As an ethical practice, Be Heard Therapy adheres to Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act) to determine how your Personal Information is collected, used, disclosed, stored, kept secure and disposed of. A copy of the APPs can be viewed on the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at https://www.oaic.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 collected by Be Heard Therapy includes clients: names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.

Personal Information is obtained in ways including during sessions, via correspondence, by phone, by email, via our website www.beheardtherapy.au, from your website, from media and publications, from other publicly available sources and from third parties. Be Heard Therapy will never provide your personal information to third parties unless in exceptional circumstances, such as when required to by law.

We collect your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing services to you. 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. When we collect Personal Information, we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how it will be used.

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.

Confidential written records are maintained to reflect the issues and goals identified in counselling sessions and are kept securely for seven years.

Third Parties

Where reasonable and practicable to do so, your Personal Information will only be collected from you. However, in some circumstances information about you may be provided to Be Heard Therapy by third parties. In such cases, all reasonable steps will be taken 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.

Security of Personal Information

Your Personal Information is stored in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. When your Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, it will be destroyed. However, Personal Information may be stored in client files for a minimum of 7 years.

Access to your Personal Information

You may access the Personal Information we hold about you, to view, update and/or correct it. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact us. We may charge an administrative fee. 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

Be Heard Therapy 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 practicable, so we can update our records.

Website & web hosting information

Our website is built using WordPress.org, who collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. WordPress.org’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how WordPress.org’s visitors use its website. From time to time, WordPress.org may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website. WordPress.org also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. WordPress.org does not use IP addresses to identify its visitors, however, and does not disclose such information unless legally obligated to.

Additionally, information about how visitors use WordPress websites is collected automatically using “cookies”. Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity.

Please see their cookie policy for more information about what cookies are collected on WordPress.org.

Be Heard Therapy uses a local Australian website hosting service based in Sydney. The booking platform that we use is based in the United States of America.

Policy Updates

This Policy may change from time to time.

Privacy Policy Complaints and Enquiries

If you have any queries or complaints about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at: enquiries@beheardtherapy.au