Policies & Procedures
Confidentiality
Maintaining your confidentiality is central to my sessions. I do not discuss the details of our Therapy sessions with anyone without your permission. Breaking confidentiality would only be considered in the following exceptional circumstances.
If I am concerned you may be seriously at risk of harming yourself, harming another person or if another person is seriously in risk of harm or if a child is at risk of being harmed. In such instances, I will make every effort to discuss the situation with you first but if that was not possible, I will consider contacting relevant services e.g., your GP or emergency services. The other instances where your records are not confidential are:
If your file is subpoenaed by a court of law; or;
If you have provided written permission for us to release your information to agreed parties i.e., say your doctor or other Mental Health professional.
If you are claiming a Private Health rebate for your Therapy, you also need to be aware that all the information from your Therapy sessions must be released to the Private Health provider at their request.
Please note our Agreement about confidentiality continues after your death unless there are overriding legal considerations.
It is this Practice’s Policy to treat with confidence any personal information about clients, whether obtained directly or by inference. This applies to all verbal, written, recorded, or computer-stored material pertaining to the therapeutic context. All records, whether in written or any other form, need to be protected with the strictest of confidence
To this end, you will not be observed by anyone other than myself without having given informed consent. This applies both to direct observation and to any form of audio or visual transmission or recording. It is this Practices responsibility to protect your rights of confidentiality in the supervisory context by ensuring that shared information is disguised appropriately.
Cancellation / Non attendance
Appointments can be cancelled up to 48 hours of the date and time of the session for a full refund.
Appointments can be cancelled up to 48 hours of the date and time of the session for a full refund.
A session cancelled within the 48 hour time frame, and up to the start of the session is able to be refunded 50% of the session fee.
Non attendance to a booked session where there is no record of notification of non attendance to the Therapist, will incur the full session fee. There will be no refund applicable.
Record Keeping
I will be taking records of our sessions either in written form within the therapy space or by voice recordings in the Modern Hypnotherapy Sessions. All records will be stored on an encrypted hard drive. The governance within the mental health field states we must keep these records for a period of 7 years from when they were recorded.
Referral
Within the Mental Health space clients often present with an array of needs and concerns. While many of these needs and concerns may be met by working with me, some problems require specialist practitioners or additional support providers. The Policy for referral is that should I assess your needs are beyond my level of competency or resources to deliver the specific support required, I will refer you to a specialist in that field.
The process of referral will involve the following steps:
Assessment.
Reviewing the procedures and available options. Researching and/or contacting potential referral parties
Investigating your eligibility to access the referred services
Ensuring that you are referred to the most suitable service provider to meet your needs
Discussing the referral with you and providing you with all necessary information. Gain your signed ‘informed consent’ and ‘release of information’ documentation before your referral is made
Make the referral
Depending on the situation, a referral will either pause our therapy for the duration of the additional service, occur concurrently with therapy or it may replace the therapeutic relationship. Regardless of the situation, one question you are likely to ask is “How long will this last?” Clarifying the duration of a therapeutic process (i.e., the duration of a sequence of sessions) can be challenging and is determined by factors such as the complexity of your issues, financial considerations, and any agency limits on session numbers. Duration can vary from crisis intervention, through short-term and medium-term therapy to long term therapy
Governance
While a code of ethics guides most of my conduct, state and federal legislation can also effect the decisions that I will make as your therapist. Below is an example list of Commonwealth and State Acts that may apply to my work as your therapist:
Child Protection Acts
Children and Young Person Act
Domestic Violence Act
Privacy Act
Privacy Amendment (private sector) Act
Freedom of Information Act
Equal Opportunity and Anti-Discrimination Legislation.
Commonwealth Family Law Act
Work Health and Safety (WHS) Legislation & Regulations.
Duty Of Care
Policy regarding the rights of clients and the responsibilities of the Therapist
As a Therapist, I have a duty of care to protect and preserve your rights as a client. I have a range of responsibilities to yourself (my client), to the profession, to the organisation for which I work, and to myself. These responsibilities within the therapeutic alliance include:
Protecting the basic rights of clients. I must provide a non-exploitative and non-discriminatory service to clients and protect the right of the client to self-govern (e.g., make decisions for themselves).
Ensuring that you have given their informed consent to Therapeutic services. This involves ensuring that you are fully aware of the details of the Therapeutic service on offer and are willingly engaging in therapy.
Respecting your right to privacy and confidentiality. This involves informing you of exceptions to confidentiality, informing the client of any need to break confidentiality (where appropriate), informing the client of record-keeping practices, and ensuring that any client information is stored appropriately.
Promoting client well-being. As your therapist I should act in your best interests by providing fair and impartial service, acting according to the principle of “do no harm” and promoting justice in all my professional dealings with you.
Possessing a comprehensive knowledge of my chosen approach and understanding of its limitations. When I know my approach is not suitable for your needs, I have a responsibility to refer you to a more suitable practitioner.
Having a commitment to ongoing training, professional development, and supervision. Therapists have a responsibility to keep up with changes in the field and ensure that their knowledge is up to date so that they can provide relevant and professional service to their client. Therapists must also engage in regular supervision to work through any potential issues in Therapy.
Possessing thorough knowledge of relevant agency processes, policies, and procedures in my workplace and abiding by these. Maintaining these responsibilities supports me as a therapist, to work with you in an effective and ethical manner.
Mandatory Reporting Policy
The child’s right to safety is paramount, not just in the Therapy context, but at all times. It may become apparent to myself during Therapy that a child’s safety is at risk and there are legal requirements for me to recognise and act upon this. In most states of Australia, there are mandatory reporting laws governing whether certain professionals must report suspected child abuse or not.
As a therapist working in Queensland, I am governed by statutory obligations under Qld Legislation and Regulations as a “Mandatory notifier and reporter’’. In Queensland the following four groups of people are required by law to report child protection concerns (mandatory notifiers):
an authorised officer, employee of the department or a person employed in a departmental care service or licensed care service is required to report harm or suspected harm to a child in the care of a departmental care service or a licensee (Child Protection Act 1999, section 148)
staff of the Office of the Public guardian for Children and Young People (Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian Act 2000, section 20).
a doctor or registered nurse who becomes aware, or reasonably suspects during the practice of his or her profession that a child has been, is being or is likely to be harmed (Public Health Act 2005, section 191 and 192)
a family court personnel and counsellors (Family Law Act 1975, section 67ZA).” (Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services, 2014.