We respect your confidentiality at all times.
Counselling Services respects confidentiality at all times and is guided by the laws of the Province, the University's policy [1], and its own policy on confidentiality. Therefore, we cannot share information about a student without the student's written permission.
The University of Guelph is governed by both the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act [2], more commonly referred to as FIPPA, and the Personal Health Information Protection Act [3], or PHIPA. Both FIPPA and PHIPA stipulate that personal information about individuals may not be disclosed to persons outside the university community without the consent of the individual.
However, both FIPPA and PHIPA allow the Student at Risk Team [4] to make decisions to disclose and share student’s personal information in certain emergency situations in which an individual or group poses a reasonable threat to inflict serious harm on themselves or others. This information will be shared in a sensitive and appropriate manner.
