Central Coast Women’s Counselling is committed to protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of any personal information (which may include your health information) you provide us whilst engaging with us through our website or whilst engaging in our counselling services. Compliance is in accordance with all Australian Privacy Principles (APPS) including the Privacy Act 1988. This sets out a number of principles concerning the privacy of individuals.

This statement provides information about the personal information we may collect whilst you are engaged with us and the way in which we may use that information including what circumstances may involve us sharing it with third parties.

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Personal Information Collection

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As a part of our intake process and registering you as one of our clients, the personal information we may collect and store from you may include the following.

• Full name, residential and postal address including email address, contact phone number, date of birth. Also, the name and contact details of your nominated emergency contact. Their details will be given the same level of privacy and security as your own.

You may wish to engage with us anonymously or with a pseudonym, and you have the right to do so, other than in the case where it is impracticable to do so, such as if we are requested or authorised by law to only engage with a person who is identifiable by their name.

• Any of your relevant health information, obtained with your consent, that may be required for us to provide you with the best outcomes possible whilst utilising our services.

• Any identifying numbers such as for private health funds or Victims Services or any other organisation offering schemes through which you may utilise to access our services.

Your privacy and confidentiality are always in the forefront of our mind and should you hold any concerns regarding your privacy or confidentiality please do not hesitate to raise this with your counsellor or other staff members of our service either in person, by telephone or in writing.

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How we may collect your information

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Central Coast Women’s Counselling may collect your personal information through the following means: -

• Whilst directly in contact with us such as in person or via the telephone, online video call such as Zoom, email, SMS, through our website and social media and in the completion of any hard copy forms.

In the case where you are unable to provide any details we feel necessary to assist us in the provision of our best service to you, with your consent, we may also collect information from: -

• A nominated person by yourself such as a guardian or responsible person including a family member.

• Other healthcare providers such GPs, specialists, allied health professionals, NDIS providers, hospitals and community health services, private health funds, Victims Services and any other organisations offering programs for rebated counselling services.

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How we may use your personal information 

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Central Coast Women’s Counselling may use your information to: -

• To send you reminders for your appointment and any relevant details such as Zoom links.

• Send you information relevant to a suggested referral agency.

• Send you educational information discussed during your sessions.

• Send you statements and invoices (where applicable)

• In the collection of payment for services rendered by us (where applicable) .

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Sharing of your personal information 

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In accordance with current privacy legislation, Central Coast Women’s Counselling will not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information.

Whilst providing our services to you it may be required that we share your information with other third parties in the following instances, we will do so only with your knowledge and consent: -

• Other healthcare providers such GPs, specialists, allied health professionals, NDIS providers, hospitals and community health services, private health funds, Victims Services and any other organisations offering programs for rebated counselling services with, which we may engage to provide our service to you.

• Trusted third parties who work with Central Coast Women’s Counselling to provide our service to you.

Where we may disclose your personal information to the other organisations, they will be obligated to use that information in accordance with the terms of this privacy statement.

In addition to the above listed disclosures reasonably necessary as outlined above, Central Coast Women’s Counselling may disclose your personal information to the extent that it is required to do so by law. Such as: -

• In the instance of mandatory reporting in the case of child protection and,

• When necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a client’s life, health or safety or public health and safety.

• In the instance of mandatory notification of certain diseases.

• In the case of court subpoenas in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings.

• In the instance may it arise, in order to establish, exercise or defend the legal rights of Central Coast Women’s Counselling and their staff.

• It is impracticable to obtain the client’s consent.

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Securing your personal information

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Central Coast Women’s Counselling will store your personal information and clinical information at our practice location as paper hard copies in secured locked storage and as electronic records including on secure third-party servers.

We will take all reasonable precautions whether technical or organisational to ensure no alteration, loss or misuse of your personal information. We may from time to time ask you if the information we hold for use is up to date and correct, and ask that you notify us of any changes that you become aware of as soon as reasonably possible.

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Accessing your personal information 

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You have a right to access or correct your personal information subject to exceptions allowed by law. If you would like to do so, we ask that you put your request in writing and contact Central Coast Women’s Counselling via telephone or email. Your request will be processed within 30 days.

Whilst we do not charge to process your application to access your personal information, you may be charged a fee such as to assist in covering administration or photocopying costs. This will be negotiated at the time of and prior to processing the request.

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Central Coast Women’s Counselling Website - Additional Privacy Statement Information

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There are many aspects of the site which can be viewed without providing personal information, however, for access to customer support features, you are required to submit personally identifiable information.

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Use of your personal information when accessing this website

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For each visitor to reach the site, we expressively collect the following non-personally identifiable information, including but not limited to browser type, version and language, operating system, pages viewed while browsing the Site, page access times and referring website address. This collected information is used solely internally for the purpose of gauging visitor traffic, trends and delivering personalised content to you while you are at this Site.

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Use of cookies

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Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the sites or service providers’ systems to recognise your browser and capture and remember certain information.
We use cookies to compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We do not provide any of this non-identifiable information to third parties.
If you prefer, you can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies via your browser settings. Like most websites, if you turn your cookies off, some of our service may not function properly. 

If you have objections to the Privacy Policy relevant to the Central Coast Women’s Counselling website, you should not access or use the Site.

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Other Websites

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Our website contains links to other websites. Central Coast Women’s Counselling is not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of any third party in this instance.

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Changes to the Privacy Policy

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Central Coast Women’s Counselling reserves the right to make amendments to this Privacy Policy at any time, the amended policy will be made available on our website and upon request.

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Contacting Us

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Central Coast Women’s Counselling welcomes your comments or questions regarding this Privacy Policy. If you would like any further information or to discuss the policy, please contact us via email julie@centralcoastwomenscounselling.com.au or by phoning on us 0452 606 023 during our business trading hours.

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Privacy Statment Complaints Process 

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Should you wish to make a complaint about a privacy issue or any of our Privacy Statement, please put this in writing and contact us via email julie@centralcoastwomenscounselling.com.au or by phoning 0452 606 023 during our business hours.

 

Any personal information that you share with us through this process will attract the same level of confidentiality and security that we ordinarily extend to any of our clients.

 

Should you be dissatisfied with the way in which Central Coast Women’s Counselling manages your complaint, you can also contact the Office of Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) www.oaic.gov.au or call 1300 363 992

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