Privacy Policy

KW Clinical Psychology, Dr Kim Woodward (“your treating clinical psychologist”), and Changes Psychology (the admin service “provider”) take your privacy seriously. This document describes the management of the information you disclose to your treating clinical psychologist in relation to yourself or the person under 18 that you are bringing to therapy. Therapy addresses issues of a highly personal nature and it is important that you understand your rights with regard to your records and personal information collected.

  1. Our admin service provider works like a virtual clinic office, collecting and managing personal and medical information provided by you and your psychologist, which naturally includes sensitive health information.

  2. The admin service provider collects, uses and (where appropriate) shares this information, which includes health information, in order to facilitate appointments with psychologists; manage payment, medicare and insurance claims; and manage records regarding your appointments. Handling of personal information involves storage and processing of some data overseas via offshore data centres.

  3. Your treating clinical psychologist will store: confidential casenotes and information that is not accessible by the provider’s admin team. Your information will be kept in a file that will be seen only by the treating clinical psychologist and will be retained as a record of what happens during sessions. As required by law, your file will be securely stored for 7 years (or if you are under 18 years old, your file must be kept until you turn 25). After this time it will be destroyed in a confidential manner.

  4. All personal information gathered by your treating clinical psychologist during the provision of the psychological service will remain strictly confidential to the person the information is collected from and kept secure. However, while rare, there can be exceptions when:

    1. Failure to disclose the information would place yourself or others at risk;

    2. Your treating clinical psychologist is required to by law (e.g., under mandatory reporting requirements where there is risk to a child under 16 years, under a subpoena, or as required by legislation or court order);

    3. Your prior approval has been given to provide a written report to another professional or agency or person (e.g., GP or lawyer or child’s school);

    4. If you are claiming Medicare rebates or having sessions paid for by another organisation, then your clinical psychologist may be required to provide summary reports to external agencies regarding your treatment progress. Under the Medicare scheme these summary progress reports are mandatory if you want to claim a Medicare rebate and will normally be sent to your referring GP, paediatrician, or psychiatrist.

  5. Neither your treating clinical psychologist, or admin provider, will provide information, reports or documentation for medico-legal or family court related purposes unless we are required to by law, under a subpoena, or by a court order.

  6. Access to your or a child’s information – You may access the material recorded in your file upon request, subject to the exceptions in the Australian Privacy Principles or clause 5 above. You must provide a written request to access your information and your request will be processed within 21 days and an hourly fee is payable to collate and provide this information to you. If the information request is in relation to a person under 18, and you are not the person who initiated and paid for their therapy sessions, we would also require confirmation from the parent or guardian that initiated their treatment before releasing the information to ensure we meet the requirements of the National Privacy Policies.

  7. As part of professional practice as a psychologist, your treating clinical psychologist sometimes receives supervision from a senior clinician, which involves discussing treatment plans and information about current clients to improve their clinical practice and ensure clients receive quality treatment. In this context, some aspects of your treatment may be discussed. However this will be done in confidence and your personal identity will not be disclosed.