As new technology develops and the Internet changes, there may be times when I need to update my policies. I will update any changes to my website and I will notify you in writing of any policy changes and make sure you have a copy of the updated policy.
At Piorun Psychology your privacy is valued. This policy outlines the way that personal information is collected and used by Piorun Psychology.
To provide you with services, some personal information needs to be collected. This might include your name, age, contact details and Medicare number. Other details relating to your health and life experiences may also be relevant to the services provided. This information is needed for effectively communicating with you, understanding social and mental health needs, ensuring appropriate psychological care and facilitating payments (including rebates).
Your information is collected in a range of ways, such as:
Forms – You will be asked to fill out an intake from and then other forms or questionnaires as needed.
Directly from you – during appointments, phone calls, emails and other communication.
Cookies – our website may use cookies. Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer. They optimise your viewing of the website and to help us understand how the website is being used so we can improve it. You can modify your browser settings so that cookies are not accepted, but this may limit your viewing.
Your information is securely stored in an electronic format that is password protected. Your information is de-identified where possible and deleted in accordance with legal and professional retention requirements.
If you believe any of your information is inaccurate, please let me know so it can be updated.
There are times that your information we might need to be shared. This might include:
Rebates and payment providers – we may need to provide rebate providers (e.g., Medicare) with details about your appointment attendance so that they can process your claims.
Referrers – Referrers such as GPs may need to be given updates with information about your appointment attendance, the type of problem being addressed, the type of service provided, results of assessments and outcomes of the psychological support.
Safety – When someone is at risk of serious harm, I will share information to keep everyone safe. This information sharing will be limited to what is necessary for safety. You will be told as soon as possible if information has been shared in this way, or before sharing it if possible.
Legal requests for information –I am required to share information that is requested through a legally binding body, such as a subpoena by a Court.
Supervision – It is best practice for psychologists to get regular supervision from another experienced psychologist. At supervision, we discuss the nature of challenges being faced by people and how we have been working with them. This ensures that you are getting the best care for you. Only relevant information is discussed in supervision and non-relevant details are not shared (like your full name, address, phone number). The supervisor is bound to keep your information confidential.
You can request a copy of information I have about you at any time.
This document outlines my office policies related to the use of social media. Please read it to understand how I conduct myself on the Internet as a psychologist and how you can expect me to respond to various interactions that may occur between us on the Internet. If you have any questions about anything within this document, I encourage you to bring them up when we meet.
Friending – I do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). I believe that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we meet and we can talk more about it.
Interacting – Using your phone’s SMS system is a great way to keep in contact about appointments and therapy issues. That said please do not use SMS via the web, or messaging on Social Networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to contact me. These sites are not secure, and I may not read these messages in a timely fashion. If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by phone or email. See the email section below for more information regarding email interactions.
Use of Search Engines – It is NOT a regular part of my practice to search for clients on Google or Facebook or other search engines. Extremely rare exceptions may be made during times of crisis. If I have a reason to suspect that you are in danger and you have not been in touch with me via our usual means (coming to appointments, phone, or email) there might be an instance in which using a search engine (to find you, find someone close to you, or to check on your recent status updates) becomes necessary as part of ensuring your welfare. These are unusual situations and if I ever resort to such means, I will fully document it and discuss it with you when we next meet.
Business Review Sites – You may find my psychology practice on sites such as Yelp, Healthgrades, Yahoo Local, Bing, Good Therapy, or other places which list businesses. Some of these sites include forums in which users rate their providers and add reviews. Many of these sites comb search engines for business listings and automatically add listings regardless of whether the business has added itself to the site. If you should find my listing on any of these sites, please know that my listing is NOT a request for a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from you as my client. Of course, you have a right to express yourself on any site you wish. But due to confidentiality, I cannot respond to any review on any of these sites whether it is positive or negative. I urge you to take your own privacy as seriously as I take my commitment of confidentiality to you. You should also be aware that if you are using these sites to communicate indirectly with me about your feelings about our work, there is a good possibility that I may never see it.
If we are working together, I hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to our work directly into the therapy process. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide we are not a good fit. None of this is meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy with me wherever and with whomever you like. Confidentiality means that I cannot tell people that you are my client, and my Ethics Code prohibits me from requesting testimonials. But you are more than welcome to tell anyone you wish that I’m your therapist or how you feel about the treatment I provided to you, in any forum of your choosing.
Location-Based Service – If you use location-based services on your mobile phone, you may wish to be aware of the privacy issues related to using these services. I do not place my practice as a check-in location on various sites such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, etc. Google Maps may show my practice address as I use Google to advertise my service. However, if you have GPS tracking enabled on your device, it is possible that others may surmise that you are a therapy client due to regular check-ins at my office on a weekly basis. Please be aware of this risk if you are intentionally “checking in,” from my office or if you have a passive location-based service app enabled on your phone.
Email – Please do not email me content related to your therapy sessions, as email is not completely secure or confidential. If you choose to communicate with me by email, be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your and my Internet service providers. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are, in theory, available to be read by the system administrator(s) of the Internet and e-mail service provider. You should also know that any emails I receive from you and any responses that I send to you become a part of your legal record.
Email and SMS confirmations and reminders of your session will be sent to you prior to you session. If you do not consent to these reminders, we will turn them off so that you do not receive them.
If you are suicidal or in a crisis please call 000 or Lifeline on 13 11 14
