Scope of Service:
Canadian Centre for Men and Families (CCMF) Alberta provides programs and services that range from one-on-one and group peer support to professional counselling services. CCMF Alberta does not provide care for people experiencing acute mental health crisis or suicidal ideation. Referral to appropriate external agencies and health care facilities will occur in such cases.
All counselling services are provided by registered healthcare professionals in compliance with their respective provincial [BB1] Health Professional Regulatory Colleges’ Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. These documents identify the critical importance of non-discrimination, informed consent, and confidentiality in clients’ decision making regarding their use of CCMF Alberta services. Regulatory Colleges in Alberta are delegated powers and authorities for self-governance under the Health Professions Act.

CCMF Alberta is committed to providing the best possible service at all times, including through telephone calls, emails, groups, and one-on-one conversations, both in-person and virtually. Our services and partnerships may be monitored and recorded for training and quality assurance[BB2] purposes.

All CCMF Alberta programs and services require registration, wherein you will be required to provide your name and contact information. (e.g. phone, chat, text) without providing any personal information unless you want to. Volunteers and staff involved in our intake process do not provide therapy, treatment, mental health care, or medical care but they will process your intake provide support, assistance, information on services, and helpful resources.
To access CCMF Alberta in-house counselling services, you will need to provide additional intake information as required by each professionals’ Standards of Practice.
Privacy:

CCMF Alberta is committed to safeguarding the personal information entrusted to us by our program and service users, volunteers, staff and donors. CCMF Alberta manages your personal information in accordance with: provincial [BB3] Health Professional Regulatory Colleges’ Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, Alberta Health Information Act (HIA), Alberta Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA). All staff and volunteers are held to compliance with these regulations.

We take your privacy and security very seriously and work to ensure your personal information is safeguarded. We maintain appropriate technical and organizational safeguards and security controls to protect your personal information against loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. Access to your personal information is restricted to CCMF Alberta’s employees, volunteers and authorized service providers who need it to do their jobs. We will limit how long we keep information. We will keep your personal information only as long as it is necessary to satisfy the purposes for which it was obtained, or as required by law. We will not share or disclose your personally identifiable information with the exception of our limits to confidentiality, as outlined below.
In addition, we collect and store information, including unattributed, non-identifying demographic content of interactions, which we may use to create aggregate statistical information up to the level of postal code for the purpose of quality assurance, data and trend analysis as well as research aimed at contributing to the advancement of the social sector and related services. Data is collected, stored and used only for the purpose of facilitating better help to clients, ensuring quality assurance and for clearly defined analysis or research objectives that we determine could contribute to the development of leading practices in the social sector. CCMF Alberta produces monthly, quarterly and annual aggregate trend analysis reports that may be shared with community, funders and policy makers. These reports aim to identify the needs and emerging trends faced by those using our programs and services, with the goal of furthering the work of the social sector in addressing the emerging and complex needs of our community.
Limits to Confidentiality:
The above-mentioned Acts and Standards contain very specific guidelines for the treatment of your personal information. Personal information may include your name, phone number, email address, or IP address. CCMF Alberta ensures, to the best of our ability, that we do not share any personal information about your use of CCMF Alberta services unless:
  • You explicitly agree and provide consent to have your personal information shared for specific reasons and to specific agencies or people you want involved in assisting you.
  • CCMF Alberta believes that you are at serious risk of harm to yourself or someone else (as determined by our risk assessment procedures), in which case we are ethically obligated to use any and all reasonable steps to prevent that serious harm. Those steps may include contacting law enforcement or other authorities.
  • If you share information that indicates a child is at risk of abuse or neglect.
  • We are required by law, such as a valid court order, legal subpoena or government investigation, to report information about your use of CCMF Alberta services.
Complaints Policy:
CCMF Alberta values feedback and will receive and address any complaints in a fair and professional manner according to CCMF Alberta Policies and Procedures. Each complaint is addressed and followed-up by the appropriate supervisor/manager. Client complaints are documented, and the information is stored and reviewed regularly to improve service or resolve client disputes.
CCMF Alberta responds in a timely manner to donor requests and concerns. If the donor’s questions, concerns or complaints have not been resolved to the donor’s satisfaction or if the donor has further questions, the donor can contact CCMF Alberta’s Executive Director. CCMF Alberta will closely monitor complaints received from donors and prospective donors and seek to provide clarity and, where applicable, solutions to the problems.