Privacy Policy

Last updated: 18 November 2025

Getting Better Australia respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal and health information. This policy explains how we collect, use, store and disclose your information, and how you can access or correct it.

This policy is intended to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and relevant state health privacy laws.

By using this website, contacting us, or attending appointments with Getting Better Australia, you agree to the collection and use of your information in accordance with this policy.

1. Who we are

Getting Better Australia is a psychology practice based in New South Wales, Australia. We provide psychological therapy, assessment and related professional services to adults and older adolescents.

In this policy:

• "we", "us" and "our" mean Getting Better Australia

• "you" means the client, or the parent or guardian of a client where relevant
  
  

2. What information we collect

We may collect the following types of information.

Personal information

• Name

• Date of birth and gender identity, where relevant

• Residential and postal address

• Email address and phone numbers

• Emergency contact details

• Medicare, DVA or private health fund numbers

• NDIS or other funding information where relevant

• Details of your referring practitioner or other professionals involved in your care
  
  

Health and sensitive information

• Medical and mental health history

• Current concerns, symptoms and goals

• Details of past or current treatment and medications

• Family, relationship, work, education or social information where relevant to your care

• Assessment results, reports and letters

• Session notes and progress information

• Information received from other health or education professionals
  
  

Payment and administration information

• Invoices, payment records and billing information

• Limited payment details as processed through our payment provider

  • We do not store full card numbers in our own systems
    
    

Website and communications information

• Information you provide when you contact us through the website, by email, phone or text

• Basic technical data such as IP address, browser type and pages visited that may be collected by website analytics tools or cookies (if used)

We only collect information that is reasonably necessary for us to provide safe, ethical and effective services, or to meet our legal and professional obligations.

3. How we collect your information

We may collect information:

• Directly from you, for example through:

  • Intake and consent forms

  • Emails, text messages and phone calls

  • Information you provide during sessions

• From a parent or guardian where we are seeing a child or adolescent and this is appropriate

• From other professionals, for example your GP, psychiatrist, paediatrician, school or other allied health providers, where:

  • you have given consent, or

  • we are permitted or required by law to do so

• From funding bodies such as Medicare, NDIS or private health funds, as needed to process claims or manage invoices

• Automatically through our website or practice software, for example through logs or analytics
  
  

You can choose not to provide some information, but this may affect our ability to:

• provide services safely

• claim Medicare, NDIS or private health rebates

• meet our professional and legal obligations
  
  

4. Why we collect and use your information

We collect, hold and use your information for purposes such as:

• Assessing your needs and planning psychological treatment or support

• Providing therapy, assessment and consultation services

• Monitoring progress and reviewing your care

• Preparing letters or reports where requested and agreed

• Communicating with you about appointments, cancellations, invoices and other administrative matters

• Coordinating care with other professionals or services with your consent

• Meeting legal, regulatory and professional requirements, including record keeping, reporting and auditing

• Practice management, quality improvement and service planning

• Processing payments, rebates and funding claims

• Responding to complaints, incidents or legal claims

We do not sell your information. We will not use your information for direct marketing without your explicit consent.

5. Practice management software and electronic systems

Getting Better Australia uses secure electronic systems, including practice management software (currently Halaxy), to store client records, manage appointments and process payments.

These systems are selected with regard to Australian health privacy and security standards. Your data may be stored on secure servers in Australia or overseas, depending on the provider. Where information is stored or processed overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure that it is handled in a way that is consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Payment card details entered through Halaxy are processed and stored by their payment provider. These details are not visible to Getting Better Australia.

6. Disclosure of your information

We treat your personal and health information as confidential. We will only share it when it is reasonably necessary and permitted.

We may disclose information in the following situations.

With your consent

With your consent, we may share information with:

• Your GP, psychiatrist, paediatrician or other health professionals involved in your care

• Your school, employer, support coordinator or case worker

• Family members or other support people you nominate

• Other services where you have requested a referral or coordinated care

Consent may be written or, in some situations, given verbally and recorded in your notes.

Required or permitted by law

We may be required or permitted to disclose information without your consent when:

• There is a serious risk to your life, health or safety, or the life, health or safety of another person

• We are legally required to, for example:

  • Mandatory reporting of risk to a child or young person

  • A court order, subpoena or lawful request by a regulatory body

• It is necessary to obtain legal or professional advice and the adviser is under a duty of confidentiality

• It is required for Medicare, NDIS or other funding audits or compliance activities

• It is required by a regulator such as:

  • Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)

  • Psychology Board of Australia

  • Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) or similar body

Where it is reasonable and safe to do so, we will discuss any such disclosure with you.

7. How we store and protect your information

We store information in:

• Electronic practice management records

• Secure cloud-based document storage systems

• Limited paper records, which are stored securely
  
  

We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include:

• Access controls and passwords

• Role-based access to records for administrative and clinical purposes

• Secure, encrypted connections where available

• Regular updates to software and security settings

• Policies and procedures for privacy and information handling
  
  

We retain health records for the minimum period required by law and professional guidelines. After this time, records are securely destroyed or de-identified.

8. Access to and correction of your information

You have the right to request access to the personal and health information we hold about you, and to request corrections if you believe the information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

To request access or correction, please contact us in writing. We may:

• Ask you to verify your identity

• Discuss the form of access, for example:

  • A copy of notes

  • A summary

  • A report or letter

• Charge a reasonable fee for copying or administrative time, if applicable
  
  

In some limited circumstances, we may decline access. Examples include where:

• Providing access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of you or another person

• Providing access would unreasonably impact the privacy of others

• The information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings and would not ordinarily be disclosed in those proceedings

• We are otherwise permitted or required by law to refuse access

If we refuse access or correction, we will provide a reason and let you know what options are available, such as adding a statement from you to the record.

9. Website, cookies and analytics

Our website may use cookies or similar technologies to improve functionality and understand how visitors use the site.

We may use basic analytics tools to collect information such as:

• Pages visited and time spent on each page

• Browser type and device

• General location information such as city or region

This information is usually de-identified and used in aggregate to improve our website and services. You can adjust your browser settings to refuse cookies if you prefer, although some website functions may not work as intended.

Our website may contain links to other websites that we do not control. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of external sites.

10. Children and adolescents

Where we provide services to adolescents, we are mindful of their developing capacity to make their own decisions about confidentiality and consent.

• For younger clients, parents or guardians usually provide consent and may be involved more closely in the therapeutic process.

• As a young person becomes more capable of making their own decisions, we may involve them more directly in decisions about their care and privacy, in line with professional and legal guidelines.

• In some situations, information shared by an adolescent may be kept confidential from parents or guardians where this is clinically appropriate and permitted by law, unless there are safety concerns.

We will explain these arrangements in a developmentally appropriate way and invite questions about confidentiality at the start of therapy.

11. Complaints and concerns about privacy

If you have any questions or concerns about how your information is handled, or if you believe your privacy has been breached, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue promptly and respectfully.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may raise your concerns with:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
For concerns about how personal information is handled under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) – New South Wales
For complaints about the quality or safety of health services provided in NSW, including concerns about health information and clinical care.

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) / Psychology Board of Australia
For concerns about the professional conduct, health or performance of a registered psychologist.

Contact details and complaint forms for these organisations are available on their websites.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time, for example to reflect changes in law, regulation or practice systems.

The most current version will always be available on this website. By continuing to use our services after an updated policy is published, you are taken to have accepted the revised policy.