Privacy Policy

You contacted us about counselling, or a health care provider referred you. Either way, we hold personal information about you. This policy explains what we collect, what we do with it, who sees it, and how long we keep it.

McGee Wellness Inc. (MWI) operates the Island Perinatal Counselling Network. In this policy, “we,” “our,” and “us” mean the Network. Where something is true of MWI more broadly, we say MWI.

Our Terms of Service govern this website and the service we provide, both for health care providers who refer their patients to us, and for people who initiate contact with us themselves. This Privacy Policy forms part of our Terms of Service. Our Cookie Policy describes our use of cookies on our website, and forms part of this Privacy Policy. British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) applies to us, and our Privacy Policy follows it.

This policy covers what you or a referring provider give us, which we hold in our own systems. If we book you with a counsellor, it also covers the information we enter in that counsellor’s record system. It does not cover what your counsellor does with your file from there. Contact your counsellor or their practice about information in their custody.

What we collect and where it comes from

Information reaches us in two ways, and often both: a health care provider refers you using our referral form, which asks them to confirm you agreed to the referral; or you contact us yourself by phone, text, email, our website form, fax, video call, or mail. Some referrals and inquiries reach us through the McGee Therapy Clinic, which MWI also operates. Where that happens, we tell you, and we handle them as we would any other.

We collect only what we need to connect you with the right counsellor, communicate with you, confirm who you are, and give your counsellor context for your care. We call this your intake information.

• Required. Your name, phone number, and email. To confirm you are eligible for services through a Network counsellor, we may also require your location or street address. When we book you with a counsellor and enter your information into their system, we require your date of birth to identify you.
• If third party funding or insurance is involved. What we need, and what we can assist you with, varies by the source. Often, you remain responsible for confirming eligibility and coverage with your program or plan. If we are administering funded perinatal counselling, or are able to check coverage through your insurer, we may need your plan details or other information to confirm your eligibility.
• For matching and context for your counsellor: what you choose to share. What brings you to counselling and what you hope for. Your preferences, availability, budget, insurance coverage, and whether you want in person or virtual sessions. Your due date, or when your baby was born. Anything a referral contains, including medical reports or notes. People also tell us about their reproductive journey, and a referral may carry such details: a pregnancy, a birth, a baby, a partner, a medical history, or medications.

Why we use it

• To understand what you need and suggest counsellors who fit.
• To book your first appointment and help ensure you are prepared for it.
• To pass what you have told us to the counsellor you choose, so you do not have to start over.
• To follow up on your referral or inquiry if you do not book, or if your first appointment is cancelled or missed and you have not re-booked.
• To answer your questions and give you the information you asked for about our service, so you can decide whether and how to go ahead.
• To confirm your eligibility for, and administer, funded counselling or insurance coverage where we are involved.
• To invoice your counsellor for our work to operate the Network and connect or schedule new and expecting parents with counsellors associated with the Network, or with resources and counsellors outside it. Each counsellor’s invoice identifies only the connections made to them, by reference code rather than by name.
• To understand how well the Network is serving perinatal parents and perinatal counsellors, using re-identified information.

We do not sell or trade your information. We use it only for the purposes set out in this policy, and we do not disclose it outside MWI except as described below (see, for example, When we share outside MWI). Anything we send you, by phone, text, or email, is about the counselling you were referred for or asked about.

Your consent

When you agree to a referral, or contact us and share information so we can help, that is your consent to our using it for that purpose. If a referral arrives without confirmation that you agreed to it, we confirm your consent when we first contact you, before going further.

If we want to use your information for a purpose not covered in this policy, we will ask for your consent first, unless the law permits otherwise. You can narrow or withdraw your consent at any time. Tell us, and we will follow your instruction, even when that means we stop helping you find a counsellor.

Where your information lives

Responsibility for collected information follows the system it is stored in. This is the most important part of how the Network works.

Before a booking. What you or a referrer tell us is recorded in our own systems: our intake notes, the referral and any documents with it, and the status of your inquiry. We are responsible for it under PIPA.

When you book. With your agreement, we create a profile for you in the secure record system of the counsellor you choose, and we tell you we are doing this. We enter what we hold, including any referral documents, and any new information you tell us while booking you. From the moment of entry, your counsellor is the custodian of that record. We keep our own information separately. We do not keep a copy of your counselling file, and we do not have access to your counsellor’s clinical notes.

Between booking and your first session. We may help you prepare, respond if you ask to reschedule or cancel, and correct what we entered. Afterwards, we check whether you attended, to see whether further assistance is needed and to send periodic invoices and report bookings (using reference codes instead of names) to your counsellor. Our access to your profile, and the scheduling assistance we provide on behalf of your counsellor, end by your first session, and in any case no later than 100 days after the date it was originally scheduled, except if you are re-referred to us (see If you come back to us later, below).

If your first appointment is cancelled or missed. We may contact you for a limited time to offer further assistance, either to re-book with the same counsellor or to help you find another. If we connect you elsewhere, we may reuse our intake notes so you do not have to repeat yourself, and we add a brief note to your profile with the first counsellor recording that we followed up and whether you found care.

If you come back to us later. If you are referred again, or ask us again for help, even years later, we may check the administrative record of the counsellor you were booked with before: who you saw, when, whether you attended, your contact details, and the intake notes we entered. We do not have access to clinical notes. We use the information we can access to inform the match we make now, and we typically tell you at the time.

Your login with your counsellor. Most counsellors use a client portal, such as Jane App or Owl Practice. When we book you with a counsellor, we may also set up your account in their practice portal. That account, and your password, belong to you and your counsellor. We do not set or store your password, and we do not provide you with a portal, account, or login in a system of our own.

Who sees it

In MWI and its systems. Nearly all referrals and inquiries, whether to the Network or to the McGee Therapy Clinic, are handled by a small number of privacy-trained intake staff. Within MWI, your information is accessible only to those who need it for this work. Intake staff may consult our Clinical Director about a complex intake. If you reached Network services by calling, texting, or emailing the Clinic, other Clinic personnel with access to those channels may see your information. All MWI staff, including clinicians, are bound by their signed undertakings and agreements to protect your privacy and confidentiality.

In your counsellor’s system. Your counsellor has access to everything in your record in their system: the information we entered when we booked you, and the information they add over time. As a Network member, your counsellor has a signed agreement with MWI that limits access to their system to one or more named MWI staff with privacy training and a signed confidentiality undertaking, and limits that access to what is needed to connect you with a counsellor. Access to the records of your counsellor’s other clients is prohibited. If your counsellor is at the McGee Therapy Clinic, these same limits are set by the Principal and Clinical Director of MWI. Either way, your privacy and confidentiality are protected to the same standard.

Service providers. We use trusted providers to run our phones and text messaging, fax, secure email and forms, website forms, and office systems. They handle information only on our behalf, under agreements that require them to protect it. Depending on the provider, information is stored on servers in Canada and subject to Canadian law, or outside Canada and subject to the laws of that jurisdiction. Ask our Privacy Officer if you have questions about this.

When we share outside MWI

Only in these situations:

• With a Network counsellor you choose, as described above.
• With an external counsellor, if you ask us to send your referral and intake information to a counsellor who is not part of the Network.
• With a provider in your circle of care, to confirm receipt of a referral, to ask them to redirect the referral to another resource, or to obtain missing contact information. Any requests for a consultation on your care are for your counsellor to address, usually after a first session.
• With a funder, if you receive funded counselling administered through the Network. We share only what is needed to confirm eligibility, administer invoices, or meet reporting requirements. You are not identified to a funder through any of these activities unless you are aware of it and agree.
• When the law requires it, such as a court order or a legal duty to report. We tell you first unless the law prevents us.

How long we keep it

We keep your intake information as long as we need it to help arrange your care and to meet our legal and accounting obligations. After that, we destroy it or strip out anything that identifies you. We may keep re-identified information for statistics about the Network.

Your counsellor’s record is different. When applicable, professional standards require counsellors to keep clinical records for years after care ends, so their record can long outlast ours. You may ask your counsellor about the records retention requirements that apply to them.

Keeping it safe

We hold your information in secure systems. Our staff use unique logins with strong passwords, two-factor authentication where available, and a password manager. They work on secure, locked devices, and they do not take information out of a counsellor’s system unless the booking work requires it. A designated Privacy Officer is accountable for our compliance with PIPA.

If we know of or suspect a breach involving your information, we act without delay: we contain it, we notify any counsellor whose system is involved and work with them on the response, and we document what happened.

How we communicate with you

Most people reach us by phone, and we follow up by phone, text, or both, or by whatever way you initiated contact. If you call and do not leave a message, we may call or text you back to let you know we are available to talk. We may also send you a series of emails about the service you requested or the referral you agreed to. Every one of them lets you opt out, and we stop as soon as you do. Email, text, and fax are convenient and not fully private; messages can be misdirected, intercepted, or seen by someone with access to your device. Where practical, we keep what we send brief and avoid sensitive detail. If you would rather we contacted you only by one method, or only at certain times, tell us.

Before we share information said to be yours, we may ask you to confirm your identity, so information about you does not reach someone else.

Your rights

PIPA gives you rights over the information we hold, and asking costs you nothing. You can ask what we collect and why, and who sees it. You can ask to see it and get a copy. You can ask us to correct anything wrong or incomplete. You can narrow or withdraw your consent. You can ask how long we will keep it. And you can complain, to our Privacy Officer and to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.

On a request for access to or correction of your information, we respond within 30 business days, in accordance with PIPA requirements, for as long as we still hold your information. In certain situations, the law requires or permits us to decline requests, such as where the information reveals something about another person. If we decline, we tell you why in writing.

For information in the custody of your counsellor, contact your counsellor or their practice. We are not their agent for those requests, even when you are requesting information we entered into their system.

Children and youth

Perinatal care reaches people of many ages, including young parents. If you are under 19, you can still contact us. In British Columbia, a young person who understands what they are agreeing to, and what it means for them, can consent to their own care. We talk with you about consent and support before arranging anything, and your counsellor will confirm this with you. If you would like a parent, guardian, or another trusted adult involved, tell us.

Our website is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information through it from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has provided information to us, contact our Privacy Officer and we will remove it.

Information that no longer identifies you

We may use re-identified and aggregated information, drawn from what we hold or can access, to understand how the Network is working, to improve what we do, and to compile statistics. This information is not about you or others, and nothing in it can be traced back to any individual. Anything we share is re-identified and aggregated. We may share it with Network counsellors, and with perinatal care researchers, policy makers, and agencies or donors considering or actively supporting funded counselling services.

Our website

Our website uses cookies to keep the site working and to understand how many people visit and which pages they read. This does not tell us who you are, and we do not use it to build a profile of you or to advertise to you. Our Cookie Policy lists what we use and how to manage it.

Our site links to other organizations. We do not control those sites, and their privacy practices are their own.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The policy posted here is the one that applies, with the date it was last updated.

Talking to us about privacy

If you have a request, question, or concern about how we handle your information, tell us. The Network’s privacy inquiries are handled at the McGee Therapy Clinic, which MWI also operates.

Privacy Officer, Island Perinatal Counselling Network
Email: privacy@mcgeetherapy.ca
Phone: 778-410-7000
Fax: 250-472-6762
Mail: 111-645 Fort Street, Victoria, BC V8W 1G2

If we cannot resolve a matter together, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia at oipc.bc.ca or 250-387-5629.