Consent is collected when you complete your initial intake form to acknowledge that you have read over this privacy policy and agree to its terms. Lived Experience Social Work wants to ensure that you have the information required to make informed decisions about your care and how much information you provide. Services will be unable to be provided without informed consent being provided by you.

Your personal information will be collected in order to provide services. This may include:

·      Your name

·      Your full legal name (which may be different to above)

·      Gender

·      Contact details

·      Date of birth

·      Gender

·      Medical or health information

·      NDIS information

·      Credit card information or google pay details (collected by Stripe if you consent)

·      Emergency contact details

Sensitive information, like health records is also likely to be collected in order to deliver services. This will only be collected where required to provide services.

Information may be collected for the purposes of:

·      Providing counselling, case management or advocacy.

·      Communicating with your informal and formal supports.

·      Assessing whether you are eligible for this service or another.

·      Meet mandatory obligations (such as specific obligations related to NDIS reporting, FAS reporting or where otherwise necessary to meet obligations under these schemes).

·      Manage invoices and payments and other billing duties.

·      Complete administrative requirements.

·      For other aspects of delivering services to you.

Information may be collected through the following ways:

·      Direct contact with you (through forms, phone calls, emails, text messages or during session).

·      Website enquiries from you or someone acting on your behalf

·      Other support services such as NDIS planners, coordinators, other therapists or case managers.

·      Informal supports.

Your information is only used for the purposes of providing you with services.

·      Your personal details, case notes, reports and any forms you fill out are stored in Splose.  You can find information on Splose’s privacy here: https://splose.com/privacy-policy

·      The email address meg@livedexperiencesocialwork.com.au is hosted by Google Workspace. Their privacy policy can be found here: https://policies.google.com/u/1/privacy

·      The website is hosted by Squarespace. You can visit their privacy policy here: https://www.squarespace.com/privacy

·      Online consultations will be provided by Zoom. See their privacy policy here: https://www.zoom.com/en/trust/privacy/privacy-statement/

·      Payments may be chosen to be paid with Stripe. See their privacy policy here: https://stripe.com/au/privacy

Lived Experience Social Work does not use AI or recording devices in session to record or transcribe sessions.

Lived Experience Social Work does not use AI to write case notes or reports. Lived Experience Social Work is not subscribed to Splose AI features.

Lived Experience Social Work does not permit you using any software, device or AI that may record the session either. If you require a written summary of session following the appointment, one can be provided for you within 24 hours of the appointment.

Information may be shared with:

·      Other healthcare professionals

·      NDIS planners and government agencies

·      Support Coordinators

·      Informal supports

·      Other service providers or professionals providing you with care and support.

The above would usually be provided with your consent. Not providing consent may result in limitations in the provision of services.

Lived Experience Social Work does not rent, sell or trade your personal information.

Information (including personal and sensitive information) may be disclosed without consent if:

·      Required by law (Eg. By a court subpoena).

·      It is necessary where there is a serious threat to you or someone else.

·      For the purposes of mediation or conflict resolution process (Eg. Through the Health Complaints Commissioner or VCAT)

·      Where a child has been harmed or is at risk of harm. Any sexual offences against a child in Victoria must be reported by every adult in Victoria.

·      To aide in any court proceedings should a claim be made against Lived Experience Social Work.

These circumstances are not common but can happen at times. Lived Experience Social Work will make every effort to let you know if this is the case for you.

You have a right to request access to your personal information at any time. You also have a right to request corrections if you think information is incorrect. Requests can be made directly to meg@livedexperiencesocialwork.com.au

There are some circumstances where your request to access your personal information may be legally declined. If this is the case, you will be provided with the justification in writing. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can put in a complaint to the Health Complaints Commissioner. You can find their website here: https://hcc.vic.gov.au/

The website used by Lived Experience Social Work may collect data such as:

·      Browser type

·      Pages visited

·      IP address

You can disable cookies in your browser settings.

The website for Lived Experience Social Work (www.livedexperiencesocialwork.com.au) will at times have links to external websites. Lived Experience Social Work is not responsible for the privacy practices of those websites and you should exercise caution when using these websites. The inclusion of external content or websites on the Lived Experience Social Work website does not constitute an endorsement of this content or these websites.

Lived Experience Social work maintains an Instagram page: www.instagram.com/livedexperiencesocialwork

You will not be asked for personal information on this platform and if you contact on this platform to seek services (which is not recommended), you will be redirected to the website for Lived Experience Social Work.

If you interact with or engage with public posts by Lived Experience Social Work on Instagram, Lived Experience cannot protect your anonymity. Lived Experience Social Work will not respond to you in anyway that identifies you as a current service user.

If you believe your privacy has been breached, please contact Lived Experience Social Work at meg@livedexperiencesocialwork.com.au so that this can be investigated. If from there, you are not satisfied with the response of Lived Experience Social Work, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). You can access their website here: www.oaic.gov.au

This policy may be updated from time to time. The latest copy will be available on the website for Lived Experience Social Work: www.livedexperiencesocialwork.com

If you have any questions in relation to this Privacy Policy or how your information is handled by Lived Experience Social Work, please contact Lived Experience Social Work by:

Email: meg@livedexperiencesocialwork.com.au

Phone: 0432 779 663