Privacy Policy
(Updated 14 July 2024)
At Story House Therapy (The Practice), we are committed to protecting your privacy as an online visitor to our website. We use the information we collect about you to maximise the services that we provide to you. We respect the privacy and confidentiality of the information you provided and adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles. Please read our privacy policy below carefully.
This website is owned and operated by Story House Therapy, which will be referred to as “we,” “our,” “us,” and “The Practice” in this Privacy Policy. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy, which is set out below. The Privacy Policy relates to the collection and use of personal information you may supply to us through your conduct on the website.
Please note that the information in this internet privacy policy may be modified or changed from time to time, and that this privacy policy exists in addition to any other terms and conditions applicable to this website. We will either notify you on this website or directly if the privacy policy changes. This Privacy Policy should be reviewed regularly so that you are updated on any changes. Any feedback on this Privacy Policy is welcomed and can be sent to info@storyhousetherapy.com. Please note that we do not make any representations about third-party websites that may be linked to the website.
Personal Information
Personal information includes any information or an opinion that identifies an individual, including but not limited to names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and other personally identifying information. Personal information about any visitors to the website is only collected when it is voluntarily submitted via our enquiry form, email, or the client portal, or any other format in which you knowingly enter your personal information. We may need to collect this personal information to provide you with further services or to answer or forward any requests or enquiries. Our Privacy Policy intends to manage your personal information in a way consistent with applicable privacy laws in Australia.
Use and Disclosure of Information
Personal information that visitors submit to our site is used only for the primary purpose for which it is submitted or for any other purpose related to the primary purpose. Examples of primary purposes include assisting us in providing our services to you, providing information to our clients, or, less commonly, for marketing purposes. If your data is to be used in any other way not associated with the primary purpose, we will let you know these other uses in this Privacy Policy or at the time the personal information is obtained.
The personal information is obtained in several ways, including in consultations, by telephone and email, via this website (www.storyhousetherapy.com), social media channels, from third parties, and sometimes from publicly available sources. Please note that we do not guarantee website links or policies of authorised third parties.
Please also note that copies of correspondence sent from the website, that may contain personal information, are stored as archives for record-keeping and back-up purposes only. If you wish to stop receiving mailing/marketing information from us, you can unsubscribe at any time by contacting us in writing or using any unsubscribe links in our communications.
If an individual does not wish for their personal information to be collected in any of the ways anticipated in this privacy policy, The Practice may not be able to provide psychological services to that individual.
Outside of the conditions listed above, personal information may be disclosed where we are required to comply with a legal requirement, such as a law, regulation, court order, subpoena, or warrant, during a legal proceeding or in response to a law enforcement agency request. Also, we may use your personal information to protect the rights, property, or safety of storyhousetherapy.com, our customers, or third parties.
Security
Whilst no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be secure, The Practice strives to ensure the security, integrity, and privacy of personal information submitted to our sites, and we review and update our security measures considering current technologies. We aim to take necessary steps to protect the personal information you may transmit to us or from our online products and services. Once we do receive your personal information, we will also make our best efforts to ensure its security on our systems.
Please also note that any employees of The Practice or contractors who provide services related to our information systems are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by us. However, we will not be held responsible for events arising from unauthorised access to your personal information.
Access to Information
If you use our website, we may use ‘cookies’ to monitor traffic patterns and serve you more efficiently if you revisit The Practice website. In most cases, a cookie does not identify you personally but may identify your internet service provider or computer. However, in some cases, cookies may collect and store personal information about you.
The Practice extends the same privacy protection to your personal information, whether gathered via cookies or from other sources, as detailed in this Privacy Policy. We also use permanent cookies to enable basic web traffic analysis using Google Analytics which, for example, shows us which areas of our website are popular against those that are only visited sometimes. This allows us to prioritise our enhancements to our website and increase the productivity of our website.
We will endeavour to take all reasonable steps to keep secure any information which we hold about you, and to keep this information accurate and up to date. If, at any time, you discover that information held about you is incorrect, you may contact us to have the information corrected.
Data Retention Policy
We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to provide you with our services and for legitimate business purposes, such as complying with our legal obligations, resolving disputes, and enforcing our agreements. When personal information is no longer needed, we will take reasonable steps to securely delete or anonymise it.
Children's Privacy
Our services are available to children under 18. We are committed to protecting the privacy of children who visit our website and use our services. Any information collected from children under 18 will be treated with the same level of care and security as the information provided by adults. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personal information from a child under 18 without parental or guardian consent, we will delete such information from our records.
User Rights
You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you and to ask that your personal information be corrected, updated, or deleted. You can also object to the processing of your personal information, request the restriction of processing, or request the portability of your personal information. To exercise these rights, please contact us at info@storyhousetherapy.com.
International Data Transfers
If we transfer your personal data outside of Australia, we will ensure that it is protected and transferred in a manner consistent with legal requirements. This may include implementing standard contractual clauses or data protection agreements.
Data Breach Notification
In the event of a data breach that may affect your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law. We will take all necessary steps to mitigate the breach and prevent future occurrences.
Third-Party Services and Data Processors
We may engage third-party companies and individuals to perform services on our behalf, such as hosting, data analysis, and customer service. These third parties have access to your personal information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.
Legal Basis for Processing
We process your personal information based on the following legal grounds: your consent, the necessity to perform a contract, compliance with legal obligations, and our legitimate interests, such as improving our services and ensuring the security of our website.
Links to Other Sites
This website may contain links to other websites. These links are intended for your convenience only. Links to third-party websites do not constitute sponsorship or endorsement or approval of these websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites. We encourage our users to be aware, when they leave our website, to read the privacy statements of every website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by this website storyhousetherapy.com.
Consent
By using our website, purchasing a product or service, you are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
We reserve the right to modify our Privacy Policy as our business needs require. We will notify you of such changes (whether by direct communication or by posting a notice on our website), after which, your continued use of our products, services, or website or your continued dealings with us shall be deemed to be your agreement to the modified terms.
If you do not agree to our continued use of your personal information due to the changes in our Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@storyhousetherapy.com.
This Privacy Policy is a compliance document prescribed by law rather than a legal contract between two or more persons. However, certain contracts may incorporate all, or part, of this Privacy Policy into the terms of that contract. In such circumstances, Story House Therapy may incorporate the terms of this policy such that: (a) certain sections or paragraphs in this policy are incorporated into that contract, but in such a way that they do not give rise to contractual obligations onto The Practice, but do create contractual obligations on the other party to the contract; and (b) the consents provided in this policy become contractual terms provided by the other party to the contract.
Problems or Questions
For more information about privacy issues in Australia and protecting your privacy, visit the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner’s website at https://www.oaic.gov.au.