Privacy Policy

At THE MOUNTAINS PSYCHOLOGY CLINIC PTY LTD, we take the protection of your personal and health information seriously. we respect your privacy and are commited to safeguarding the privacy of our clients. We adhere to the legal requirements contained in the Privacy Act 1988 and the applicable Health Privacy Principles in the Health Records Act. This policy sets out how we collect and treat your personal information. Personal information includes any information or opinion which is reasonably identifiable as being about you, whether true or not.

Collection and Use of Personal Information

We may collect personal information for the purposes of delivering services as well as communicating with you and your support network. We may collect information through The Mountains Psychology Clinic website, our client consent forms (and related third party services utilised for this collection) or in the course of providing services. The types of personal information we may collect about you include:

The Mountains Psychology Clinic will, from time to time, receive and store personal information you communicate via telephone, email, enter onto our website, or is provided to us directly by you or indirecty by third parties (for example- given to us in other forms, including through client forms and during appointments). This may also include demographic information, your name, age and/or date of birth, address, contact details, and details of products and services we have provided to you and/or that you have enquired about, and our response to you, and any current or historical treatment information that is relevant to the provision of our service to you.
We may collect personal information from third party service providers – when they engage us to supply services, provide information to us or invoice us for the provision of services. We may also collect information from other third parties (including but not limited to other health services, your GP or medical practitioner, or relevant organisation).
You may provide basic information such as your name, phone number, address and email address to enable us to send information, provide updates and process your product or service order. We may collect additional information at other times, including but not limited to, when you provide feedback, when you provide information about your personal or business affairs, medicare details, change your contact or email preference, respond to surveys, provide financial or billing information, or communicate with our customer support team.
We may also collect any other information you provide while interacting with us in person, via email, telephone, via the site, or via other media including any social media platform.
Any personal information collected from you or from any third parties will be protected as set out in this Privacy Policy.

We may collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for the following purposes:

to enable you to access and use our Site, associated applications and associated social media platforms.
to provide you with psychological services and treatment.
to contact and communicate with you, including to provide you with information, as well as updates about our services. We may also make you aware of new and additional products, services and opportunities available to you. We may also use your personal information to improve our products and services and better understand your needs.
for internal record keeping and administrative purposes.
to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations and resolve any disputes that we may have.
to consider your employment application.

We may contact you in a number of ways- including, but not limited to email, sms, telephone, fax, or mail. If you do not provide us with all of the information that we request, we may not be able to provide any services or treatment that you request.

Disclosure of Personal Information

Personal information is only supplied to a third party, including Medicare, when it is required for the delivery of our services.

We may disclose personal information to:

Any of our employees, and/or related entities (including sub-contractors), our insurers, professional advisers, agents, or suppliers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy.
Third party service providers for the purpose of enabling them to provide their services, including (without limitation) IT service providers, data storage, web-hosting and server providers, and payment systems operators
Medicare requires that we may disclose personal information necessary to your treatment and overall care to your identified referring General Practitioner
We may be required to disclose personal information in order to comply with legal or relevant regulatory requirements, such as a law, regulation, court order, subpoena, warrant, in the course of a legal proceeding or in response to a law enforcement agency request, or in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.
Our existing or potential agents or business partners.
Third parties, including agents or sub-contractors, who assist us in providing information, products, services or direct marketing to you. This may include parties located, or that store data, outside of Australia.
Anyone to whom our business or assets (or any part of them) are, or may (in good faith) be, transferred.
Third parties contracted to collect and process and transmit data. This may include parties that store data outside of Australia.
If you are a third-party service provider, your personal information will be used to communicate with you in relation to the provision of services and billing

By providing us with your personal information, you consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy and the types of disclosure covered by this Policy. Where we disclose your personal information to third parties, we will request that the third party follow this Policy regarding handling your personal information.

How we Treat Health Information

Health Information is sensitive personal information that is given a higher level of protection under the Australian Privacy Principles. The Mountains Psychology Clinic respects the sensitive and private nature of personal health information and complies with the Health Privacy Principles and the Code of Ethics and Practice Standards of the Australian Psychological Society in the collection, use and disclosure of all Health Information and to ensure that all Health Information is kept strictly confidential.

We only collect, hold, use and disclose sensitive health information for the following purposes:

any purposes you consent to.
the primary purpose for which it is collected (that is: as necessary for the provision of services, including recording personal information and Health Information which is relevant to your current situation for the purposes of assessment and diagnosis, or as otherwise in accordance with your consent, or as may be required by law including Court order).
secondary purposes that are directly related to the primary purpose for which it was collected, including disclosure to the above listed third parties as reasonably necessary to provide our services to you. We will only disclose personal information to third parties with your consent in accordance with this Privacy Policy or if permitted or authorised to do so by law.
to contact emergency services, or to speak with your caregiver, family, partner or support person where we reasonably believe there is a serious risk to the life, health or safety of you or another person and it is impracticable for us to obtain your consent; and if otherwise required or authorised by law.
We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure your information remains confidential and that any persons it is disclosed to in accordance with this Privacy Policy are also required to maintain your confidentiality.
You may at any time request a copy of the Health Information that The Mountains Psychology Clinic holds by contacting us at https://www.themountainspsychologyclinic/contact/ (subject to applicable law).
We will endeavour to maintain accurate records of your health information. Where our records are found to be inaccurate, we will correct any inaccuracies on the basis of the further information you provide.
Choice and consent: Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By providing personal information to us, you understand we will collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You do not have to provide personal information to us, however, if you do not, it may affect your use of this Site or the products and/or services offered on or through it.
Information from third parties: If we receive personal information about you from a third party, we will protect it as set out in this Privacy Policy. If you are a third party providing personal information about somebody else, you represent and warrant that you have such person’s consent to provide the personal information to us.
Restrict: You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information. If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by contacting us using the details below.
Access: You may request details of the personal information that we hold about you. An administrative fee may be payable for the provision of such information. In certain circumstances, as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), we may refuse to provide you with personal information that we hold about you.
Correction: If you believe that any information we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, please contact us using the details below. We will take reasonable steps to correct any information found to be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading or out of date.
Complaints: If you believe that we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles and wish to make a complaint, please contact us using the details below and provide us with full details of the alleged breach. We will promptly investigate your complaint and respond to you, in writing, setting out the outcome of our investigation and the steps we will take to deal with your complaint.

Data Storage and Security

We are committed to ensuring that the personal information we collect is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the personal information and protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. This includes the use of third party partners that are compliant with current Australian legislative and regulatory laws.
We cannot guarantee the security of any information that is transmitted to or by us over the Internet. The transmission and exchange of information is carried out at your own risk. Although we take measures to safeguard against unauthorised disclosures of information, we cannot assure you that the personal information we collect will not be disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.
Please ensure you provide us with your correct details, and let us know if you believe the information we have about you is inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or requires updating (and we will take reasonable steps to correct the information). We may take steps to destroy or permanently de-identify information when it is no longer required for any purpose for which it may be used or disclosed. We may retain and use de-identified information.

Cookies and Web Beacons

We may use cookies on our Site from time to time. Cookies are text files placed in your computer's browser to store your preferences. Cookies, by themselves, do not tell us your email address or other personally identifiable information. However, they do allow third parties, such as Google and Facebook, to cause our advertisements to appear on your social media and online media feeds as part of our retargeting campaigns. If and when you choose to provide our Site with personal information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie.
We may use web beacons on our Site from time to time. Web beacons (also known as Clear GIFs) are small pieces of code placed on a web page to monitor the visitor’s behaviour and collect data about the visitor’s viewing of a web page. For example, web beacons can be used to count the users who visit a web page or to deliver a cookie to the browser of a visitor viewing that page.

Links to Other Websites

Our Site may contain links to other websites. We do not have any control over those websites and we are not responsible for the protection and privacy of any personal information which you provide whilst visiting those websites.
Those websites are not governed by this Privacy Policy.

Amendments

We may, at any time and at our discretion, vary this Privacy Policy by publishing the amended Privacy Policy on our Site. We recommend you check our Site regularly to ensure you are aware of our current Privacy Policy.

For any questions or notices, please contact us at:

The Mountains Psychology Clinic Pty Ltd, ABN: 21 666 457 816

Email: admin@themountainspsychologyclinic.com.au

Last update: 13th April 2023