Privacy Policy

At Counselling4Loss, your privacy is important to us. We are committed to providing a safe, respectful, and confidential space. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the National Code of Conduct for Health Professionals (Victoria).

Personal Information collected

Personal information is any information about an individual that can be used to identify them directly or indirectly. Personal Information includes health Information, which is information about the physical or mental health or disability of an individual. Examples of Personal Information that Counselling4Loss collects includes names, phone numbers, email addresses, residential addresses, date of birth, medical and psychological information relevant to the service being provided, emergency contacts and goals and reasons for counselling

Your Personal Information is collected by Counselling4Loss in a variety of ways including intake forms, information you verbally share, written communication received from you via email, SMS or letter, information provided via the online booking system or via our website, from other publicly available sources and from third parties such as your GP (with consent.) 

Only necessary personal information is retained in practice management software called Zanda Health, to enable the provision of relevant and informed services to you.

How your Personal Information is stored

To protect personal information from misuse or loss, notes and information are retained electronically in Zanda which provides secure data storage in Sydney. Zanda is certified with ISO 27001, and this international standard recognises their commitment to ensuring the highest global security standards for healthcare data. 

We do NOT keep any credit card or banking details after payment is processed.

Any security breach will promptly investigate and, where appropriate, remedial action will be taken and the individual affected notified in accordance with the Privacy Act (1988).

Whilst every effort is made to ensure data security, it cannot be completely guaranteed.

Disclosure of your personal information

Personal information will not be disclosed about you to third parties without your consent, except when the disclosure is required by law.

Information will not be disclosed to overseas recipients.

Accessing your Personal Information

You may access the Personal Information we hold about you subject to certain exceptions. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact Counselling4Loss.

To protect your Personal Information, we may require identification from you before releasing the requested information.

You may request access to personal information we hold about you. You will be asked to specify what information you require. Access may be refused if the Privacy Act allows us to do so.

We aim to address all requests to access or correct information within 14 days. We will not charge any fee for your access request but will charge an administrative fee for providing a copy of your information. 

Integrity of your Personal Information

Counselling4Loss aims to ensure that your personal information collected is accurate and up to date. You may request an update or correction to personal information that is held about you and such requests will be dealt with as required by the Privacy Act.

Cookies and links to other websites

Our website may use cookies to improve your experience. You can choose to disable cookies in your browser settings, but this might affect site functionality.
We may link to other websites. We’re not responsible for their privacy practices, so please check their policies if you visit them.

Concerns or Complaints

If you believe your privacy has been breached, please contact Anne Sandler at Counselling4Loss. We’ll do our best to resolve the issue with you directly.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome, then you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at http://www.oaic.gov.au/

Policy Updates

This privacy policy may change from time to time. We’ll let you know about any updates via email or on our website.

Questions

Feel free to reach out to Anne Sandler at Counselling4Loss if you have any questions or concerns about privacy.