Privacy Policy
Equal Psychology Pty Ltd (ACN 667 320 050) is a private psychology practice with rooms in Kew and Croydon and sessions online. We are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles, and by the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) for health information.
In short: we collect only what we need to provide our services and run this website, we keep it secure, we do not sell it, and you can ask to see or correct what we hold about you at any time.
What we collect
When you visit this website. Our hosting provider records standard technical information with each request, such as your IP address, browser type, the page requested, and the date and time. We use it to keep the site secure and working. We do not run advertising, advertising cookies or tracking pixels on this website.
Visitor statistics. To understand how people use this website, we record which pages are viewed, how long each page is open, how far down it is read, which buttons and links are pressed, whether the visit is on a phone or a computer, and the name of the website someone came from. Pages viewed in one visit are linked by a random code that is kept only in that browser tab and deleted when the tab is closed. We do not use cookies for this, and we do not record your IP address, location or anything else that identifies you or follows you across other websites. These statistics are kept for 90 days.
Page speed and visit counts from our hosting provider. Cloudflare, which hosts this website, also runs a small measuring script (Cloudflare Web Analytics) that counts page views and measures how quickly pages load, which page someone came from, and the type of browser and device. It does not use cookies or other browser storage and does not track individual visitors. As with every request to the website, Cloudflare uses the visitor's IP address to work out which country a visit comes from. Cloudflare keeps these statistics for up to six months.
When you join our mailing list. Your email address, and the date and page you signed up from.
When you like a blog post. Your choice is stored only in your own browser, so the button remembers it. We keep a total count for each post, with no information about who liked it.
When you use Ask. Ask is the search on this website. To find the pages and answers that fit your question, we keep the words of your question, the day you asked it, and which answer and page we showed you. Before saving, we remove email addresses, phone numbers, web links and other numbers. We do not keep your IP address, cookies, device or browser details, location or anything else that links a question to you, and your question is not written into our hosting provider's request records. If a question mentions a crisis, such as suicide, self-harm or being in danger, we count that it was asked but do not keep the words. Questions are deleted after 90 days. Please do not type your name or other personal details into Ask. If you need help with something personal, contact us directly.
When you change display settings. Your text size, contrast and reading choices are stored only in your own browser. We do not receive them.
When you contact us or book. Your name, contact details and anything you choose to tell us. Online bookings are made through our practice management system, Pracsuite, which collects the details needed to make the appointment.
When you hire a consulting room. If you are a health practitioner hiring a room in Kew, we collect your name, email, phone, date of birth, ABN, profession, registration or membership number and expiry, Working With Children Check number and expiry, insurance details, a copy of your Working With Children Check and Certificate of Currency, your signature on the hire agreement, your bookings and your payment records. We use your date of birth to set your personal access code for the suite door. An inspection request sends us your name and phone number by email; the website does not keep a copy.
When you sign in. Room renters and our staff sign in with a one-time code sent by email, or with Google. If you choose Google, Google tells us your email address and that it is verified; we receive nothing else from your Google account. Signing in sets a cookie that keeps you signed in, and Google sign-in also sets a short-lived cookie that protects the sign-in step. Both are strictly necessary and are not used for anything else.
When you are a client. Health information needed to provide psychological care, such as the reason you are seeking support, relevant history, session notes, assessment results and correspondence with your GP or other referrer. We also collect your Medicare details and referral information where you use a Medicare rebate or a funded program.
How we collect it
Mostly from you, directly. With your consent, we may also receive information from your GP, psychiatrist or another referrer, or from a funding body such as TAC, WorkCover or a Support at Home provider. You can choose to deal with us using a pseudonym for general enquiries. For clinical services and Medicare claims we need your real name.
How we use it
- To provide, coordinate and review your psychological care.
- To manage appointments, fees, Medicare rebates and funded program claims.
- To communicate with your referrer about your care, with your consent.
- To send our newsletter, if you have subscribed.
- To improve Ask: we review the questions people ask so we can write new answers and fill gaps in our pages.
- To manage consulting room hire: agreements, bookings, payments, suite access and reminders when a registration, check or insurance is about to expire.
- To keep this website secure and working, and to understand which pages are useful so we can improve them.
- To meet our legal and professional obligations.
When we share it
We do not sell or rent personal information. We share it only:
- with your consent, for example a letter to your GP;
- with Medicare or a funding body to process a claim;
- with the service providers who help us run the practice and this website (listed below), under their own privacy and security obligations;
- where the law requires or allows it, including where we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to someone's life, health or safety.
Service providers
- Cloudflare hosts this website, protects it from misuse, stores our visitor statistics, runs our Ask search and stores our mailing list, the questions asked in Ask, and room hire accounts and bookings. Its Turnstile check on our forms confirms a person, not a program, is sending them. Cloudflare may set cookies that are strictly necessary for security.
- Pracsuite is our booking and practice management system, and holds client records.
- Microsoft 365 provides our email, and its SharePoint storage holds signed room hire agreements and renters' documents.
- Stripe processes room hire payments. Your card details go directly to Stripe; we do not see or store them. On the booking page, Stripe sets cookies used to prevent fraud.
- Google provides sign-in for renters and staff who choose it.
- Anthropic provides Claude, an AI assistant we use to review the questions asked in Ask each day and draft new answers. It receives only the stored question words described above, with nothing that identifies the person who asked. Every answer is checked and approved by one of our psychologists before it appears on the website.
Some of these providers store or process information outside Australia, including in the United States. We choose providers that protect information to a standard consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.
Our newsletter
We send our newsletter only to people who have subscribed. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can also ask us to remove you at any time. We use your email address only to send the newsletter.
Keeping it secure
We store information electronically with access limited to the people who need it, using password protection and secure systems. Health information is kept for the periods required by law, including the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic), and then securely destroyed or de-identified. Room hire records, including agreements, documents, bookings and payment records, are kept for seven years after the hire ends, to meet our financial record-keeping obligations and in case a question about the agreement arises, and then securely destroyed. Questions asked in Ask, and visitor statistics, are deleted after 90 days.
Seeing or correcting your information
You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, by contacting our Privacy Officer. We will respond within 30 days. In limited circumstances the law allows us to decline access, and if so we will explain why in writing.
Age
Our services are for adults. This website is not directed at people under 18, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information through it.
Other websites
This website links to other sites, such as Google Maps, social media and our booking system. Their own privacy policies apply when you use them.
Questions and complaints
If you have a question, or believe we have mishandled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer. We will acknowledge your complaint and aim to resolve it within 30 days.
Privacy Officer
Email: privacy@equalpsychology.com.au
Phone: (03) 8652 9499
Post: Level 4, Suite 413, 89-93 High Street, Kew VIC 3101
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Phone: 1300 363 992
Post: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001
Online: oaic.gov.au
For complaints about health information, you can also contact the Health Complaints Commissioner (Victoria) at hcc.vic.gov.au.
Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when our practices change. The date at the top shows when it was last revised.