Privacy Policy

Who we are

Roma Villa Counselling (“we”, “our”, “us”) is a counselling practice at 20727 Willoughby Town Centre Dr, Building C 200, Langley, BC V2Y 1X1, founded and led by Mahsa Hamedanizadeh, MCP, RCC (BC Association of Clinical Counsellors registration #21647). This policy covers the website at romavilla.ca (the “Site”) and the counselling services we provide in person and online.

We handle personal information under British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and the standards of the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC). If anything here is unclear, ask us. Questions about your information are never an imposition.

What we collect

When you contact us or book. Your name, email address, phone number, and anything you choose to tell us about why you are getting in touch. Booking runs through Jane, our practice management system, which also collects the appointment details and any intake forms you complete there.

When you are a client. Clinical records of your sessions, your health history as you share it, emergency contact details, and billing and insurance information. This is personal health information and it is held to the strictest standard we apply to anything.

When you visit the Site. Technical data about the visit: pages viewed, links clicked, approximate location from your IP address, browser and device type. We use this in aggregate to see which pages help people and which do not. See “Website analytics” below.

We do not collect more than we need for the purpose at hand, and we do not buy, sell, or trade personal information.

How we use it

To provide counselling, keep accurate clinical records, and coordinate care with other providers when you have asked us to.
To communicate with you about appointments, including reminders.
To bill you or your insurer, and to issue receipts.
To improve the Site and how we describe our services.
To meet legal and professional obligations.

Confidentiality in counselling, and its limits

What you say in session is confidential. Like every counsellor in British Columbia, we are required to break confidentiality in a small number of situations: when there is a risk of serious harm to you or to someone else, when a child or a vulnerable adult may be at risk, and when a court orders it. These are explained at the start of counselling so there are no surprises later.

We share personal information only with the service providers we need in order to operate, each under terms that require them to protect it:

Jane Software Inc. (Jane App): online booking, scheduling, clinical charting, secure video sessions, and payment processing. Jane hosts its Canadian customers’ data in Canada.
Google Workspace: email and calendars for the practice.
Cloudflare: hosts and serves this Site.
PostHog and Google Analytics: website analytics, described below.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, in the situations described under confidentiality above, or to protect the safety of a person.

Website analytics

The Site uses PostHog to understand how people use it, routed through our own domain rather than a third-party tracker. PostHog records pages viewed, clicks on booking and contact links, and technical details of the visit. It may also record how a page is used (for example, scrolling and clicks) to help us find confusing layouts. It does not see anything you type into Jane, and nothing from your counselling relationship is ever connected to Site analytics.

The Site also uses Google Analytics to measure visits and clicks on booking and contact links, so we can see which pages and advertising bring people to the practice. It is loaded through Cloudflare Zaraz, which sends this information to Google from Cloudflare’s servers instead of running Google’s code in your browser. Google receives the page viewed, the link clicked, approximate location, and browser and device type.

When you book online, Jane also tells Google Analytics that a booking was made, so we can see which pages and advertising lead to appointments. Jane removes health and personal information before sending this. Google does not receive your name, your contact details, your intake forms, or anything you write when you book.

We may add advertising measurement from Google Ads or Meta (Facebook and Instagram) in future. If we do, this policy will be updated before it takes effect.

Cookies

The Site sets analytics cookies and similar identifiers so PostHog and Google Analytics can tell one visit from another. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the Site works without them. Jane sets its own cookies when you book, including Google Analytics cookies to measure completed bookings, under its own privacy policy.

How long we keep it

Clinical records are retained for at least the minimum period that BCACC standards and BC law require for a counsellor’s records, and are then securely destroyed. Enquiries that do not lead to counselling are deleted once they are no longer needed. Website analytics are kept in aggregate form and individual visit data is retained only as long as needed to analyse it.

Your rights

Under PIPA you can ask us:

what personal information we hold about you and how it has been used;
to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
to withdraw consent to a use of your information, subject to legal and professional limits on what we must retain;
how to complain, and we will tell you. You can also contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia at oipc.bc.ca.

Access to clinical records follows BCACC guidance, and in rare cases part of a record may be withheld where release would cause serious harm. We will explain if that applies.

Security

Clinical records live in Jane, not on our own computers, and Jane encrypts data in transit and at rest. Email is not a secure channel for sensitive information; use it for scheduling, and keep anything you would not want in an inbox for the session itself. No system is perfectly secure, and we will tell you promptly if a breach affects your information.

Children and young people

The Site and our services are intended for adults. We work with minors only with the consent of a parent or guardian and in line with BC law on a young person’s capacity to consent to their own health care.

Links to other sites

The Site links to Jane, Google Maps, and other third-party sites. Their privacy practices are their own. Read their policies before sharing information with them.

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, the new version is posted here with an updated effective date. Significant changes that affect current clients will also be raised with them directly.

Contact

Roma Villa Counselling 20727 Willoughby Town Centre Dr, Building C 200, Langley, BC V2Y 1X1 hello@romavilla.ca · (604) 353-6283

This policy is not emergency information. If you are in immediate danger call 911. For urgent mental health support anywhere in Canada call or text 988, and in BC you can also call 310-6789.