Psychcare Clinic is a psychology practice at Suite 4 & 5, 5 Redleaf Avenue, Wahroonga NSW 2076, also offering telehealth. In this policy, “we” and “us” means Psychcare Clinic.

We follow the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Health Privacy Principles in the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW). Psychologists also have a professional duty of confidentiality.

This policy covers the information we collect when you use our services and when you use this website.

• Contact details: your name, date of birth, address, phone number and email.
• Health information: your history, the reasons you’re seeing us, session notes, assessment results and reports.
• Billing details: Medicare, private health or NDIS details, and payment information for your fees.
• Referral details: information from your GP, specialist or other referrer, if you have one.
• Other people: with your consent, information from family members, teachers or others who know you, for example during an assessment.

You can make a general enquiry without giving your name. To provide therapy, assessments or Medicare rebates, we need to know who you are.

• From you, when you book, fill in our secure intake forms, or talk with us in sessions.
• Through our secure online booking and practice management system, Halaxy.
• From your referrer, or others you have given us permission to contact.
• From this website, when you send us a message, request a call or sign up for something. See section 7.

Please don’t send health details through our website forms or by email. If we need clinical information, we’ll send you a secure form.

• To provide your therapy, assessments, reports and follow-up care.
• To manage your appointments, including reminders by SMS or email.
• To process payments and claims with Medicare, health funds or the NDIS.
• To write to your GP or other health professionals, with your consent.
• For clinical supervision and peer consultation, where we share as little identifying information as possible.
• To meet our legal and professional obligations.

We don’t use your information for marketing unless you’ve asked to hear from us, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

We only share your information with your consent, except where the law requires or allows us to share it. This may include:

• Your GP, psychiatrist, paediatrician or other members of your care team, with your consent.
• Medicare (Services Australia), your health fund, the NDIA or your NDIS plan manager, for claims you ask us to make.
• Our administration team, IT and software providers, who help us run the practice and must keep your information confidential.
• When there is a serious threat to someone’s life, health or safety.
• When the law requires it, for example a child protection report, a subpoena or a court order.

Our practice uses a health virtual administration team based in Tasmania for bookings, enquiries, invoicing and correspondence. They act on our behalf and are bound by contract to protect your information in line with this policy.

Your clinical records are kept in our practice management system. Some website and communication tools we use, such as Google Analytics, Google reCAPTCHA, Google Fonts, Mailchimp and Gravatar, may store or process limited information, such as your IP address or email address, on servers overseas, mainly in the United States. We choose providers with strong security and privacy practices.

• Contact and call request forms: we collect the details you enter, such as your name, phone number, email and message, so we can reply to you.
• Online booking: our booking pages open in Halaxy. Information you enter there is handled under Halaxy’s privacy policy as well as ours.
• Spam protection: our forms use Google reCAPTCHA, which looks at things like your browser and IP address to tell people from bots.
• Analytics: we use Google Analytics to understand how people use our site, such as which pages are visited. It uses cookies and doesn’t tell us who you are.
• Newsletter and article sign-ups: if you sign up, your name and email are stored in Mailchimp. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email.
• Comments: if you leave a comment, we collect what you enter, your IP address and browser details to help detect spam. An anonymised string created from your email address (called a hash) may be sent to the Gravatar service to see if you use it. After your comment is approved, your profile picture may be shown publicly next to it. Comments and their details are kept so we can recognise follow-up comments.
• Cookies: small files that help the site work and measure visits. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, though some parts of the site may not work as well.

• Clinical records are kept in secure, password-protected practice software with restricted access.
• Paper records, if any, are kept in locked storage.
• We use secure, encrypted communication channels and multi-factor authentication where available.
• Our team is trained in privacy and confidentiality.

NSW law requires health service providers to keep health records for at least 7 years after your last appointment, or, if you were under 18, until you turn 25. After that, we securely destroy or permanently de-identify them.

• Access: you can ask to see or get a copy of the information we hold about you. We’ll respond within a reasonable time, usually 30 days. In rare cases the law allows us to limit access, and if so we’ll explain why. We may charge a reasonable fee for copies, and we’ll tell you first.
• Correction: if you think your information is wrong, incomplete or out of date, you can ask us to correct it.
• Anonymity: you can ask general questions without giving your name.
• Children and young people: parents or guardians usually manage a child’s information. Depending on their age and maturity, young people may be able to make some decisions about their own information. We’ll talk this through with your family.

To make a request, email hello@psychcare.com.au or call (02) 9037 3509.

If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we’ll tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, and explain what you can do to protect yourself.

If you have a concern about your privacy, please talk to us first. Contact our privacy officer, MJ Basilio, Principal Psychologist, at hello@psychcare.com.au, on (02) 9037 3509, or by post to Suite 4 & 5, 5 Redleaf Avenue, Wahroonga NSW 2076. We aim to respond within 30 days.

If you’re not happy with our response, you can contact:

• The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC): lodge a privacy complaint, or call 1300 363 992.
• The Information and Privacy Commission NSW: complaints about health privacy, or call 1800 472 679. Complaints usually need to be made within 6 months.

We may update this policy when our practices or the law change. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated.