Privacy Policy

By engaging our services, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to our privacy policy which can be found below.

Savvy Counselling and Consulting is committed to providing quality services to you and this policy outlines our ongoing obligations to you in respect of how we manage your Personal Information. We have adopted the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act). The NPPs govern the way in which we collect, use, disclose, store, secure and dispose of your Personal Information.A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from 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 that identifies an individual. Examples of Personal Information we collect includes names, addresses, email addresses, phone and facsimile numbers and your financial information for payment purposes, service deliverance, and communication purposes. This Personal Information is obtained in many ways including interviews, correspondence, by telephone and facsimile, by email, via our website, from your website, from media and publications, from other publicly available sources, from cookies, and from third parties. We don’t guarantee website links or policy of authorised third parties. We collect your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing our services to you, obtaining your personal financial details to charge you for our services, providing information to our clients, and marketing purposes with your consent. 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. By disclosing and providing your email address, you agree to be placed on our mailing/ marketing list. You may unsubscribe from our mailing/marketing lists at any time by contacting us in writing.When we collect Personal Information we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it. Sensitive InformationSensitive 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. Note taking during sessions & consults While providing our services to you, we will take physical notes of what is disscused. These notes will remain with the Savvy Counselling & Consulting staff member until the notes/documents can be transfered onto our digital system. This will be acheived by either transcribing the notes/documents, and/or scanning the original notes/documents into our note taking software (Halaxy), after which, the original notes/documents will be destroyed and securely disposed of. Third PartiesWhere reasonable and practicable to do so, we will collect your Personal Information only from you. However, in some circumstances we may be provided with information by third parties. In such a case we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the information provided to us by the third party. Disclosure of Personal InformationYour 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 InformationYour Personal Information is stored in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorized access, modification or disclosure.Your information will be recorded and retained on our chosen case management system for 7 years from the last point of contact. After this time, any information on the system will be erased and/or de-identified. We use Halaxy as our practice software, which is a secure cloud based system, and this is where your information will be stored. Halaxy's Privacy Policy can be located here. After this time, and when/if your Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy, erase, or permanently de-identify your Personal Information. By engaging our services, you understand and agree that your personal information will be stored securely online through our chosen practice software which is ”Halaxy”, and also our POS service provider which is "Square") From the Halaxy Website and sourced information:“Your data is stored securely in protected data centres with multiple back-ups in place. This data is protected by 256-bit bank grade security and encryption; meaning patient records, notes, and payment information are protected to the same level required by banks”. Your information will be stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS) which has ISO 27001 (Information Security Management System) accreditation. Halaxy’s Privacy Policy: https://www.halaxy.com/article/privacy Square's Privacy Policy: For transactions to be completed, Square (Our POS service provider) may collect and store your personal information including name, address, and finacial details for the purpose of processing payment for the service you are accessing. For how they handle your information, please follow the below links. As a Consumer engageing a service that uses Square POS Services: https://squareup.com/au/en/legal/general/privacy-no-account As a Square seller and/or website visitor: https://squareup.com/au/en/legal/general/privacy General Terms and conditions: https://squareup.com/au/en/legal/general/ua Access to your Personal InformationYou may request access the Personal Information we hold about you and to update and/or correct it, subject to certain exceptions. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact us and request this in writing. Please allow 7 days for us to process your request. Savvy Counselling & Consulting may charge a small administration fee to cover processing and material costs to fulfil your request. In order to protect your Personal Information we may require, and request photo identification from you before releasing the requested information. We will accept a Drivers License, Passport, or other official government issued photo identification document. Maintaining the Quality of your Personal InformationIt is important to us that your Personal Information is up to date. We 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 and ensure we can continue to provide quality services to you. Policy UpdatesThis Policy may change from time to time with no notice and is available on our website. Privacy Policy Complaints and EnquiriesIf you have any queries or complaints about our Privacy Policy please get in contact with us at:
Savvy Counselling & ConsultingHello@savvycounselling.com.au