Privacy Policy
Last updated: June 9th, 2023
This Privacy Policy describes “Compassion in Caregiving’s and its affiliates’ policies for collecting, using, and disclosing your information. You can view Compassion in Caregiving’s materials, resources, and articles (the “Service”), through our website www.compassionincaregiving.com (the “Website”), by email, and through third parties.
Compassion for Caregiving is owned and operated by registered social workers, accredited by the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (“OCSWSSW”). We respect the privacy of all individuals who visit our website and utilise our resources (“Users” and “Subscribers”).
This Privacy Policy governs your access to the Service, our social media channels and your Website user account (the “User Account”), regardless of how you access it, and by using our Services you consent to the collection, transfer, processing, storage, disclosure and other uses of user data, materials, content, and information (“Information”) described in this Privacy Policy.
Herein, “Compassion in Caregiving” designates the Compassion in Caregiving website, www.compassionincaregiving.com, and the information systems that supports them.
Our Privacy Policy explains what information we collect through the Website, why we collect it, and how we use that Information. It is our policy to respect the privacy of our Users regarding any Information that we may collect while using our Service.
Terms of the Policy
It is Compassion in Caregiving’s policy to comply with the privacy legislation within our jurisdiction. This Privacy Policy covers all activities subject to the provisions of Canada’s federal and Ontario’s provincial privacy laws, and other jurisdictions not otherwise specifically addressed by this Policy. The Website is available internationally, and we endeavour to ensure compliance with all applicable privacy legislation in your jurisdiction. Compassion in Caregiving provides its services primarily to Canadian markets, and ensures its compliance with all applicable privacy legislation, including but not limited to, the secure storage of user data, disclosing the collection and use of its user data, and only using its users’ data for purposes associated with or ancillary to the Services.
The rights and obligations contained in this Privacy Policy may not be available to all individuals or in all jurisdictions. You may contact our Privacy Officer for more information on this Policy at info@compassionincaregiving.com.
All opinions expressed on our Website or otherwise by Compassion in Caregiving are our own and do not reflect the views of any other organization, company, or governmental institution. The content of the Website is not sponsored or endorsed by any individual or organization except where expressly stated in writing.
Compassion in Caregiving does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from any person under the age of 13. In the case we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we immediately delete such information from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we may remove their personal information.
In order to help Compassion in Caregiving maintain and ensure that your personal information is accurate and up to date, you must inform us, without undue delay, of any change in the information you provided to Compassion in Caregiving.
In order to prevent potential conflicts of interest, by submitting stories or personal information to Compassion in Caregiving, whether through the Website or directly to our representatives, you acknowledge and agree that you shall no longer be eligible for private therapeutic support from the owners and operators of Compassion in Caregiving.
The Compassion in Caregiving Website is operated on a volunteer-basis. As such, guest speakers are not compensated financially for their time unless specifically agreed to in writing and Users shall not be entitled to any compensation or payment for submitting content to Compassion in Caregiving. Users are under no obligation to submit content to Compassion in Caregiving. All submissions are to be completed on a voluntary basis at the User’s sole discretion. Compassion in Caregiving offers therapeutic and psychotherapy services on a for-profit basis, available upon request to info@compassionincaregiving.com.
Guest speakers who deliver Compassion in Caregiving’s presentations and organizations and companies referenced in Compassion in Caregiving’s Website content may reference and promote such materials through social media and third party channels at their own discretion, subject to Compassion in Caregiving’s right to require the removal of any reference to Compassion in Caregiving or our materials if such reference violates this Privacy Policy or our community standards.
Personal Information
The personal information Compassion in Caregiving collects includes:
Your First and Last Name;
Physical Address;
Phone Number;
Email Address;
Username and Password information; and
Data required in accordance with applicable legislation
(the “Data”)
Compassion in Caregiving may collect personal information through the following means:
Directly from you/the User;
Through a User Account;
Electronic Devices;
Zoom Videocalls;
Phone Calls;
Third Party Sources;
Warranty Applications; and
Product Return or Refund Requests
Compassion in Caregiving will only collect personal health and medical information for individuals to whom our representatives are providing therapeutic and psychotherapy services. In such event, the collection of personal health and medical information shall be limited to the collection of such information as is reasonably advisable to provide the therapeutic and psychotherapy services. Do not provide your personal health or medical information to Compassion in Caregiving unless you have our written consent to do so. Personal health and medical information shall include but is not limited to your medical records, patient reports, medical test results, and any other information which would reasonably be identified as health-related in nature.
You must subscribe to our Services with a User Account prior to participation in our Website platform and being able to contribute your stories to the Website. Once your User Account is created, your Data may be used for purposes including but not limited to:
Managing your User Account;
Provide the Services through the Website;
Administering, billing, and collecting funds in relation to your use of Website;
Protecting against fraud or error;
Fulfilling the terms of a warranty or agreement; or
Creating informational and experiential content to share with other Users.
To help us monitor and improve the Website quality, we may collect your computer or mobile phone’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, the web page visited before you came to our websites, information you search for on the Website, locale preferences, transactions date and time, operating system information, as well as metadata concerning your Data such as software of origin and typology.
Compassion in Caregiving will always seek your consent before or at the time that we collect personal information. Data may be collected through multiple pages on the Website. Compassion in Caregiving may collect information about you from a third party if you have consented to that third party to release your information, for example, for payment or credit card processing. Compassion in Caregiving may also utilize the services of third parties and may receive personal information collected by those third parties in the course of the performance of the Services. Compassion in Caregiving requires all third parties to provide confirmation that they are authorized to release your information.
Compassion in Caregiving is the sole and exclusive owner of the Data and will not sell, share, lease, or otherwise distribute or disclose the Data in any way other than as disclosed by this Policy. All materials, resources, and articles on the Website are the sole and exclusive property of Compassion in Caregiving and belong to us unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Cookies
To ensure that our site is optimized for ease of use, we or our service provider(s) may use Cookies to collect standard information about your language preferences, when you visit the Site, your browser type and version, and other similar information. You can reset your browser to notify you when it has received a Cookie or refuse to accept Cookies. However, if you refuse to accept Cookies, you may limit your viewing and/or not be able to access all features on the site.
Compassion in Caregiving or its hosting providers may collect traffic information and information about your visit in a log file on a server. Log file information may include, but is not limited to, internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks. We or our hosting provider use this information to analyze trends, administer sites, track aggregations of users’ movements, and gather demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses and other log file information are not connected to personally identifiable information.
Compassion in Caregiving may also collect information from web beacons which indicate whether you visited a certain page on a website, opened a promotional email, or clicked on an online advertisement.
Compassion in Caregiving may collect geographic location from your mobile device or IP number to determine the nearest store or suggest specific product shipping offerings.
This Website is not designed to recognize “Do Not Track” requests from web browsers.
Authorized Disclosure and Use
Compassion in Caregiving discloses personally-identifying information (“Personal Information”) only to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations and third parties that need to know that Personal Information to process it on Compassion in Caregiving' behalf or to provide the Services, and that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and affiliated organizations and third parties may be located outside of Canada and/or outside your jurisdiction. By using the Website or the Services, you consent to the disclosure of such information to them for purposes including but not limited to:
Providing the Services;
Managing and administering to User Accounts;
Sending marketing and promotional communications; and
Conducting feedback and customer surveys;
Compassion in Caregiving may also use your Personal Information, specifically your contact information, including but not limited to your name and email address, with your consent for the following purposes:
to send you the Compassion in Caregiving newsletter;
to inform you of Compassion in Caregiving contests or surveys and provide associated notices and updates;
to inform you of special offers from Compassion in Caregiving and its partners and select third parties and to provide associated notices and updates; or
to inform you of updates to the Website and Services.
Your personal information may also be used and disclosed:
to comply with valid legal proceedings;
to respond to a complaint or dispute;
during an emergency situation where health or safety is at risk;
to protect the rights of Compassion in Caregiving;
to prevent fraud or abuse of Compassion in Caregiving or its customers;
to protect the safety of any individual from injury or death;
if you indicate that you are at risk of harming yourself or others;
as required by our professional advisors;
where the personal information is publicly available; or
with your consent.
In such event, only the minimum amount of personal information required to fulfill the contemplated purpose will be disclosed.
Collected Information and Cookies may be used in aggregate form to assess how our Clients use our website, so that our partners may also understand how often people use our Services.
Unless specifically requested in writing, your corporation name may be cited in our Clients list. When you contact Compassion in Caregiving to obtain customer support, we may keep a record of your communication to help solve any issues you might be facing and reserve the right to publish it without any way to identify its origin, to help us support other Clients.
If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your Data and Information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email and a notice on our websites of any change in control or use of your Data or Information. We will also notify you of choices you may have regarding the Data and Information.
We may share aggregated, non-personally identifiable information publicly and with our partners, such as publishers, advertisers or connected sites. For example, we may share information publicly to show trends about the general use of our Service. We may also share or resell anonymized, aggregate data collected through the Website to third parties.
Compassion in Caregiving will never disclose data which may personally identify you without your prior written consent. User-submitted stories will be kept, shared and published in an anonymous manner, with all quotes and contributions paraphrased, where practical to do so, to minimize the risk of identification of the Subscriber. Compassion in Caregiving will not be held liable for any costs, claims, or damages which may arise if a third party determines your identity from the particulars of stories exchanged and/or published on our Website; or for any defamation claims arising from the content of materials you have provided to Compassion in Caregiving and/or the manner we choose to portray a submitted story.
You may change or withdraw your consent, or update your Personal Information at any time, subject to legal or contractual obligations and reasonable notice by contacting our Privacy Officer in writing to info@compassionincaregiving.com. Compassion in Caregiving may terminate any services to you immediately if you withdraw your consent to the collection of Personal Information. Compassion in Caregiving may require that you provide us sufficient information to identify yourself before we comply with any request regarding Personal Information or Data stored by Compassion in Caregiving. Compassion in Caregiving will use all reasonable efforts to respond to user requests in a timely manner.
Retention of Data and Information
Compassion in Caregiving may retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Consistent with these requirements, we will endeavour to delete your information quickly upon request. Please note, however, that there might be latency in deleting information from our servers and backed-up versions might exist after deletion.
Compassion in Caregiving will make every reasonable effort to respond to a written request relating to your Data within 30 days after receipt of such request.
If a specific purpose is stated on the Website for the collection of information from you, the information collected will only be stored and used for that stated purpose. Your information will not be used for any other purpose which is not stated explicitly on the Website.
Where Compassion in Caregiving desires to transfer your personal information to a third party that is acting as our agent we may do so if we first either ascertain that the third party is subject to a written agreement requiring that the third party provide at least the same level of privacy protection as Compassion in Caregiving. You may not hold us responsible if a third party to which we transfer such information processes it in a way contrary to any restrictions or representations, unless Compassion in Caregiving knew or should have known that the third party would process it in such a contrary way and we have not taken reasonable steps to prevent or stop such processing.
Compassion in Caregiving will not process personal information in a way that is incompatible with the purposes for which it has been collected or subsequently authorized by you. We generally assume that information that you give to us is accurate. If information you give to us is inconsistent with other information you give to us or with information that is available in public records or from other sources that Compassion in Caregiving is permitted by law or agreement to use, Compassion in Caregiving will use reasonable efforts to make sure that the information we process is accurate.
Compassion in Caregiving may refuse to provide access to information to the extent that disclosure is likely to interfere with the safeguarding of important countervailing public interests, such as national security; defense; or public security. Other reasons for denying or limiting access are:
Interference with execution or enforcement of the law, including the prevention, investigation or detection of offenses or the right to a fair trial;
Interference with private causes of action, including the prevention, investigation, or detection of legal claims or the right to a fair trial;
Disclosure of personal information pertaining to other individual(s) where such references cannot be redacted;
Breaching a legal or other professional privilege or obligation;
Breaching the necessary confidentiality of future or ongoing negotiations, such as those involving the acquisition of publicly quoted companies;
Prejudicing employee security investigations or grievance proceedings;
Prejudicing the confidentiality that may be necessary for limited periods in connection with employee succession planning and corporate reorganizations;
Prejudicing the confidentiality that may be necessary in connection with monitoring, inspection or regulatory functions connected with sound economic or financial management; or
Other circumstances in which the burden or cost of providing access would be disproportionate or the legitimate rights or interests of others would be violated.
Third Party Applications
Our Privacy Policy does not apply to services offered by other companies or individuals, including products or sites that may be linked from our Services. Our Privacy Policy does not cover the information practices of other companies and organizations who advertise our services, and who may use cookies, pixel tags and other technologies to serve and offer relevant ads.
We may share your information with a third party application with your consent, for example for payment processing. We accept no responsibility or liability in respect of any third party. Please refer to the privacy policies published on any third party sites which you may access through our Website before submitting personal information to them.
Compassion in Caregiving may operate social media accounts from time to time through which our representatives may communicate information and resources. In the event you elect to contact Compassion in Caregiving through a social media messaging service, you hereby acknowledge and agree that such interactions and any provision of Services to you through a social media messaging service shall be subject to this Privacy Policy.
Enforcement
We regularly review our compliance with our Privacy Policy. When we receive formal written complaints, we will contact the person who made the complaint to follow up. We work with the appropriate regulatory authorities to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of Data and Information that we cannot resolve with our Clients directly.
Security
The security of your Data and Information is important to us. We follow the generally accepted standards held within our industry to protect the information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. We store our data on internal, external, and encrypted online servers, protected with firewalls, malware protection, and multiple backup points. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee absolute security. Unless specific contractual arrangements are made with you, Compassion in Caregiving may process your Data on a server located outside your jurisdiction.
Privacy Officer
The Privacy Officer for Compassion in Caregiving is Stephanie Muskat. Should you have any questions about this policy, including any complaints, you may contact our Privacy Officer at info@compassionincaregiving.com.
Costs
Compassion in Caregiving reserves the right to charge a reasonable amount to respond to requests to produce transcripts, copies, or transfers of its Data. You will be notified prior to being assessed a charge for such services.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit approval. We will post any privacy policy changes on our websites and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice (including, for certain services, email notification of Privacy Policy changes). We will also keep archived versions of this Privacy Policy for your review. By using the Website, you acknowledge and agree to this procedure.
Governing Law
This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and applicable laws of Canada and these laws apply to the use of the Services by you, notwithstanding your domicile, residency or physical location. The Services are intended for use only in jurisdictions where it may lawfully be offered for use.
Enforceability
If any term of this Privacy Policy is deemed invalid or unenforceable for any reason (including, but not limited to the exclusions and limitations set out above), then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be severed from this Privacy Policy and the remaining terms will continue to apply.
No Waiver
Failure of Compassion in Caregiving to enforce any of the provisions set out in this Privacy Policy or failure to exercise any option to terminate shall not be construed as a waiver of such provisions and shall not affect the validity of this Privacy Policy or any part thereof, or the right thereafter to enforce each and every provision.
Agreement to Terms of Policy
By using the Website and/or providing information to us, you accept and agree to the collection and use of your personal information for the purposes described hereinabove.
Arbitration
In the event of any dispute relating to or arising out of your use of the Privacy Policy, such dispute shall be settled and determined by a single arbitrator in accordance with the Arbitration Act of Ontario. If you and Compassion in Caregiving are unable to agree on an arbitrator within fifteen (15) days after Compassion in Caregiving is made aware of the dispute, then the parties shall submit the matter to the ADR Institute of Ontario (or is successor), which shall choose the arbitrator. The decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding without appeal on questions for law or fact or for any reason whatsoever. Costs of the arbitration shall be shared equally between you and Compassion in Caregiving. In the event arbitration is not allowed by law, any other action must be brought only in the courts of Toronto Ontario, Canada.