Inner Eastern Psychology Melbourne
Privacy Policy
Last Updated: 8th May 2025
Inner Eastern Consulting Group Pty Ltd ABN 83 611 335 909 (“we”, “us”, “our”) owns and operates a psychology clinic that trades as Inner Eastern Psychology (“Inner Eastern Psychology”). All health services available from Inner Eastern Psychology are provided by independent psychologists (“Clinicians”) who operate their own health services businesses from within Inner Eastern Psychology. Clinicians provide health services to their own clients (“you”, “yours”). As the operator of Inner Eastern Psychology, we provide a range of support services to the Clinicians and this includes collecting, holding, using and disclosing personal and health information you may provide to the Clinicians and/or us when you access services at Inner Eastern Psychology.
As an entity that handles personal information, some of which may be health information, we are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) (“Applicable Privacy Laws”). It is important to note that Clinicians from whom you receive services at Inner Eastern Psychology may also have privacy obligations under the Applicable Privacy Laws and these may be separate from, and additional to, those of us and which are described in this Privacy Policy. It is our requirement that all Clinicians operating from Inner Eastern Psychology comply with Applicable Privacy Laws. The personal information we hold about you may depend on the preferences of Clinicians, some of whom may handle personal information according to their own independent practice arrangement and policies.
In this Privacy Policy, and unless otherwise stated, “personal information” includes a reference to “health information.”
This Privacy Policy explains how we manage the personal information that we collect, hold, use and/or disclose in the course of operating Inner Eastern Psychology. It also explains how you can contact us for further information or to access and correct the personal information we hold about you, and lodge privacy complaints with us about Inner Eastern Psychology or any of the Clinicians operating from it.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. All updates will be published as the Privacy Policy on our website (www.innereasternpsychology.com.au). Please check back from time to time to review our Privacy Policy.
1. WHAT IS “PERSONAL INFORMATION”
In this Privacy Policy, “personal information” has the meaning given in the Applicable Privacy Laws. Essentially it refers to any information or opinion about a person who is identified or reasonably identifiable.
2. WHAT IS “HEALTH INFORMATION”
In this Privacy Policy, “health information” has the meaning given in the Applicable Privacy Laws. Essentially it refers to any information or opinion about or related to the physical, mental, or psychological health of a person who is identified or reasonably identifiable.
3. WHAT KINDS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
The kinds of personal information that we collect and hold may include, for example:
a) name, date of birth, address and contact details;
b) billing and claim information (which may include Medicare number and private health insurance details);
c) clinical notes, treatment records and correspondence (such as referral letters and reports) that Clinicians receive or create in the course of providing health services you; and
d) information that you, the Clinicians, or other third parties provide to us (which may include details of about relevant health conditions, medical and mental history, and current medications).
4. HOW DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION?
There are three main ways that we collect personal information.
First, we receive personal information when you provide it directly to us. This may include:
a) when you contact us by e-mail or phone;
b) when you subscribe for our newsletter or other communications;
c) when you use our website or our social media pages (see section 5 of this Privacy Policy for further details); and
d) when you complete our registration and client intake forms.
Second, we receive personal information from Clinicians who provide health services from Inner Eastern Psychology and to whom you may have provided it during your sessions. As part of the services we provide to Clinicians, they may provide us with your personal information for processing and storage.
Third, we receive personal information from other third parties who may include:
e) your referring GP or psychiatrist;
f) your other healthcare providers and support service providers;
g) if you are a minor, your parent or guardian;
h) your authorised representative or caregiver, if you have one;
i) your private health fund or Medicare, in relation to billing and claims issues; and
j) your emergency contact person (if provided) or other people who may be able to assist (such as your family or close friends) in the event of an emergency.
In most cases, the personal information we collect from Clinicians and other third parties is of the kind that you would reasonably expect us to collect and hold about you or which we have otherwise discussed with you.
5. WHY DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL AND HEALTH INFORMATION?
We collect personal and health information because it is a service we offer to the Clinicians and it supports them to provide health services to their own clients, which may include you. You should understand that:
a) Clinicians who operate from Inner Eastern Psychology provide health services to their own clients, which may include you. The Clinicians are not our employees or contractors, and they are not under our control. The Clinicians are independent business operators; and
b) we support Clinicians by providing them with facilities and services. The Clinicians are our clients to whom we provide services, which includes the collection, processing and storing of personal information.
We proceed on the basis that the personal information we collect is necessary for you to receive services from the Clinicians operating from Inner Eastern Psychology and further that you have in all instances consented to us collecting and holding it. By doing so, and for example, we can:
c) manage your inquiries;
d) schedule your sessions with Clinicians;
e) work with your other healthcare providers (such as doctors, specialists or allied health professionals) and support service providers (such as social workers);
f) manage billing and benefit claims;
g) conduct quality assurance and safety reviews, and other activities that may be relevant to or part of professional responsibilities and accreditation requirements;
h) comply with the legal and regulatory obligations of us and/or the Clinicians;
i) keep in touch with you, including by sending you our newsletter (if you have subscribed); and
j) manage and respond to any comments, concerns, or complaints that you may have about Inner Eastern Psychology or any of the Clinicians.
When you first register with Inner Eastern Psychology, you will be asked to complete client intake forms that will explain how we manage personal information and confidentiality generally.
If you do not wish to provide us with personal information about you or otherwise consent to us receiving it, we may not be able to provide the services that are necessary for you to receive health services from the Clinicians at Inner Eastern Psychology.
There may be some circumstances where we may need to collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for particular purposes that are outside of our usual business activities. In these circumstances we will collect and handle the personal information in accordance with Applicable Privacy Laws.
6. HOW DO WE STORE AND SECURE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We hold personal information as either hard copy records, or electronically using practice management software and other IT systems. We use third party IT service providers to host our website servers, manage our IT systems and host our practice management software.
Access to personal information we hold is limited to Clinicians and those of our personnel who have an operational need to access it. Generally, your personal information will only be accessed by the Clinicians involved in your treatment and our personnel who support them to provide it.
We use a range of physical, electronic and operational security measures to protect the personal information that we hold, including by storing our hard copy records in secure filing cabinets, using reputable IT service providers to store our electronic records, and providing privacy and client confidentiality training to Clinicians and our own personnel.
We endeavour to ensure that third party providers we use and to whom we may disclose personal information are subject to the same privacy obligations as are set out in this Privacy Policy. We generally do this by ensuring that our contracts with third party providers contain privacy provisions, including those which regulate how they use or disclose the personal information they may receive from us.
We have policies and procedures in place to destroy or de-identify personal information once it is no longer needed for a valid purpose or required to be kept by law.
7. WHEN WILL WE USE AND DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We use and disclose personal information principally to provide our services to Clinicians so that they can provide their health services to you. All Clinicians and our personnel are based in Melbourne, Victoria.
With the exception of IT service providers, it is our standard operating practice not to disclose personal information to recipients outside of Australia. We may depart from this standard operating practice if you travel outside of Australia and we are called upon to provide personal information in respect of you. Some of our IT service providers, including Microsoft Corporation and Google, use data hosting and processing infrastructure that is located in countries other than Australia, including the USA and those in Europe.
For recipients within Australia, it is our standard operating practice only to disclose personal information:
a) for the purposes set out in the client intake forms that you complete when you first register with Inner Eastern Psychology;
b) where it is reasonably necessary to achieve the purpose for which we collected the information or directly related purposes that you would reasonably expect (i.e. to provide our services to the Clinicians so that they can provide their health services to you);
c) with your consent; or
d) otherwise where permitted, authorised or required by law.
Some common scenarios where we may disclose your personal information with a third party are explained below as follows:
Your other health service providers
We may disclose personal information to your other healthcare providers where you have authorised either us or the Clinicians to do so, or where you would otherwise reasonably expect for us to do so. For example:
if you have been referred to Inner Eastern Psychology by your GP, psychiatrist, or an agency such as NDIS, TAC, or VOCAT, Clinicians from whom you receive services at this clinic may discuss your treatment with the relevant referrer; or
if you ask Clinicians to work with your other healthcare providers or support service providers (such as your social worker), the treating Clinicians may discuss relevant aspects of your treatment with them.
Emergency situations and other mandatory disclosures
In emergency situations we may need to disclose your personal information to your emergency contact person (if provided), emergency service providers, or other people who may be able to assist, some of whom may be outside of Australia if you undertake such travels.
There are also some circumstances where the law requires us to disclose personal information, such as:
in response to a valid subpoena or other court order; and
our mandatory obligations to report child protection concerns (such as where we form a belief on reasonable grounds that a child is in need or protection from physical injury or sexual abuse).
Administration of our practice
Inner Eastern Psychology uses a number of service providers, some of whom need to store and handle personal information on our behalf as part of their provision of services to us. These include IT service providers that we use to host our website and practice management system, to provide analytics for our website, and to manage our mailing list.
Our billing and claims management processes require the sharing of certain information in order to process payments and benefit claims. Where necessary, we may engage debt recovery service providers and provide them with the information that they reasonably require to perform their services to us.
From time to time, we may also need to share information with our accountants, insurers, lawyers, auditors, professional accreditation bodies and regulators. For example, this may include:
participating in management, funding, complaint-handling, planning, evaluation and accreditation activities, and quality assurance, incident monitoring or clinical audit activities; and
engaging a medical expert (for a medico-legal opinion), insurer, medical defence organisation, or lawyer, for the purpose of addressing liability indemnity arrangements (such as reporting an adverse incident), legal proceedings, or for the provision of legal advice.
In the unlikely event that our business and assets are acquired (or are considered for acquisition) by a third party (for example, if we sell Inner Eastern Psychology), we may share personal information with that third party and its professional advisors for that purpose.
8. WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES
a) Web analytics
The Inner Eastern Psychology website is currently accessible at <www.innereasternpsychology.com.au>.
When the Inner Eastern Psychology website is accessed certain web traffic data is logged including the device that was used, the user's IP address, browser type, operating system, and the website the user visited immediately before accessing our website.
One of the ways in which this web traffic data is collected is through the use of cookies. Cookies are small data files that websites place on computers or devices to enhance the functionality of the website, to record details of the user's visit, and to remember the user if they return to the website again.
Most browsers allow you to choose whether to accept cookies or not. If you do not wish to have cookies placed on your computer, please set your browser preferences to reject all cookies before accessing our website.
We use Google Analytics to analyse the web traffic data applicable to our website and provide us with a better understanding of the type and number of users who are visiting our website, how people are finding our website, and how they are using our website during their visit (e.g. the pages that the user visited, and the date and duration of visit).
We do not combine or associate any of this web traffic data with personal information that we hold nor do we use it to work out the identity of website users.
b) Social media pages
Inner Eastern Psychology has pages on various social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. These pages are subject to the privacy policies of the relevant platforms.
We do not use these social media pages to communicate with you or about clinical matters. If you would like to make an inquiry about services available from Inner Eastern Psychology, you should contact us directly by e-mail or phone. Our contact details are in Section 14 of this Privacy Policy .
Please use discretion in deciding what information you choose to post to the public sections of the social media pages of Inner Eastern Psychology (e.g. Facebook wall and Instagram comment sections). These sections may not be monitored by us or the Clinicians and are unlikely to be responded to.
c) Links to external websites
The Inner Eastern Psychology website and social media pages may contain links to third party websites and social media pages. These links are meant for your convenience only and do not constitute our sponsorship, endorsement or approval of the linked site or the content accessible from it.
We do not have control over the privacy practices or the content of any third party website or social media page and we encourage you to investigate the privacy settings applicable to them, including by reading any available privacy policies associated with them.
9. OUR MAILING LIST AND OTHER DIRECT MARKETING
We consider it important that we stay in contact with the people who access services from Inner Eastern Psychology and those who may wish to do so in the future. Through such contact, which typically takes the form of a newsletter or similar communication, we provide information about the services available from time to time as well as other tips and updates on emotional health and issues that may be of interest.
We use third party providers such as MailChimp to manage our newsletter mailing list. These providers collect and may provide us with certain information and statistics about the performance of our newsletters, based on data that is collected when you open our email or click links in the email.
You can opt out at any time if you no longer wish to receive our newsletter or other direct marketing messages from us. You can make this request by contacting us using the details at Section 14 of this Privacy Policy.
10. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY RIGHTS
The Applicable Privacy laws protect the personal information of all persons regardless of their age.
Persons under the age of 18 may be entitled to make privacy decisions independent of their parents, guardians and other family members if they demonstrably possess sufficient understanding and maturity to understand these decisions on their own.
Where necessary, Clinicians will determine the decision-making capacity of a person under the age of 18 years, including as it relates to this Privacy Policy.
11. ACCESSING AND CORRECTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
You have rights under the Applicable Privacy Laws to request access to the personal information that we hold about you, and to request that we correct that information. In some limited circumstances the law requires us (or allow us) to refuse your request. If we so, we will provide you with a written explanation of our reasons.
You can request access to, or correction of, your personal information by contacting us using the contact details at Section 14 of this Privacy Policy. There is no charge for making request. However, and subject always to the Applicable Privacy Laws, we may quote a reasonable administrative charge for providing access to your information which will apply if you decide to proceed with the request.
We may ask for information to verify your identity when you make a request to access or correct personal information. If your request relates to information about someone other than you (even if this another member of your family), we will usually need to confirm your legal authority with that other person before access is granted or a correction made.
We will respond to all requests for access to, or correction of, personal information within a reasonable time (and otherwise in accordance with any timeframes required under Applicable Privacy Laws).
If you have seen any of the Clinicians at Inner Eastern Psychology and your request relates to your clinical records, our standard operating procedure is to handle your request in the manner directed by the relevant Clinicians from whom we seek consent. Once that consent and direction is received, we use our best endeavours to deliver the clinical records to the recipient by post or email. Clinicians may elect to deal with a request for access to clinical records without our involvement in which case your request will be handled by the Clinicians who prepared the relevant record(s).
12. REQUESTS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO YOUR OTHER HEALTH SERVICE PROVIDERS
If you would like us to make health information that we hold about you available to another health service provider who is treating you, you can make a request by contacting us using the details at Section 14 of this Privacy Policy.
We handle such requests in accordance with our obligations under the Health Records Act 2001 (VIC). There is no charge for making a request. However, and subject always to the Applicable Privacy Laws, we may quote a reasonable administrative charge for providing access to your information which will apply if you decide to proceed with the request.
Usually, a request for us to make health information that we hold about you available to another health service provider who is treating you will be handled by the Clinicians who prepared the relevant information.
13. PRIVACY QUESTIONS, CONCERNS OR COMPLAINTS
If you wish to ask a question, express a concern, or make a complaint about how we have handled your personal information (including if you believe we have breached any Applicable Privacy Laws), please contact us in the first instance using the details in Section 14 of this Privacy Policy.
When contacting us please provide as much detail you can in relation to your question, concern or complaint. We will do our best to respond to you in a constructive and helpful way and, in order for us to do so, we request that you cooperate with us during this process. We may need to ask you for further information to assist with your question, concern or complaint.
We take all complaints seriously and will respond to your complaint within a reasonable period, but always within the time required by the Applicable Privacy Laws.
In respect of complaints, if you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your complaint you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and/or the Health Complaints Commissioner (Victoria) whose details are as follows:
Office of The Australian Information Commissioner
Postal: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Website: www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints/lodge-a-privacy-complaint-with-us
Health Complaints Commissioner
Postal: Level 26, 570 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Telephone: 1300 582 113
Website: www.hcc.vic.gov.au/make-complaint
14. HOW TO CONTACT US
You can contact us by any of the following means:
Telephone: (03) 9088 1990
Fax: (03) 8456 6500