Confidentiality and privacy is very important in counselling.
All therapy takes place over Zoom. Your counsellor has signed a business associate's agreement (BAA) with Zoom to keep all information private and secure. Your therapist does not use Zoom AI features.
All sessions are recorded to your therapist's computer, not to Zoom cloud.
Your file may have 2 parts: a digital component and a physical component. You do not have 2 files. Your counsellor does NOT keep 'secret' notes or a separate set of notes.
There may be 2 parts of the file because of technology differences: audio files are stored on a password-protected computer and in a Canadian cloud service that meets Personal Health Information Act security* standards. Digital files are stored on Sync.com - an encrypted system based in Canada, with Canadian data centers, with 180-day audit logs. You can read about Sync's security here. Some examples of files in the digital portion of your file include but are not limited to: audio files (recordings) of your appointment, invoices/receipts, informed consent and intake forms, questionnaires, copies of your emails, etc.
Some examples of records in the physical portion of your file include but are not limited to: handwritten therapy notes (process notes) made by your therapist, phone call interactions, records of appointments, records of any contact between yourself and your therapist, etc.
In the event of a release of file, both portions of your file may be requested by completing a release of information form.
*Personal Health Information Act (PHIA, pronounced 'fee-ah') in Nova Scotia legislates how personal health information is stored and accessed by health record custodians in the province. Some people refer to this as HIPAA-compliance, however Canada does not have HIPAA. Instead, Canada uses PIPEDA for some industries, with provincial legislation such as PHIA for healthcare providers.