Privacy Policy

Affinity Psychology Privacy Policy

1. Affinity Psychology’s commitment to privacy:

1.1. Affinity Psychology (“us”, “we” or “our”) is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our clients, staff and visitors of Affinity Psychology, as well as those who visit our website.

1.2. Affinity Psychology is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles, the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW), and other laws governing how health service providers handle your Personal Information and Sensitive Information.

1.3. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out how we collect and treat your Personal Information and Sensitive Information. The Policy applies to our website https://www.affinitypsychology.com.au, which is operated by us, and to the products and services provided by us.

2. Definitions

In this Policy:

2.1. “Personal Information” means information or an opinion about you that identifies you, or from which your identity can reasonably be worked out. It includes Sensitive Information.

2.2. “Sensitive Information” is Personal Information that receives extra protection under the Privacy Act. It includes information about your health (including mental health), racial or ethnic origin, political opinions or memberships, religious or philosophical beliefs, professional or trade association or union membership, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record, and genetic and biometric information.

3. Collection of Your Data

3.1. To provide our services to you, Affinity Psychology may receive and store Personal Information and Sensitive Information (together, ‘your Data’) that you enter onto our website, provide to us directly or give to us in other forms, including our Intake and Consent Forms.

3.2. Your Data may include your:

3.2.1. Contact details including name, phone number, address and email address;

3.2.2. Payment and billing information, including your Medicare and private health fund details. Card details are securely stored and payments processed by Halaxy, and we do not store full card numbers ourselves;

3.2.3. Health information, including your mental and physical health history, current concerns, medications, assessment results, clinical notes, and reports and referrals from other health practitioners;

3.2.4. Personal history and family history; and

3.2.5. Other information voluntarily provided by you.

We collect your Data so that we can provide safe and appropriate psychological care, communicate with you about your appointments, process payments and Medicare claims and, where you have agreed, send you information about our services.

3.3. We will only collect Sensitive Information, including health information, with your consent, unless the law requires or permits us to collect it without consent, for example in an emergency.

3.4. Affinity Psychology collects your Data from you in a variety of ways, including through its website and in forms you may fill out, or emails you may send to us.

3.5. We may also collect your Data when you give feedback, update your contact details or preferences, respond to a survey, or otherwise communicate with us.

3.6. We may receive your Data from third parties. Those third parties may include your medical practitioners, hospitals, clinics, lawyers and/or family members. If we do, we will protect and use this information as set out in this Policy.

4. Use of Your Data

4.1. Personal Information collected by us will only be used and disclosed for the purpose for which it was collected as set out below. This includes maintaining your account and contact details, providing you with our products and services, and processing payments.

4.2. Affinity Psychology may use Personal Information collected from you to provide you with information and updates on our services, additional products, or opportunities available to you. We will never use your health information for marketing.

4.3. We may use your Personal Information to improve our products and services and better understand your needs.

4.4. We may from time to time use your Personal Information for another purpose where it would be reasonably expected by you or if permitted by the Privacy Act. This includes to effect or enforce a transaction, or procure advice from legal and accounting firms, auditors and other consultants.

4.5. Sensitive information will only be used and disclosed for providing services to you, for your protection or the protection of another person, or as we may otherwise indicate to you at the time of collection of that information.

5. Disclosure of Your Data

5.1. We may disclose your Personal Information, including Sensitive Information, where this is necessary to provide your care or run our practice. This may include:

5.1.1. your referring GP or other treating practitioners, with your consent or as part of your referral, including progress reports required under Medicare’s Better Access program;

5.1.2. Medicare (Services Australia) and private health funds, to process rebates and claims;

5.1.3. our practice management software provider (Halaxy) and other service providers who store or process data on our behalf under confidentiality obligations;

5.1.4. clinical supervisors, for professional supervision, without identifying details unless necessary; and

5.1.5. our insurers and professional advisers, where required.

5.2. We may from time to time need to disclose Your Data to comply with a legal requirement, such as a law, regulation, court order, subpoena, warrant, in the course of a legal proceeding or in response to a law enforcement agency request.

5.3. We may use Your Data to protect the copyright, trademarks, legal rights, property or safety of Affinity Psychology, its clients or third parties.

5.4. We may also use and share aggregate or non-personally identifying information about clients for market analysis, research, marketing or other purposes.

5.5. We will not disclose, sell, share or trade your Personal Information to any third parties unless we first receive your consent, except as set out in this Policy.

5.6. We may provide health information (Sensitive Information) to third parties where we consider it necessary to manage a risk to the safety of a person or persons.

5.7. We may disclose health information without your consent where we reasonably believe it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any person, or where otherwise required or permitted by law.

5.8. If there is a change of control in our business or a sale or transfer of business assets, we reserve the right to transfer, to the extent permissible at law, our user databases together with any Personal Information, Sensitive Information and non-personal information contained in those databases. This information may be disclosed to a potential purchaser under an agreement to maintain confidentiality. We would seek to only disclose information in good faith and where required by any of the above circumstances.

5.9. By providing us with your Data, you consent to the terms of this privacy policy and the types of disclosure covered by this policy. Where we disclose your Personal Information to third parties, we will request that the third party follow this policy regarding handling your personal information.

5.10. We will ask for your consent where the law requires it, for example before sharing your health information for a purpose not described in this Policy.

6. Security of Your Data

6.1. Affinity Psychology is committed to ensuring that your Data is secure.

6.2. Affinity Psychology will take reasonable steps to protect your Data from misuse, loss, unauthorised access and modification or disclosure.

6.3. We store your Data in secure, password-protected systems, with access limited to staff who need it. No method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your Data. If a data breach occurs that is likely to cause you serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by law.

6.4. We keep health records for at least seven years after your last appointment or, if you were under 18 when we saw you, until you turn 25, in line with the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW). Records are then securely destroyed.

7. Access to your Information

7.1. You may request details of your Data that we hold about you in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

7.2. If you would like a copy of your Data, or believe any of it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, please email us at info@affinitypsychology.com.au. There is no charge to make a request or to correct your information. We may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of providing copies, and will tell you in advance if so.

7.3. We reserve the right to refuse to provide you with your Data that we hold about you, in certain circumstances set out in the Privacy Act. If we refuse, we will tell you why in writing and explain how you can complain.

8. Website

8.1. When you visit the website of Affinity Psychology, we may collect certain information such as browser type, operating system, website visited immediately before coming to our site, etc.

8.2. Information you submit through our contact form is used only to respond to your enquiry.

9. Marketing Emails

9.1. We may send you direct marketing emails and information about products and services that we consider may be of interest to you.

9.2. If, at any time, you would like to stop receiving these promotional emails, you may follow the opt-out instructions contained in any such email. Please note that it may take up to 5 business days for us to process opt-out requests.

9.3. If you opt-out of receiving emails or promotions from us, we still may send you emails about your account, any services you have requested or received from us, or for other customer service purposes.

9.4. We do not provide your personal information to other organisations for the purposes of direct marketing.

9.5. If you receive communications from us that you believe have been sent to you other than in accordance with this Privacy Policy, or in breach of any law, please contact us using the details provided below.

10. Complaints about privacy

10.1. If you have a complaint about how we have handled your information, please contact us info@affinitypsychology.com.au, or 0438 359 789.

10.2. We will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days and aim to respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992) or the NSW Information and Privacy Commission (ipc.nsw.gov.au, 1800 472 679).

11. Changes to privacy policy

11.1. Our Privacy Policy is subject to change.

11.2. Affinity Psychology may modify this policy at any time, in our sole discretion and all modifications will be effective immediately upon our posting of the modifications on our website, or through distribution by email. Please check back from time to time to review our privacy policy.

Last Updated October 2026