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Privacy Policy

Claire Sydney Therapy
Last updated: 26 August 2026
 

1. About this policy

Claire Sydney Therapy is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal and health information responsibly.

This Privacy Policy explains how Claire Sydney Therapy collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information when providing counselling and psychotherapy services and operating its website and practice.

Claire Sydney Therapy handles personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including the Australian Privacy Principles, the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW), including the Health Privacy Principles, and applicable professional and ethical obligations.

In this policy, “Claire”, “Claire Sydney Therapy”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the counselling and psychotherapy practice operated by Claire Sydney.
 

2. Personal information we collect

The personal information collected will depend on your interaction with the practice and may include:

  • your name, date of birth, contact details and preferred method of communication;

  • emergency-contact information;

  • information about your physical and mental health, wellbeing, relationships, family circumstances, personal history and therapeutic goals;

  • intake, consent and psychometric-assessment information;

  • clinical notes, risk assessments, treatment information and correspondence;

  • details of appointments, attendances, cancellations and communications;

  • referral information and the details of referring or treating practitioners;

  • billing, invoice, receipt and payment information;

  • information provided by a partner where you attend couples therapy;

  • information contained in an enquiry, complaint or feedback submission; and

  • technical information associated with use of the website, including device, browser, cookie and website-usage information.

We only collect information that is reasonably necessary to provide and administer our services or undertake our lawful business activities.

Health information and other sensitive information will generally be collected with your consent where reasonably necessary to provide services, unless collection is otherwise permitted or required by law.

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3. How information is collected

Information may be collected:

  • directly from you through enquiries, conversations, appointments, intake and consent forms, questionnaires, emails, telephone calls, SMS, payment processes and website interactions;

  • from your partner where you attend couples therapy;

  • from Associated Counsellors & Psychologists Sydney Pty Ltd (“ACPS”) where ACPS assists with your enquiry, referral or appointment;

  • from a GP, health practitioner, referrer, emergency contact, insurer, employer or third-party payer where you have consented, where you would reasonably expect the collection, or where it is otherwise permitted or required by law;

  • through practice-management, telehealth, payment, communication and assessment systems; and

  • automatically through cookies, analytics and similar website technologies.

Where practicable, information will be collected directly from you.

If we receive unsolicited personal information, we will determine whether it could lawfully have been collected. Information that is not reasonably necessary and is not required to be retained will be securely destroyed or de-identified where lawful and practicable.
 

4. Anonymity and pseudonyms

You may enquire about services without identifying yourself where this is practicable.

However, it will generally not be practicable to provide ongoing counselling or psychotherapy anonymously or under a pseudonym because we may need accurate identity, contact, health, safety, record-keeping and payment information.
 

5. Why information is collected and used

Personal information may be collected, held and used to:

  • respond to enquiries and assess whether our services may be suitable;

  • arrange and provide counselling and psychotherapy;

  • complete intake, assessment, care-planning and risk-management activities;

  • maintain appropriate clinical and administrative records;

  • communicate about appointments, forms, referrals, invoices, receipts and care coordination;

  • process payments and manage outstanding accounts;

  • liaise with referrers, other practitioners or third-party payers where authorised;

  • provide telehealth services;

  • participate in confidential professional supervision and consultation;

  • manage complaints, feedback, legal matters and insurance requirements;

  • improve practice administration, service quality and website functionality;

  • meet legal, ethical, professional, contractual and record-keeping obligations; and

  • lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any person where permitted by law.

If you do not provide information that is reasonably required, we may be unable to assess your needs, provide services safely, process your booking or payment, or communicate with you effectively.
 

6. Disclosure of information

Personal and health information will not ordinarily be disclosed without your consent.

Information may be disclosed:

  • to a person or organisation you have authorised;

  • where disclosure is required or authorised by law, including under a subpoena, court order or mandatory reporting obligation;

  • where there is a serious threat to your life, health or safety, or that of another person, and disclosure is reasonably necessary and legally permitted;

  • to a qualified professional supervisor or consultant, with identifying information minimised where practicable;

  • to service providers who support practice management, communications, telehealth, payments, record keeping, assessment, information technology, professional services or document handling;

  • to professional advisers, insurers or legal representatives where reasonably necessary;

  • to a referring practitioner or third-party payer where you have authorised the disclosure or where it is otherwise legally permitted;

  • to ACPS for the limited administrative and commercial purposes described below; or

  • in another circumstance permitted under applicable privacy or health-records law.

Except where disclosure is required or authorised by law, we will ordinarily obtain separate consent before exchanging or releasing clinical information to a GP, another practitioner, lawyer, family member or other third party.

We do not sell personal or health information.
 

7. ACPS referrals and administration

Claire has a commercial relationship with ACPS. Your clinical relationship is with Claire Sydney, and your detailed clinical records are maintained by Claire separately from ACPS.

Where ACPS provides referral, appointment, administrative or commercial services, ACPS may provide information collected from you to Claire.

ACPS may hold or have access to limited information concerning:

  • enquiries and referral information;

  • appointments, attendances and cancellations;

  • consent or administrative information submitted through Zanda;

  • fees, payments and copies of invoices or receipts;

  • referring-practitioner details;

  • third-party billing arrangements; and

  • other information reasonably necessary to administer its commercial relationship with Claire.

ACPS staff will not ordinarily have access to the detailed clinical records maintained by Claire.

ACPS may also handle administrative or clinical correspondence between Claire and an authorised referrer or third party. Questions or privacy requests concerning information held directly by ACPS should be directed to ACPS.
 

8. Couples therapy records

Couples appointments form part of a joint clinical record and may contain personal information about both partners and their relationship. Information provided separately by either partner may also become relevant to the couples record.

Because the record may contain information about both partners, requests to access, correct or release couples records will be considered under applicable privacy law, health-records law and professional obligations.

Claire will generally seek the written consent of both partners before voluntarily releasing a joint couples record, unless disclosure is required or authorised by law.
 

9. Digital systems and service providers

Systems used to provide and administer services may include:

  • Wix for website hosting, enquiries, forms and website analytics;

  • Zanda for ACPS-related appointments, forms and administration;

  • Halaxy for practice management, scheduling, forms, billing, communications and clinical records;

  • Zoom for telehealth;

  • Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft 365 for email, calendar, communications and document handling;

  • NovoPsych for psychometric questionnaires and assessment information;

  • NovoNote for optional AI-assisted clinical note preparation;

  • Halaxy Payments, Stripe and HICAPS for payment processing; and

  • other professional, information-technology, accounting, legal, insurance or administrative providers where reasonably necessary.

These providers receive or process only the information reasonably required to perform their functions. Their handling of information may also be governed by their own privacy policies and contractual obligations.

Payment-card details are generally processed by the relevant payment provider and are not ordinarily recorded in clinical notes.
 

10. NovoNote

With your express consent, Claire may use NovoNote, an AI-assisted note-taking tool, to help prepare clinical notes.

When NovoNote is used, session audio is temporarily processed to produce a transcript and draft summary. Audio is deleted after successful transcription or may be retained securely for a limited period where required to recover an unsuccessful transcription.

Claire reviews and edits the draft before it becomes part of the clinical record.

NovoNote states that information is encrypted, identifying details are redacted before processing by its underlying AI models, client information is not used to train AI models and patient data is stored on secure servers in Australia.

Use of NovoNote is optional. You may decline or withdraw consent without affecting your access to, or the quality of, therapy. For couples sessions, NovoNote will only be used where both partners have separately consented.
 

11. Australian and overseas data handling

The location in which information is stored or processed depends on the service being used.

Based on the service providers’ published information:

  • Halaxy stores Australian customer data in Australia.

  • Zanda stores and backs up data for Australian accounts in Australia.

  • NovoPsych and NovoNote store patient data, including NovoNote session notes and transcripts, in Australia. NovoNote advises that some non-patient operational data may be processed in Australia, the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

  • Where a Microsoft 365 tenant is provisioned in Australia, Microsoft stores specified core customer data at rest in Australia. Some information may still be accessed or processed internationally where required to provide support, security and other global services.

  • Wix may store or process website visitor information in the United States, Ireland, South Korea, Taiwan and Israel.

  • Stripe may transfer or process personal information internationally, including in the United States and India.

  • Zoom operates globally. Depending on account settings, meeting routing, functionality and subprocessors, information may be processed in Australia, the United States, Singapore, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Taiwan, countries in Europe and other locations identified in Zoom’s current subprocessor information.

  • HICAPS advises that its cloud and electronic systems may be accessed from different countries and that it is not always practicable for it to identify every country in which information may be held or processed.

Some providers may change their infrastructure, affiliates or subprocessors over time. Where it is not practicable to specify every country, further information can be found in the provider’s current privacy or subprocessor documentation or requested from Claire Sydney Therapy.

Where personal information is disclosed to an overseas recipient, Claire Sydney Therapy will take reasonable steps required under applicable privacy law. Privacy protections and legal requirements in another country may differ from those applying in Australia.
 

12. Storage and security

Personal information may be stored electronically and, where applicable, in physical form.

Reasonable steps are taken to protect information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Measures may include password-protected systems, access controls, multi-factor authentication, encryption where supported, secure premises, software maintenance and the use of reputable service providers.

No method of electronic storage or transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Please avoid including highly sensitive clinical information in ordinary email or SMS where possible. Email, SMS and electronic messaging are not monitored continuously and should not be used for urgent or crisis support.
 

13. Retention and destruction

Adult clinical records will generally be retained for at least seven years from the date of the last entry, or longer where required by law, professional obligations, insurance requirements or the circumstances of the matter.

Administrative, financial and other records may be retained for the period required by taxation, insurance, contractual or other legal obligations.

When information is no longer required and it is lawful and appropriate to do so, it will be securely destroyed or de-identified.
 

14. Website cookies and analytics

The website may use cookies, analytics and similar technologies to support website operation, understand how the website is used and improve the user experience.

Information collected may include:

  • browser and device information;

  • approximate location derived from technical information;

  • pages visited;

  • time spent on pages;

  • referral sources; and

  • interactions with website features.

You may restrict or disable cookies through your browser settings. Doing so may affect some website functions.

The website may contain links to third-party websites. Claire Sydney Therapy is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites.
 

15. Marketing communications

Claire Sydney Therapy will only send marketing communications where permitted by law.

You may unsubscribe at any time by using the unsubscribe function provided or contacting Claire Sydney Therapy. Administrative or clinical communications concerning an existing enquiry, appointment, payment or service are not marketing communications.
 

16. Access and correction

You may request access to personal information held about you or ask for it to be corrected if it is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, irrelevant or misleading.

Requests should be made in writing using the contact details below. Before providing access, we may need to verify your identity.

Access or correction may be limited or refused where permitted by law, including where providing access would unreasonably affect another person’s privacy or create a serious threat to life, health or safety. If a request is refused, we will generally provide written reasons and available complaint options, unless it would be unreasonable or unlawful to do so.

A reasonable administrative fee may apply where substantial time is required to locate, review, copy or securely provide records. No fee will be charged merely for making an access or correction request.

Requests involving a couples record will also be considered in light of the personal information and privacy interests of both partners.
 

17. Privacy complaints

If you have a concern or complaint about how your personal information has been handled, please contact Claire Sydney Therapy in writing using the details below.

Please provide enough information for the concern to be understood and investigated. Claire will acknowledge and review the complaint, may request further information and will aim to provide a response within 30 days. If additional time is required, you will be advised.

If you are not satisfied with the response, you may contact:

  • the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner;

  • the NSW Information and Privacy Commission or NSW Privacy Commissioner, where applicable; or

  • another body with jurisdiction.
     

18. Service and professional complaints

Concerns about counselling or psychotherapy services may be raised directly with Claire where you feel comfortable doing so.

You may also contact:

  • the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA);

  • the Australian Counselling Association (ACA);

  • the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC); or

  • another relevant body with jurisdiction.

Raising a concern or complaint will not adversely affect your right to respectful care.
 

19. Data breaches

Suspected privacy or security incidents will be assessed and managed in accordance with applicable legal obligations.

Where a data breach is likely to result in serious harm and notification is required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme or another applicable law, affected individuals and the relevant regulator will be notified as required.
 

20. Changes to this policy

This policy may be reviewed and updated from time to time to reflect changes to legal requirements, professional obligations, services or technology.

The current version will be published on this website with its effective date. Material changes affecting existing clients may also be communicated directly where appropriate.
 

21. Contact
 

For privacy questions, access or correction requests, or complaints, please contact:

Claire Sydney Therapy
Email: admin@clairesydneytherapy.com
Phone: 0402 272 886
Website: www.clairesydneytherapy.com

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