Privacy Policy
Wild Psychology/ Debbie Fear (“we”, “our”, “us”) is committed to providing quality services to you and this privacy policy outlines our ongoing obligations to you in respect of how we manage your Personal Information.
We are bound by legal requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.aoic.gov.au
What is Personal Information and why do we collect it?
Personal Information is information or an opinion that identifies an individual. Examples of Personal Information we collect include: names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.
This Personal Information is obtained in many ways including interviews, correspondence, by telephone, by email, via our website www.wildpsychology.com, from your website, from media and publications, from other publicly available sources, from cookies and from third parties and when other health practitioners provide personal information to us via referrals, correspondence and medical reports.
We don’t guarantee website links or policy of authorised third parties.
We collect your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing our services to you, providing information to our clients and marketing. We may also use your Personal Information for secondary purposes closely related to the primary purpose, in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure. You may unsubscribe from our mailing/marketing lists at any time by contacting us in writing.
When we collect Personal Information we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it.
Your Personal Information is stored in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
If you do not wish for your personal information to be collected in a way anticipated by this Privacy Policy, we may not be able to provide the service to you. In some circumstances, clients may request to be anonymous or to use a pseudonym, unless it is impracticable for us to deal with the client or if we are required or authorised by law to deal with identified individuals.
Sensitive Information
Sensitive information is defined in the Privacy Act to include information or opinion about such things as an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership of a trade union or other professional body, criminal record or health information.
Sensitive information will be used by us only:
For the primary purpose for which it was obtained
For a secondary purpose that is directly related to the primary purpose
With your consent; or where required or authorised by law.
Third Parties
Where reasonable and practicable to do so, we will collect your Personal Information only from you. However, in some circumstances we may be provided with information by third parties. In such a case we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the information provided to us by the third party.
Disclosure of Personal Information
Your Personal Information may be disclosed in a number of circumstances including the following:
Third parties where you consent to the use or disclosure; and
Where required or authorised by law.
For therapy, counselling and coaching 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 our reasonable belief, place a client or another person at serious risk to life, health, or safety; or
your prior approval has been obtained to:
a) provide a written report to another agency or professional, eg: a GP or a lawyer; or
b) discuss the material with another person, eg: 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 (eg: your doctor) 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.
Security of Personal Information
For clients of Wild Psychology, personal and sensitive information is held in a secure, cloud-based electronic health record system called Halaxy, accessible only by Debbie Fear. The security details of Halaxy’s software can be checked at: https://www.halaxy.com/article/security. The information in each client’s record includes personal information such as name, address, contact phone numbers, medical history, and other personal information collected as part of providing the service to clients. Limited access to this electronic document management system may be granted to employees for the purposes of completing administrative tasks (such as scheduling and invoicing). Such employees will not have access to clients’ sensitive information. If unauthorised access, disclosure, or loss of a client’s personal information occurs, we will activate our data breach plan and use all reasonable endeavours to minimise any risk of consequential serious harm.
When a client’s Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify such Personal Information. However, most of the Personal Information is or will be stored in Halaxy which will be kept by us for a minimum of 7 years.
Access to your Personal Information
You may access the Personal Information we hold about you and to update and/or correct it, subject to certain exceptions. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact us in writing.
We will not charge any fee for your access request, but may charge an administrative fee for providing a copy of your Personal Information or for our time if we need to make an appointment to clarify and discuss your request.
In order to protect your Personal Information we may require identification from you before releasing the requested information.
Maintaining the Quality of your Personal Information
It is important to us that your Personal Information is up to date. We will take reasonable steps to make sure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you find that the information we have is not up to date or is inaccurate, please advise us as soon as possible so we can update our records and ensure we can continue to provide quality services to you.
Policy Updates
This Policy may change from time to time and any updates will be published on our website.
Privacy Policy Complaints and Enquiries
If you have any queries about our Privacy Policy please contact us by email or via the contact form on our website.
If you wish to make a privacy complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please email debbie @ wildpsychology.com, making sure to identify yourself, detail any reference number(s) if relevant, give a brief description of the matter and how you think we have mishandled your personal information. Let us know what you would like us to do to resolve the matter. Please include a contact address or phone number so we can respond to you. We will endeavour to answer your complaint within 21 days.
If you are not happy with our response, you can lodge a privacy complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in writing, either using their online form at https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints or by post to: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001, AUSTRALIA.