The aim of this policy is:

- To reduce disruptions to the psychologist’s diary because of client late cancellations and non-arrivals,

- Make sure that other clients do not miss out on the opportunity to access therapy,

- Reduce the income loss as a direct result of client cancellations and non-arrivals.

Clients are informed of this policy at the time of booking and acknowledge the need to cancel or pay a late cancellation fee when filling in their initial Client Information Intake Form and Terms of Service.

Clients will receive a text message three days before their appointment as a courtesy reminder. Please note that whilst Down South Psychology will endeavour to remind you of your appointments, these should not be relied upon and it is your responsibility to keep track of any appointments you have made.

If for some reason you need to cancel or postpone your appointment, please try to give at least three full business day’s notice. You can do this via the Contact Us tab on our website, by emailing downsouthpsychology@gmail.com, by sending a text, or by leaving a voicemail message on 0432 551 581.

Failure to cancel or reschedule with less than three full business day’s notice will incur a fee of $150. Any appointments cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged the full fee. If you have a medical certificate, then this fee will be waived. Please understand that other clients might be waiting for an appointment so they can access counselling support sooner.

As you can understand, it is nearly impossible for a psychologist to book a new client at very short notice. If several clients cancel in one day, then the psychologist loses a large amount of their income.

Please note that Medicare or health insurance rebates are not applicable to cancellation fees.

ReturnToWorkSA claimants: please note your claim does not cover cancellation or non-arrival fees.

Our psychologists practise according to the “Code of Ethics” of the Australian Psychological Society.

As part of providing psychological consultations to you, your psychologist will need to collect and record personal information about you that is relevant to your current situation. The information will be a necessary part of the psychological assessment and intervention that is conducted. Information is stored in a locked filing cabinet, which is only accessible by the psychologist. You may view the material recorded in your file upon request, subject to the exceptions in National Privacy Principle 6, and Sections A.5. and A.6. of the “Code of Ethics” of the Australian Psychological Society.

Information obtained from you during sessions or from referral documentation remains confidential and cannot be disclosed without your consent. There are some legal limitations to confidentiality in the situation where:

• Information is subpoenaed by a court; or

• Failure to disclose information would place you or another person at risk; or

• Your prior, written approval has been obtained to:

  • Provide a written report to another professional or agency (e.g. Medical practitioner, lawyer, WorkCover agent, etc.); or

  • Discuss the material with another person (e.g. a parent, employer, or other third party billing source).

Your psychologist will consult with you if there is a need to discuss information about you with another person, and a consent form for release of information will be signed.

Our Website

All attempts to secure personal information transmitted via our website are made, however users should be aware that there are inherent risks transmitting information via the Internet. An alternative option for users is to contact the practice by telephone or mail.

Whilst the risk of anyone intercepting and misusing information transmitted by email is usually quite low to you, it should be noted that a trained individual may be able to do this.

Please note, the following information may be accessed whilst using our website, in order to improve its efficiency for users:

• The type of browser you are using;

• The date and time of your visit;

• Your top level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc);

• The address of the referring site;

• Your server’s IP address

• The address of the pages accessed and any documents downloaded.

No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities, unless disclosure is required by law or due to a mandatory requirement of a Court, Governmental Agency or Regulatory Authority. We use the information only for statistical analysis or systems administration purposes.

If your email address is transmitted to us electronically either in an email message or via a web page form, it will only be used for the purpose for which you provide it.

This website may contain links to other sites. Down South Psychology Pty Ltd is not responsible for the privacy practices of these web sites and has no knowledge of whether cookies or other tracking devices are used on linked sites. If you have any concerns regarding your privacy you should ensure you are aware of the privacy policies of those sites.

Down South Psychology Pty Ltd (“the Practice”)

This document outlines Down South Psychology Pty Ltd's (the Practice) policy regarding the use of Social Media. Please read it to understand how the Practice and its staff (“its representatives”) conduct themselves on the Internet. If you have any questions about anything within this document, I encourage you to bring it up with your practitioner. As new technology develops and the Internet changes, there may be times when this policy needs to be updated. In the event this occurs, the new policy will be posted on the Practice’s website and on the premises.

DEFINITION

‘Social media’ describes the online and mobile tools that people use to share opinions, information, experiences, images, and video or audio clips and includes websites and applications used for social networking. Common sources of social media include, but are not limited to, social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, blogs (personal, professional and those published anonymously), WOMO, True Local and microblogs such as Twitter, content-sharing websites such as YouTube and Instagram, and discussion forums and message boards.

FRIENDING

Down South Psychology practitioners or staff will not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site. Adding clients can compromise your confidentiality, and both parties’ respective privacy. It can also blur the lines of a therapeutic and/or professional relationship. Should you attend the practice and discover that a staff member here is already connected to you via a social networking site, you are well within your rights to remove them, without notice. If you choose not to, please be aware that your privacy is the first and foremost priority. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when next you attend the Practice.

LIKING

The Practice may have a Facebook and/or LinkedIn page designed to raise its profile, and to review how Facebook/LinkedIn develops as a technology for connecting. You are welcome to view the Facebook/LinkedIn page, and read or share any articles, announcements, pictures, or other information and/or materials posted there. You are welcome to Like this page, however you should be aware that Liking a page is publically broadcasted to your other connections on Facebook/LinkedIn. This may cause those connections to surmise you are a client of the Practice.

BUSINESS REVIEW SITES

You may find the Practice on sites such as Yelp, TrueLocal, Healthgrades, Yahoo Local, Bing, Good Therapy, Google, or other places which list businesses. Some of these sites include forums in which users rate their providers and add reviews. Facebook also has a review option for businesses with a Facebook page. Many of these sites comb search engines for business listings and automatically add listings, regardless of whether the business has added itself to the site. If you should find the Practice’s listing on any of these sites, please know that the Practice’s listing is NOT a request for a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from you as a client. You have a right to express yourself on any site you wish, including your own, if you are sharing your therapy journey. Due to confidentiality, however, the Practice or its representatives cannot respond to any review on any of these sites, whether positive or negative. In the event that you have had a negative experience, you are strongly encouraged to discuss this with the practitioner, prior to posting any review. This can be relevant to the therapeutic process.

LOCATION-BASED SERVICES (LBS)

If you use location-based services on your mobile phone, you may wish to be aware of the privacy issues related to using these services. Google, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn and Apple Maps may show the Practice’s address as they are used to ethically advertise the Practice’s services. However, if you have GPS tracking enabled on your device, it is possible that others may surmise you are a therapy client due to regular check-ins at the Practice. Please be aware of this risk if you are intentionally “checking in” from the Practice, or if you have a passive LBS app enabled on your phone.

EMAIL

Due to the nature of the Practice, it may sometimes be difficult for you to speak directly to your practitioner outside of a scheduled session time. You may be directed to send in an email with any information you wish passed on, queries you have, or requests. This is because it is the best method of passing on information to your practitioner. The Practice’s email is managed through GMail. You can get more information on Google’s Privacy and Security policies here (https://www.google.com/policies/). Should you choose to communicate via email, be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your and the Practice’s Internet Service Providers. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are, in theory, available to be read by the system administrator(s) of the Internet Service Provider. You should also know that any emails received from you and sent in reply become a part of your legal record.

CRISIS SITUATIONS

In the event of a crisis situation (e.g. threat of self-harm or harm to others), please be aware that Social Media is not an effective contact method. Should a crisis arise, Down South Psychology strongly advises you contact the Mental Health Triage (previously the Australian Crisis Intervention Service) on 13 14 65. Alternatively, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or dial 000 for an ambulance.

Out-of-session Communication

Communicating outside of sessions, especially via easy-to-reach technology, can blur the boundaries of therapy and stop the effect of you dedicating 50-mins per session to really working on the hard stuff. Your sessions are an open space for you to discuss anything you wish and you should use them that way. Down South Psychology does not provide e-therapy or phone therapy outside of your allocated appointments.

It is recommended that you trial a few telephone support services and find which one 'fits' for you, so that you can make use of it in a crisis. A couple of good options are Lifeline on 13 11 14 or their after-hours chat room www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/online-services/crisis-chat.

If you feel you need additional support outside of therapy sessions, there are a few great support groups around. Black Dog Institute has a list available at: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/getting-help/clinics-support-groups/other-support-groups

Email Communication

Occasionally there may be a reason you need to provide some document or information via email. Be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your Internet service provider. These logs are in theory available to be read by their system administrator. You should also know that any emails received from you and any responses to you become a part of your legal record.

Social Media Communications

Adding clients as contacts on any social media sites can compromise the confidentiality of the client and so it is not an approved practise under the Australian Psychological Society Code of Conduct. I do not have any administrator control over the Neighbourhood Clinic website. The APS Code of Conduct prohibits psychologists from soliciting testimonials from clients and therefore we ask that clients do not comment on our work online.

Social contact

Due to professional ethics psychologists do not connect personally with clients outside of their professional work roles. Were you and your psychologist to encounter each other in the community (e.g school, or event) your psychologist will respect your privacy and not approach you or discuss your personal information in public, but will be polite and respectful, interacting in a manner that is appropriate to the setting.

Online Information in Therapy

I do recommend use of online Apps, such as those that allows you to record your emotions and thoughts during the day. I will not monitor this usage online. You will be expected to bring any useful reporting from these Apps to your session to share. The material in them remains your own, and it is your decision as to what information you wish to share with me. It is preferable that you ask your therapist first before showing any material that might be offensive, such as explicit material. It may be that you can simply describe this material rather than showing it to your therapist.