Privacy Policy

Confidentiality and Privacy
‍We take the protection of your personal information seriously. Personal information includes any information or opinion, whether true or not, about a person who is identified or whose identity can reasonably be established.

As part of providing a psychological service to you, Receptive Psychology needs to collect and record personal information from you that is relevant to your situation, such as your name, contact information, medical history and other relevant information.

This collection of personal information will be a necessary part of the psychological assessment and treatment that is conducted.

Your personal information is gathered as part of your assessment and treatment, is kept securely and, in the interests of your privacy, used only by your psychologist and the authorised personnel of the practice (as necessary). Paper-based documents are kept in a filing cabinet in a locked office, and we also keep documentation on our secure practice management software, or temporary documentation on a password-protected computer. Your personal information is retained in order to document what happens during sessions, and enables the psychologist to provide a relevant and informed psychological service to you. We endeavour to use fax when communicating sensitive information (e.g., progress letter to your GP), however email is sometimes used by other service providers, and this is outside our control.

Clients are entitled to request to see the information kept about them on file. All requests by clients for access to information held about them should be lodged with Receptive Psychology Director Ms Amy Brandler. These requests will be responded to within 14 days and, if necessary, an appointment will be made for clarification purposes, which may incur a fee.

Consent
‍By engaging us or registering your details on our website or by email or telephone, and/or completing a client consent form or otherwise engaging our psychological services, you consent to us and our psychologists collecting, using and disclosing your personal information (including Health Information) for the purposes specified in this Privacy Policy.

Use
‍We may use any personal information collected (excluding Health Information) to provide our counselling services, operate the Website, respond to feedback and complaints, communicate with third party service providers or if needed to enforce our Client Agreement (Client Consent Form) with you. If you are a third-party service provider, we will use your personal information to communicate with you including to accept your offer to provide services, correspond with you in relation to the provision of services and to pay your invoices.

Disclosure of Personal Information
‍All personal information gathered by the psychologist during the provision of the psychological service will remain confidential except when:

1. it is subpoenaed by a court, or disclosure is otherwise required or authorised by law; or

2. failure to disclose the information would in the reasonable belief of ReceptivePsychology personnel, place you or another person at serious risk to life, health or safety; or

3. your prior approval (verbal or written) has been obtained to
a). provide a written report to another professional agency. e.g. a specialist or a lawyer; or
b). discuss the material with another person, e.g. a parent, employer, health provider or third party funder; or
c). disclose the information in another way.

As part of routine care, and Medicare requirements, your psychologist will write to your referring GP with a general description of your assessment, treatment and progress.

Nature of Services Provided
‍All practitioners are qualified and registered psychologists. We use a combination of contemporary evidence-based treatments including Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Schema Therapy. Prior to commencing treatment your practitioner will discuss their proposed treatment approach with you and ensure you understand the rationale for the approach, including any identified risks.

Telehealth
‍You may request to meet via telehealth, rather than having an in-person session, and this will be accommodated, except where it is not clinically appropriate (e.g.the nature of the therapy is not suitable for telehealth). You will be sent a personalised link in the reminder email.

To make the most of the session you will need to have access to a quiet, private space, and an appropriate device and reliable internet connection. A telehealth consultation may be subject to limitations such as an unstable network connection, which may affect the quality of the session. If the internet becomes too unstable, the session may be continued by phone.

Limitations to Services
‍ReceptivePsychology is a private provider of psychology services. Treatment is provided via prearranged, scheduled appointments. Practitioners have limited availability for contact outside of scheduled appointments. Practitioners may not have an opportunity to respond to between-session contact prior to your next appointment so this should not be relied upon for emergency matters. For emergency matters please contact the appropriate agencies using the details below.

ReceptivePsychology practitioners will only provide services that are within their professional capabilities, competence and role as a private provider of psychology services. If treatment needs are identified that are outside of this scope your practitioner will endeavour to assist you to identify alternative suitable providers.

Emergency Contacts
‍ReceptivePsychology is not an emergency service. We are not able to respond to urgent or emergency matters and our communication channels (Phone, Email) are not monitored outside of standard business hours.

For urgent concerns relating the mental health or other emergencies please contact the appropriate emergency services:
‍
Emergency: 000
Lifeline: 13 11 14