Privacy Policy
Your privacy, in plain language: how Yellow Stable Psychology collects, uses, stores and protects your personal and health information.
The short version
- We collect personal and health information so we can provide you with safe and appropriate psychological care.
- Your information is treated as confidential and stored securely.
- We only share it with your consent, or where the law requires or permits us to.
- You can ask to see or correct the information we hold about you.
- Questions or concerns? Contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@yellowstable.com.
1. About this policy
Yellow Stable Psychology ("Yellow Stable", "we", "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we handle your personal information, including sensitive health information. We comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), and with applicable state and territory health records laws, including the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic). It applies to our clients and prospective clients, the parents and guardians of children we see, referrers, and visitors to our website.
2. The information we collect
As a psychology practice, we collect the information we need to provide your care:
- Personal information: your name, date of birth, contact details, emergency contact, and (where relevant) Medicare, health fund, NDIS or referral details.
- Health and sensitive information: the reasons you are seeking support, relevant medical, developmental, family and social history, information from assessments and questionnaires, session notes, and reports.
- Information about children: where we see a child or young person, we collect information from them and from their parents or guardians.
- Payment information: billing details, processed through our payment provider.
- Website information: the details you give us through our enquiry form, and limited, aggregated technical information when you visit our site.
3. How we collect your information
We collect information:
- directly from you, when you enquire, attend appointments, or complete forms and questionnaires;
- from a parent or guardian, when we are working with a child or young person;
- from others involved in your care, with your consent, such as your GP, paediatrician, psychiatrist, another treating practitioner, school or family members, where the information is relevant to your assessment or treatment.
We will always try to collect health information from you directly where it is reasonable and practicable to do so.
4. Why we collect and use your information
- To provide psychological assessment, therapy and related services.
- To communicate with you about your appointments and your care.
- To prepare assessment reports and, with your consent, share them with people you nominate.
- To manage appointments, billing, and Medicare or other rebate claims.
- For clinical supervision and quality improvement, handled confidentially.
- To meet our legal, professional and ethical obligations as registered psychologists.
5. Consent
By providing your information and engaging our services, you consent to us handling it as described in this policy. For children and young people, consent is generally provided by a parent or guardian. You can withdraw or vary your consent at any time by contacting us, although this may affect our ability to provide services.
6. How and when we disclose your information
We treat your information as confidential. We may disclose it:
- to other practitioners involved in your care (such as your referring GP), with your consent;
- to people or organisations you ask us to share it with, for example a school or the NDIS, with your consent;
- to Medicare or your health fund, where needed to process a rebate or claim;
- to our trusted service providers (see below), under confidentiality; and
- where we are required or authorised by law, for example to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a person's life, health or safety, to comply with mandatory reporting obligations, or in response to a subpoena, court order or other legal requirement.
We will not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for unrelated direct marketing.
7. Service providers
We use a small number of trusted providers to run the practice, such as practice management and booking software, secure telehealth video, secure file storage, email, and payment processing. These providers are bound to protect your information and to use it only for the services they provide to us. We choose providers that store data in Australia wherever practicable.
8. Storage, security and retention
We hold your information in secure electronic systems with access controls, and in secure physical records where applicable. Our team is bound by confidentiality, and we take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access. We retain health records as required by law and professional standards, generally for at least 7 years from your last appointment, or, for a child, until they turn 25, after which records are securely destroyed or de-identified.
9. Overseas disclosure
We aim to keep your information in Australia. We will not disclose your personal information to recipients overseas without your consent, except where a service provider's infrastructure involves overseas storage, in which case we take reasonable steps to ensure your information is handled consistently with the APPs.
10. Accessing and correcting your information
You can ask to access the personal information we hold about you, or to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. Please contact our Privacy Officer. We will respond within a reasonable time and in line with the Privacy Act and applicable health records laws. In limited circumstances we may need to decline access (for example, where it would pose a serious risk to someone's safety), and we will explain why. An administrative fee may apply for providing access.
11. Email and online communication
Our website and email are not monitored at all times and are not for emergencies. If you need urgent help, please use the crisis numbers at the top of this page. While we take care to communicate securely, no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure.
12. Complaints
If you have a concern about how we have handled your information, please contact our Privacy Officer first so we can try to resolve it. If you are not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au), or the relevant state health complaints body, in Victoria, the Health Complaints Commissioner.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on our website, with the "last updated" date shown above.
14. Contact us
Privacy Officer, Yellow Stable Psychology
Email: privacy@yellowstable.com