Privacy Policy

1. About

Prism Of The Mind Clinical & Forensic Psychology (ABN: 93 680 148 716) (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”) and other relevant state laws and professional guidelines about the management of personal information. This Privacy Policy (“policy”) describes how we collect, store, use and disclose your personal information and how we maintain the security and quality of your personal information. This Privacy Policy applies to all psychological services provided by us to you (“services”), including our website www.prismofthemind.com.au (“website”).

In this policy, references to “you” and “your” refer to any person about whom we collect personal information and may include clients, prospective clients, referrers, visitors to our website, users of services that we provide, stakeholders, third-parties and members of the general public, amongst others. Per the Privacy Act, “personal information” means any information or opinion, whether true or not, about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable. Further, “sensitive information” is personal information that includes information or opinion about, for example, an individual’s health information, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record and religious or philosophical beliefs, amongst others.

2. What kinds of personal information do we collect?

In order to provide appropriate psychological services to you, we collect various kinds of personal information about you, including sensitive information such as health information. The kinds of personal information that we may collect will be dependent on who you are, the nature of your dealings and interactions with us, and what you choose to share with us.

The personal information that we may collect includes but is not limited to: your name, date of birth, signature, address, personal details, contact information such as email and phone number, government-issued ID numbers such as your CRN, medical history, personal history, life details, family history, personal issues, qualifications and employment details, your business details, sensitive information about you, psychological symptoms and diagnosis, mental health history, health information, legal details, forensic history, referral details, referrer’s information, emergency contact details, appointment details, Medicare details, payment and billing information, banking details, insurance details, information or correspondence from third parties, medical reports and documents, information from third-party reports or documents, clinical session notes, psychometric testing data, enquiry/feedback/complaints information, all written and electronic forms of communication from you, IP address, video and/or audio recordings with your prior consent, and other relevant personal information as part of providing psychological services to you.

3. How do we collect your personal information?

The main way we collect personal information about you is when you directly provide it to us.

We collect your personal information when you:

interact with us electronically/online including via our website, web forms, email, SMS and practice management software systems including completing online forms or psychometrics such as via email link;
interact with us over the phone;
interact with us via telehealth/videoconference;
interact with us in-person during your contacts, consultations or attendances with us; and
provide us with documents.

We may also collect personal information about you from third parties including but not limited to your referrer, GP, psychiatrist, lawyer, carer, family member, healthcare provider, third-party service provider, government agencies, employer, educational provider, media and publications, and/or from other publicly available sources, amongst others.

4. What is the purpose of our collection and use of your personal information?

We collect and use your personal information for many reasons in connection with our functions and activities for the primary purpose of providing appropriate and informed psychological services to you, including:

to provide appropriate and informed psychological services to you, including but not limited to providing psychological assessment, diagnosis, treatment, therapy sessions, consultation and/or clinical supervision; and to write session notes and/or prepare psychological reports
to send you information and/or communication such as via email or SMS (e.g., forms, appointment reminders)
to maintain your account, contact details, file, and medical records
to process payments and any entitlements or benefits (e.g., Medicare rebates)
to respond to your enquiries, requests, feedback, and/or complaints
to communicate with third-parties, contractors and/or affiliates
to comply with legal obligations and professional psychology standards (e.g., record-keeping requirements)
to effectuate a transaction
to deliver to you a more personalised experience and service offering
to improve the quality of the services we offer
internal administrative purposes
marketing and research purposes
to obtain legal or financial advice in the course of providing psychological services.

5. Consequences of not providing your personal information

If you do not wish for your personal information to be collected in a way anticipated by this policy, then we may not be able to provide psychological services to you. You may request to be anonymous or to use a pseudonym unless it is impracticable for us to deal with you or if we are required or authorised by law to deal with identified individuals. In most cases it will not be possible for you to be anonymous or to use a pseudonym.

6. How do we store and secure your personal information?

We take reasonable steps to store and secure your personal information in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We use commercially reasonable physical, technical and administrative measures to protect personal information that we hold, including where appropriate via password protection and encryption.

Your personal information is kept securely and, in the interests of your privacy, used only by your psychologist and authorised personnel. Personal information is stored electronically using various cloud-based practice management software systems and applications and is secured via features such as encryption and password protection; any hardcopy personal information is stored in locked filing cabinets. We may use various cloud-based practice management software systems and applications from commercial service providers to provide our psychological services to you, including but not limited to: Microsoft, Google, Halaxy, Zanda, Zoom, Adobe, NovoPsych, Stripe, Xero, JotForms, DropBox, Psychology Tools, PariConnect, Pearson Q-Global, and GoDaddy. The service providers of our cloud-based practice management software systems and applications may have servers or data-processing centres stored overseas across North America, Europe, South America and Asia. We are not able to guarantee the security of cloud-based electronic storage systems and you agree that we are not liable for any unauthorised breach of personal information or data. We also cannot guarantee the security of any information transmitted to us via the internet and such transmission is at your own risk.

7. Retention of personal information

If we no longer require the use of your personal information, then we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify it as per applicable legislation and professional guidelines. Psychologists are required to retain all adult client personal information for a minimum period of seven (7) years after the client’s last attendance, at which time the personal information may be permanently destroyed.

8. Disclosure and sharing of your personal information

Your personal information that you provide to us or that which is gathered by us during the provision of psychological services will be kept strictly confidential and will not be disclosed to a third party except when:

There is a legal obligation to do so (e.g., it is subpoenaed by a court, or disclosure is otherwise required or authorised by law); or
Failure to disclose the information would in the reasonable belief of your psychologist and/or us place you or another identifiable person at serious risk to life, health, or safety (e.g., risk of self-harm); or
You or another person with the legal authority to act on your behalf provide prior consent for us to disclose information (e.g., you provide consent for your psychologist to discuss information with another person/agency, or you are accessing Forensic Psychology Services that involve undergoing a forensic psychological assessment where a written forensic psychological report about you will be produced); or
You would reasonably expect your personal information to be disclosed and disclosure to that third-party is for a purpose directly related to the primary purpose for which your personal information was collected (e.g., information sharing with your referring GP)
To protect the safety, rights and interests of staff of our practice or contractors/affiliates.

We may use and disclose your personal information to our trusted third-party contractors/affiliates who perform functions on our behalf and/or who perform services for us, for example our IT or electronic cloud-based practice management software systems and applications providers, administrative/reception and practice support staff, and our professional services advisors and consultants (e.g., insurer, lawyer, clinical consultants). We may also use and disclose your personal information to insurers and regulatory bodies as required. Your personal information is not disclosed to other third-party recipients, unless you consent, or when such disclosure would reasonably be expected or is otherwise required by law. Your personal information will not be used, sold, rented, or disclosed for any other purpose.

If unauthorised access, disclosure, or loss of a client’s personal information occurs, we will activate data breach plans and use all reasonable endeavours to minimise any risk of consequential serious harm. You agree that we are not liable for any unauthorised access to your personal information or data. You agree that you are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or account information pertaining to your use of our website and/or practice management software systems and applications or platforms (e.g., online client portal). If sending any information to us via electronic means (such as by using our website, submitting web forms, uploading files to us or by sending us electronic messages such as via email), you acknowledge that electronic methods of communication may not be secure and you accept any risks or liability associated with communicating with us in this format.

9. Requests to access or correct your personal information

We will endeavour to keep your personal information accurate, complete and up to date. However, we rely on the accuracy of the personal information as provided by you and/or provided to us by third parties. We encourage you to contact us to keep your personal information up to date.

If you are a client, access to personal information in some instances may only be provided to you by arranging an appointment to discuss the information with the psychologist responsible for your file and/or by releasing your personal information to your new psychologist with your consent. These appointments are billed at the current fee for a standard clinical psychology appointment and payable by you at the time of the appointment. We may also ask you to provide current and informed written consent to us before releasing your personal information.

If you wish to make a request to access and/or correct the personal information we hold about you, then you should make a request in writing by contacting us as per the instructions in sections 14 and 15 below. We will respond to your request within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days. We may ask you to verify your identity before we respond to your request and we may charge reasonable fees to cover the costs of responding to your request. If it is not possible for us to correct the personal information that we hold about you, then you can ask us to attach or link a statement that you believe the information is incorrect and reasons why. If we make a correction and we have disclosed the incorrect information to others, you can ask us to tell them about the correction.

10. Website and online activity

Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers the website puts on your device if you allow it. These cookies recognise when your device has visited our website before, so we can distinguish you from other users of the website. This improves your experience and our website. We do not use cookies to identify you, just to improve your experience on our website. If you do not wish to use the cookies, you can amend the settings on your internet browser so it will not automatically download cookies. However, if you remove or block cookies on your computer, then please be aware that your browsing experience and our website’s functionality may be affected.

Our website uses Google Analytics to help us better understand visitor traffic, so we can

improve our services. Although this data is mostly de-identified and/or anonymous, it is possible that under certain circumstances, we may connect it to you.

We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our services, opportunities, or events that we consider may be of interest to you if you have requested or consented to receive such communications, such as via signing up for them. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS, and email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws. You consent to us sending you those direct marketing communications by any of those methods. If you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do so. You may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us at any time by following the instructions to “unsubscribe” set out in the relevant communication or by contacting us using the details set out in section 15 below.

Our website may contain links to websites operated by third parties. If you access a third party

website link through our website, personal information about you may be collected by that third party website. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third-party provider or website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third-party provider or website, which you access at your own risk. Third-party provider’s websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies. By accessing and/or using our website, you agree to our Website Terms of Use Policy.

11. Transfer in certain circumstances

If there is a sale, merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of substantial assets, reorganisation or liquidation of us then we may transfer the personal information collected to one or more relevant third parties, in accordance with applicable laws and professional guidelines.

12. Updates to this policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any updated versions of this policy will be made available, such as via our website. You should check periodically to review our current Privacy Policy, which is effective as of the effective date listed. Your continued use of our website and/or our psychological services and/or any contact/interaction with us constitutes your acceptance and understanding of the Privacy Policy as in effect at the time of your use.

13. Consent

By using our website, and/or providing information to us, and/or by communicating or interacting with us in any way, and/or by accessing psychological services from us, you agree to provide us with your personal information and you agree to our collection, storage, use and disclosure of your personal information and sensitive information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

14. Enquiries, concerns or complaints

If you have any enquiries, concerns or complaints about our handling of your personal information, then please contact us in writing and allow up to 30 days for our response. We may require proof of identity and further details from you in order to investigate the issue and to provide a response. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

15. How to contact us

All enquiries, concerns, complaints and requests for access or correction of your personal information should be made in writing to:

Prism Of The Mind Clinical & Forensic Psychology

Email for contact: contact@prismofthemind.com.au

This Privacy Policy is effective from 16/04/2025.

Privacy Policy

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