SERVICE AGREEMENT & POLICIES

CONFIDENTIALITY

As a provider of quality counselling and/or life coaching services it is necessary to lawfully collect and record relevant personal information. This counselling confidentiality agreement policy outlines the confidentiality principles, laws, and codes of practice under which John Dimond Counselling operates. We will never use or disclose official, health or personal information without proper authority or for purposes that breach privacy law.

EXCEPTIONS TO CONFIDENTIALITY

In some situations, disclosure of personal or health information may be necessary where there is a serious and imminent threat to an individual’s life, health or safety, or a threat to public health or safety.

In this counselling contract, limits to confidentiality are explained here and agreed to in the form of ticking the acceptance box when confirming a session booking. These situations are:

• When subpoenaed by court, or
• When required by law (e.g. Mandatory Reporting for child protection, unlawful activity), or
• When failure to disclose information would place you or another person at risk of serious harm, or
• When your prior approval has been gained for authority to release information to a nominated person.

CODES OF PRACTICE

As a registered counsellor with the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) and Institute of Professional Counsellors Australia (IPCA) your counsellor adheres to these associations’ ethical codes and confidentiality principles as well as to the legal requirements of the National Privacy Principles 2006, the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 and the Code of Conduct for Health Professionals NSW 2005.

COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

Personal information will only be collected when it is lawful to do so and when directly related to the counsellor role and the activity of managing the service. Information will only be collected from you directly when it is relevant.

DATA QUALITY, SECURITY AND FLOW

All personal information you supply should be accurate and up to date. John Dimond Counselling will take reasonable steps to securely protect your personal information from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. Reasonable steps will be taken to destroy personal information no longer required.

STORAGE OF INFORMATION

Your information will remain confidential, private and securely stored, and will be securely disposed of after five years. It will be protected from unauthorised access, use and disclosure.

ACCESS AND ACCURACY

This counselling confidentiality agreement policy informs you of what personal information will be stored, the reason this information is being collected and what will be done with that information. You have the right to access your information with reasonable notice. You will be allowed to update, correct or amend your personal information where necessary.

USE AND DISCLOSURE

You have a legal right to expect that any personal or health information held about you will not be disclosed inappropriately to others without your informed consent. Your information will be limited to the purpose for which it is collected, and John Dimond Counselling will not use information supplied by you for one purpose for another.

Your permission will be sought for direct marketing communication from John Dimond Counselling. In each communication a prominent option will be displayed for you to express your wish not to receive any further direct marketing.

OPENNESS

This policy sets out how personal information will be managed, what sort of information will be held, for what purposes, and how it is collected, held, and used.

IDENTIFIERS AND ANONYMITY

For your protection John Dimond Counselling will not use an individual identifier either assigned by them or assigned to you by another agency. You are entitled to access and use this website or service anonymously where lawful and practicable.

Wherever lawful and practicable you have the option of not identifying yourself on the website contact information.

TRANSFER AND LINKAGE OF SENSITIVE INFORMATION

Transfer of personal information to an organisation in Australia or overseas will only be allowed with your consent and will occur in a controlled way. Your express informed consent is needed for authority to transfer information to other organisations. Such information will only be sought when necessary to uphold the law and its statutes.

INDEMNITY

Every care has been taken to ensure the information in this policy is accurate and based on current law and best practice. John Dimond Counselling cannot accept any claims arising from error or misinterpretation.

CURRENCY

This confidentiality policy was last updated on 01 October 2022. It is advisable to check this policy information when revisiting the website as there may be some changes to reflect best practice and current statutory and legal requirements.

FOR QUESTIONS OR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS COUNSELLING CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT CONTACT JOHN.

Cancellation Policy

This cancellation policy is agreed upon when booking.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Cancellation of an appointment via this website with more than 24 hours notice carries no penalty with reimbursement of the session fee (less the credit card transaction fee).

Cancellation (or non attendance) of an appointment with less than 24 hours notice carries the penalty of no refund of the session fee.

Rescheduling an appointment via this website at anytime up until the original session time on 2 occasions carries no penalty with the fee transferred to the rescheduled session. This applies to 2 rescheduled sessions only. On the 3rd rescheduled session a new payment is required and no refund is applied.

Please note that calling or texting a cancellation or rescheduling does not cancel or reschedule the appointment. The cancellation or rescheduling must be completed via this website. Also, while my system endeavours to remind you of your appointments through email and SMS reminders, these should not be relied upon and it is your responsibility to remember appointments you have made.

Policy Rationale

Sometimes there are good reasons for cancelling appointments. However, unlike brief medical appointments, it is impracticable to fill a counselling appointment at short notice. If several clients are late in cancelling or miss their appointments in one day, then I lose a large amount of my income. If you consider the overhead costs associated with private practice, then I hope you can appreciate why the fee remains for late cancellations and missed appointments.

(The Office of Fair Trading states that a business is within its rights to charge a cancellation or “no-show” fee for appointments, so long as this has been communicated to a new patient or customer before making the appointment.)

Earlier session available alert

When booking a session and ticking the box to alert you to an earlier session, you and all other clients that have selected the option will receive an email and SMS offering the opportunity. First to reschedule to the opening on the website will secure the session.

SUPERVISION CONTRACT/AGREEMENT

1. Purpose, Goals and Objectives of Professional supervision:

Monitor and promote the welfare of clients seen by Supervisee;

Promote the development of Supervisee’s professional identity and competence;

Fulfil requirement for Supervisee certification and accreditation; and

Fulfil ACA membership requirement.

2. Context and Content of Professional supervision:
3. Individual professional supervision at Professional supervisor’s office, via the web or phone, or on an as-needed basis. In the case of a crisis, an appointment can be made for as soon as possible outside this time;

1. A variety of methods will be used within a multi-faceted framework.
2. Method of Evaluation:

Feedback will be provided for each session. Records will be limited to session details and significant issues relevant to the professional supervision of the case. A formal evaluation will be conducted every six months. Professional supervision notes (if kept) may be shared with the Supervisee at the Professional supervisor’s discretion and upon request of the Supervisee. An unedited video of a one-hour counselling session may be required if the professional supervisor needs to view a session to continue appropriate professional supervision. This will be discussed with the supervisee before a request is made. Written permission from the client will be required at these times.

4. Duties and Responsibilities of Professional Supervisor-Supervisee
5. Professional supervisor:
6. Encourage on-going professional education.
7. Challenge Supervisee to validate the approach and technique used.
8. Monitor basic micro-skills and advanced skills, including transference and counter-transference.

1. Provide alternative methods for Supervisee.
2. Intervene where client welfare is at risk.
3. Ensure ethical guidelines and professional standards are maintained.
4. Provide consultation when necessary.
5. Discuss administrative procedures and marketing strategies.
6. a) Supervisee:
7. Uphold ethical guidelines and professional standards.
8. Discuss client cases with the aid of written case notes and video/audio tapes.
9. Validate diagnoses made and approach and techniques used.
10. Be open to change and alternative methods of practice.
11. Consult Professional supervisor or designated contact person in cases of emergency.

1. Implement Professional supervisor directives in subsequent sessions.

Maintain a commitment to supervise education and the counselling profession.

5. Procedural Considerations
6. Supervisee’s written notes, diagnoses, action plans and videos may be reviewed in sessions.

1. Issues related to the Supervisee’s professional development will be discussed.
2. It is understood that essential and seminal issues experienced in the counselling setting will be raised and addressed in professional supervision. Failure to raise such issues in a reasonable timeframe will be considered a breach of contract.

This contract is subject to revision at any time, upon request by either Professional

Supervisor or Supervisee.

Agreement We agree, to the best of our ability, to uphold the guidelines specified in the professional supervision contract and to manage the professional supervisory relationship process according to the ethical principles and Code of Conduct of the ACA.

Indemnity: You are not an employee or an agent of John Dimond Counselling (JDC), and as such you will indemnify JDC against any action arising from any client concerning your activities.

Maintain a commitment to supervise education and the counselling profession.

5. Procedural Considerations
6. Supervisee’s written notes, diagnoses, action plans and videos may be reviewed in sessions.

1. Issues related to the Supervisee’s professional development will be discussed.
2. It is understood that essential and seminal issues experienced in the counselling setting will be raised and addressed in professional supervision. Failure to raise such issues in a reasonable timeframe will be considered a breach of contract.