Psychological Services:
Privacy Policy for Management of Personal Information
This document describes the privacy policy of Mind Zone Psychology (ME) for the management of Clients’ personal information. The psychological service provided is bound by the legal requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Client information
Client paper files are held in a secure metal filing cabinet, secure local electronic storage, and a secure Australian online location, which is accessible only to authorised employees. The information on each file includes personal information such as name, address, contact phone numbers, medical history, and other personal information collected as part of providing the psychological service.
How Clients’ personal information is collected
A Client’s personal information is collected in a number of ways during psychological consultation with Mind Zone Psychology (ME), including when the Client provides information directly to Mind Zone Psychology (ME) using hardcopy and electronic forms, correspondence via email, when the Client interacts directly with Mind Zone Psychology (ME) employees such as the receptionist, and when other health practitioners provide personal information to Mind Zone Psychology (ME), via referrals, correspondence and medical reports.
Consequence of not providing personal information
If the Client does not wish for their personal information to be collected in a way anticipated by this Privacy Policy, Mind Zone Psychology (ME) may not be in a position to provide the psychological service to the Client. In some circumstances, Clients may request to be anonymous or to use a pseudonym, unless it is impracticable for Mind Zone Psychology (ME) to deal with the Client or if Mind Zone Psychology (ME) is required or authorised by law to deal with identified individuals.
Purpose of holding personal information
A Client’s personal information is gathered and used for the purpose of providing psychological services, which includes assessing, diagnosing and treating a Client’s presenting issue or in the course of providing other services (e.g. coaching). The personal information is retained in order to document what happens during sessions, and enables the psychologist to provide a relevant and informed psychological service.
Disclosure of personal information
- Clients’ personal information will remain confidential except when:
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 the Mind Zone Psychology (ME) place a Client or another person at serious risk to life, health or safety; or
- the Client’s prior approval has been obtained to:
a) provide a written report to another agency or professional, e.g., a GP 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; or
d) disclose to another professional or agency (e.g. your GP) and disclosure of your personal information to that third party is for a purpose which is directly related to the primary purpose for which your personal information was collected.
A Client’s personal information is not disclosed to overseas recipients, unless the Client
consents or such disclosure is otherwise required by law. Clients’ personal information
will not be used, sold, rented or disclosed for any other purpose. In the event that unauthorised access, disclosure or loss of a Client’s personal information occurs will activate its data breach action procedures and use all reasonable endeavours to minimise any risk of consequential serious harm.
Requests for access and correction to Client information
At any stage Clients may request to see and correct the personal information about them kept on file. The psychologist may discuss the contents with them and/or give them a copy, subject to the exceptions in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). If satisfied that personal information is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete, reasonable steps will be taken in the circumstances to ensure that this information is corrected. All requests by Clients for access to or correction of personal information held about them should be lodged with Nikita (Nik) Kotlarov. These requests will be responded to in writing within 21 days, and an appointment will be made if necessary for clarification purposes.
Concerns
If Clients have a concern about the management of their personal information, they
may inform Nikita (Nik) Kotlarov. Upon request they can obtain a copy of the Australian
Privacy Principles, which describe their rights and how their personal information
should be handled. Ultimately, if Clients wish to lodge a formal complaint about the use
of, disclosure of, or access to, their personal information, they may do so with the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by phone on 1300 363 992, online
at http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/making-a-privacy-complaint or by post to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, GPO Box 5218, Sydney, NSW 2001.
Internet specific privacy:
Our website address is: https://www.mindzone.com.au.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Contact forms
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
Who we share your data with
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Contact information
Please see Contact page