a well-researched and  widely  used  corrective medical model that focuses on helping people to treat their mood and anxiety symptoms. It is also used for concerns related to trauma, anger, substance or alcohol use, OCD and assertiveness. This approach focuses on your thoughts and behaviours and teaches skills such as thought-monitoring and behavioural activation. 

We incorporate important elements of CBT into most of our psychologist-directed therapy plans. To provide comprehensive psychological services we also explore additional options- see below- to allow for a holistic and comprehensive approach to healing or reaching goals. We  combine approaches  because we  ideally  aim  to both  correct and  transform your  concerns at  the  same time. 

Learn more about CBT counselling or therapy services.

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy- ACT: Is a well-researched non-pathologizing  corrective approach to helping people change the relationship they have with their thoughts and feelings by helping people increase their psychological flexibility and re-focus on moving towards a more rich and meaningful life. This approach focuses on helping people connect to their values, and teaching skills such as mindfulness and thought delusion. This approach is particularly helpful for mood and anxiety symptoms. 

Learn More about ACT, including a descriptive video.

Internal Family Systems- IFS: ​This non-pathologizing transformational  approach represents a recent paradigm shift in psychotherapy that focuses on core change by getting people out of their usual cognitive focus (e.g., focusing on talking about their problem and learning skills) and focusing instead on working directly with and healing the parts of them that cause or manifest their symptom(s). 

The focus of IFS is not on family (as the name suggests) but on helping you to re-connect or uncover your true "Self" and lead life the way you truly want to lead it, rather than feeling led by your emotions and behaviours. Therefore, the main goal is self-leadership from a state of feeling calm, clear, confident, connected, curious and compassionate. These are qualities that can be uncovered in anyone. 

People commonly seek out meditation to try and connect to this state of being, however, IFS offers another way to uncover these qualities by being able to ease back parts of self that interfere somehow,  and to heal and transform the parts of self that perpetuate current patterns and difficulties.  IFS can be helpful for any concern including depression, anxiety, substance use, disrupted eating, low self-esteem, anger, OCD, and trauma. 

Learn more about IFS, including several videos.

Eye movement Desensitization & Reprocessing- EMDR: EMDR therapy is a phased-oriented, transformational  treatment approach to treating trauma & post-traumatic Stress Disorder and other symptoms by helping a person to stay within their window of tolerance while they safely access the images, beliefs, emotions, and body sensations associated with the memory.  

A bilateral stimuli (eye movement, tones or physical pulses or tapping) is  then  applied. The  BLS  serves  to tax working memory and facilitate reprocessing of the memory until it no longer feels distressing or elicits any emotional or physical reactivity in the nervous system. This process allows the natural healing process of the brain to move toward adaptive resolution, similar to what  is  thought  to  occur  during REM sleep. 

Using EMDR to re-process a memory and its corresponding stimuli (thoughts, sensations, emotions) by facilitating access to adaptive memory networks stems from the notion that symptoms occur when trauma and other negative or challenging experiences overwhelm the brain’s natural capacity to heal adaptively. 

EMDR can also be successfully used to reduce distress over relationship break-down, decision conflict and to work on issues related to low self-worth and self-defeating beliefs. Most individuals are surprised at the extent to which memories that have felt painful for many years can be resolved, or least significantly eased, within a single session. 

Learn more on our website about EMDR therapy, including videos.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-DBT: DBT  is  a  corrective  change  approach  aimed  at  improving  distress  tolerance.  In DBT the "dialectical" refers to finding balance in the existence of opposites. In DBT, people are taught two seemingly opposite strategies: acceptance (i.e., that their experiences and behaviours are valid), and change (i.e., that they have to make positive changes to manage emotions and move forward). 

DBT is a CBT-orientated approach that focuses on teaching skills in 4 key areas: 1) Mindfulness, 2) Interpersonal effectiveness, 3) Distress tolerance, & 4) Emotion Regulation. DBT is often recommended for individuals diagnosed with distress tolerance difficulties, self-harm and Borderline Personality Disorder. 

We tend to incoporate important elements of DBT (e..g, teaching about "wise mind", "radical acceptance" and "self-soothing with all 5 senses" strategies) into other approaches such as ACT & IFS. 

Learn more about DBT.

Emotion-focused Therapy- EFT: EFT is a transformational  process-experiential, client-centered therapy, that focuses on helping individuals and couples to heal and transform their underlying painful core emotions through specific psychotherapy techniques such as "two chair" dialogue, and tranformative dialogue. EFT is also used to help couples de-escalate conflict in their relationship and strengthen their attachment bond. 

Learn more about EFT, including a video.

Therapy can be a unique journey for everyone and it can feel like an intimidating and scary process, especially if you don’t know what to expect. 

To try and help with this, Here  we  will identify  a few  of  the  main things you can expect from psychological services with Dr. Jennifer Barbera C. Psych or one of her supervised associates In Hamilton. For  a  more  in-depth overview  about  therapy  please  visit  our  Therapy  101  page.

First and foremost, you can expect you will be treated with kindness, compassion, and respect. We will help you to identify what you want to gain from therapy and we will not ever force you to talk about things you don’t feel comfortable talking about. 

We will explore options with you and be there to guide you, however, every decision will be up to you. We will elicit your feedback to ensure we are best meeting your needs and to determine whether you want more or less direction  from  your  therapist, more or less assigned tasks, and more or less session structure. 

We value your input and you can expect a professional and collaborative process.

To help give more insight into how we approach therapy and how we think you can gain the most out of therapy, we recommend viewing this in-depth video by Psychologist Dr. Tori Olds on "how to get the most out of therapy".

It’s not uncommon for people to feel skeptical or doubtful about whether Psychological services can help them. Maybe you've tried counselling or therapy before and felt disappointed. 

Rather than try to actively convince you that therapy & counselling can help, sometimes we suggest that "seeing is believing".  

Just ask  the  part  of  yourself that feels discouraged or skeptical about therapy  if  it  will  allow  you  to  try  something  different  in  order  to  get  different  results.  Isn’t  the possibility  of  healing & change  worth exploring?

Reach out and let psychologist Dr. Barbera know if there are specific concerns you have that make you reluctant to start therapy. Let us see how we can address your concerns.

If you want more information about how to move forward when you can’t  help but feel skeptical about therapy or counselling, we recommend reading this article.

Psychological services are regulated by a College whose mandate is to protect the public. Confidentiality with a psychologist is legally protected and information will not be disclosed without your explicit consent. There are a few clear cut exceptions to confidentiality that apply to everyone  in  therapy and these are the only exceptions:

🌱 If information is shared that suggests a child 16 years (or 18 years in some cases) or younger  is at risk of being abused or neglected.

 🌱  If information is shared that suggests a senior living in a residential facility is being abused or neglected.

🌱  If we are made aware that another regulated healthcare provider sexually abused  or  was  sexually  inappropriate with  someone.

🌱  If we are court-ordered to release information by a judge in court.

🌱  If you disclose that you have a specific and imminent plan to harm yourself or another specific person.

CONTACT US  if  you  have  any  questions  or  concerns.