Privacy Policy

Mind Health is committed to protecting your privacy. As a psychology practice, we handle sensitive health information with the utmost care. We follow the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the NSW Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002.

This policy explains what information we collect, why, how we protect it, and the choices you have. If anything here is unclear, please contact us. We're happy to talk it through.

1. What we collect

We only collect information necessary to provide you with safe, effective care and to run our practice. This may include:

• Your name, contact details, date of birth and emergency contact.
• Medicare, private health, NDIS or insurer details for billing and rebates.
• Health information, meaning your reasons for seeking care, history, assessments and session notes.
• Referral information from your GP or other practitioners.
• Technical information when you use our website, such as pages visited (via privacy-respecting analytics).

2. How we use it

Your information is used to provide and coordinate your psychological care, communicate with you about appointments, process billing and rebates, meet our legal and professional obligations, and improve our services. We will never sell your information.

3. When we share it

Your health information is confidential. We only disclose it:

• With your consent (for example, a report to your GP or referrer).
• Where required or authorised by law, or to prevent a serious threat to life, health or safety.
• To Medicare or your insurer for claims you have asked us to process.

What you share with your psychologist stays between you and your psychologist. The only exceptions are the narrow legal ones above, which they will explain in your first session.

Independent practitioners at our rooms

Some practitioners who consult from our rooms run their own independent practices, and each one is named as an independent practitioner on their profile. They take their own bookings, keep their own client records and handle your personal information under their own privacy policy, not this one. Mind Health does not keep their clients’ records. If you see one of them, ask them for their privacy policy.

4. How we protect it

We store records in secure, access-controlled clinical systems with encryption, and paper records (where they exist) in locked storage. Access is limited to staff who need it to provide your care. Our team is bound by professional confidentiality and privacy training.

5. Accessing & correcting your information

You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you and to request corrections. To make a request, contact our practice manager. We may need to verify your identity, and in rare cases there are legal grounds to limit access. If so, we'll always explain our reasoning.

6. Retention

We are required to retain adult health records for at least 7 years from your last appointment, and records for anyone under 18 until they turn 25. After that, records are securely destroyed.

We keep the enquiries you send us, through our website or our earlier online forms, including anything you tell us about your health and any documents you attach, securely in our client management system for seven years after the last activity on your enquiry, or, if you were under 18 when you contacted us, until you turn 25 if that is later; after that we delete them, keeping only a short record of whose information it was, the period it covered and when it was deleted.

7. Our website

Our site uses minimal, privacy-respecting analytics to understand how it's used.

The self-assessment tools on our Resources page and the Mind Health Check run in your browser. Your scores are kept only in that browser tab, so a guided check can carry on from one questionnaire to the next, and they are cleared when you close it. Your individual answers are not kept. They are not sent to us unless you choose to; every tool has a separate step that asks first. If you do send your results to us, we store them with your enquiry so a clinician can read them before your first appointment. They are then covered by the rest of this policy. Separately, the appointment-request wizard keeps your matching choices temporarily in this browser tab so you do not lose your place if you navigate away. It is discarded when the tab closes, and your name, phone, email and notes are never written to it. The wizard also asks for your name, mobile and email (the email is optional) before the questions rather than after them. It sends those three details to our intake team when you continue past that step, whichever of them you have filled in. That way an enquiry interrupted half way is not lost. Nothing else travels with them. Your reasons for enquiring, anything you say about safety, any screener result and your notes stay on the page until you press Request appointment. A part-finished enquiry is held like any other enquiry, and section 5 covers asking us what we hold and having it corrected or removed.

These tools are screening aids, not a diagnosis, and nobody at Mind Health is watching them in real time. If you are in crisis, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 000.

Downloading our free guides

The first time you download a guide from our resource library (mindhealth.com.au/resources/), we ask for your first name and email address. We use them to email you a link to the guide, and to count how often each guide is downloaded. We keep the list of guides you have downloaded for 12 months from each download, and your name and email address until 12 months after your last download, then delete them. Only our practice administrators can see this list. We also keep a monthly count of downloads for each guide, with no names attached, so we know which guides are useful. Your name and email address are also added to our contact records, and a copy of the form is kept for 90 days.

Remembering your device

So you are not asked again, we put a small file (a cookie) called mh_reader on your device. It holds a random code, not your name or email address, and it lasts 6 months. We keep only a scrambled copy of that code, linked to your details, so we can show your first name when you download another guide. To stop your device being remembered, choose "Not you?" when it shows your name, or clear your browser's cookies for mindhealth.com.au. Either way, we will ask for your details again next time.

The Mind Health Journal

Our Mind Health Journal is separate and optional. We only add you to it if you tick the box on the download form, and we ask you to confirm by email first if your email address is new to us. We record when you ticked the box and the words you agreed to. You can unsubscribe from any Journal email at any time.

8. Documents you send us through this website

Our referral and GP referral forms let you upload a referral letter, Mental Health Treatment Plan, NDIS plan, assessment or prior report. These documents are health information, and we treat them accordingly.

• Why we collect them. Only to arrange and provide your care: triaging the referral, matching you with the right clinician and preparing for your first appointment.
• Where they go. Files are stored in a private folder on our web server that cannot be opened from the internet, under a random filename with no personal details in it. They can only be retrieved by signed-in Mind Health staff.
• Who sees them. Our reception and intake team, and the clinician you are matched with.
• How long we keep them there. The document is moved into your clinical record and automatically deleted from this website within 7 days. The copy in your clinical record is then kept under the retention rules in section 6.
• Your choice. Uploading is optional. You can email documents to info@mindhealth.com.au, post them, or bring them to your first appointment instead.

If you upload a document by mistake, or want it removed sooner, email info@mindhealth.com.au and we will delete it.

9. Making a complaint

If you have a privacy concern, please contact us first. We take it seriously and will respond promptly. If you're not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.