Dear Client: 

At Skills for Change, we value the trust of our clients and stakeholders, and the public, and we recognize that maintaining this trust requires that we be transparent and accountable. We have policies and principles that guide the way our employees and volunteers conduct their activities and are committed to making these available to you. 

Privacy, Consent and Confidentiality

Skills for Change is committed to protecting personal information by following responsible information handling practices, in keeping with privacy laws. Personal information is factual and objective information that is recorded or not, about an individual. This may include your name, age, or gender, for example.

We collect and use personal data in order to better meet your service needs, to ensure the safety of our members, for statistical purposes, to inform you about the Skills for Change programs or service in which you are registered, and to satisfy government and regulatory obligations. You may also receive periodic mailings from us with information about other Skills for Change programs and services that may interest and benefit you.

For more information on our Skills for Change commitment to privacy, please contact Skills for Change Customer Service at (416) 658- 3101 or visit our website at www.skillsforchange.org and click on "Policies".

Confidentiality Statement

Skills for Change is committed to the respect of the individual, which includes the maintenance of participant confidentiality. However, the confidentiality of the staff-participant relationship is not absolute. There are circumstances in which limits are placed upon the confidentiality of such information. In these circumstances, it is the Skills for Change staff member's duty to disclose participant information throughout the course of their staff-participant relationship. There are four different ways in which such a duty may arise:

1. The requirements by law to disclose information through a subpoena or search warrant;

2. The participant states that they will harm themselves or someone else;

3. The participant gives written and verbal consent to the release of specific information, which has been clearly documented on a Skills for Change "Consent to Release Confidential Information" form; and/or

4. The participant discloses information previously unreported, regarding the abuse of a child under the age of 16.

All Skills for Change participants are to be informed of their rights to confidentiality as described above. Upon their initial meeting with the Skills for Change Staff Member, Skills for Change program participants will be informed of the nature and rationale for the security of file documentation and made aware of their right to view their file at any time in the presence of a Skills for Change staff member.

I hereby consent to and authorize the release and disclosure of that information to representatives of the government department which may fund the program(s) that I participate in, for the specific statistical and related purposes of these programs.

Note: Intentional falsification of information on this form may lead to the termination from the program

By signing below, you consent to Skills for Change collecting, using, and sharing your information as described above. This may include uploading your information to secure online applications that operate similarly to email providers or social media platforms. If you prefer not to have your information in our online system, you can still access our services, though it may impact the comprehensiveness of our support Thank you.