Confidentiality / informed consent

Confidentiality is an essential part of any counselling relationship. All aspects of your participation as the client in counselling with Counselling Brisbane and our Counsellors is confidential as outlined by Australian State and Federal law. Throughout the counselling process, confidentiality will be maintained. This standard procedure and practice will be preserved except in the following circumstances:

a) The counsellor is instructed by you as the client to contact and inform a third party via written permission

b) The counsellor determines you could be/are a danger to yourself (e.g. self-harm or suicide), from/to others, or a member of the public or colleague is a danger to you

c) The counsellor is ordered by a court to disclose information from the individual counselling session/s

d) The law is going to be, or has been, broken 

e) Abuse of children, in Australia, is a mandatory reporting offence that the counsellor is bound by Australian law to report

f) Where the counsellor is concerned that an elderly person or a person with a disability may be or has been abused, neglected or subjected to financial exploitation

g) When undertaking supervision, all care will be taken to de-identify the client’s case notes to ensure identification is not possible and confidentiality is maintained

h) In a situation where confidentiality cannot be maintained, the Counsellor will take all reasonable steps possible to inform/discuss any intended direction with you as the client

COUNSELLOR DATA SECURITY AND PRIVACY

All files are kept in accordance with the record management guidelines of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA). Our counsellors maintain professional competence through continual professional development and supervision.

  • Patient Notes App: Counselling Brisbane uses digital scribing with clients (https://www.patientnotes.app/). One of the benefits is that it can reduce the counsellor’s time for record keeping.  In addition, the counsellor at Counselling Brisbane can focus directly on the client during the session without taking handwritten notes.  The notes are then stored in your confidential client record.  If the client wants to see a record of their session notes, they must request this and they are welcome to take their own notes during the session.
  • Consent: You, as the client are free to withdraw consent for use of PatientNotes at any point during the consultation. All client’s data is stored in compliance with Australian Privacy Principles, utilising technology responsibly to enhance Counselling Brisbane’s client experience, while prioritising privacy and security.  Once a new client booking has been made online, the counsellor will phone the new client for a 5-to-10-minute session to ask – What are the main reasons for contacting Counselling Brisbane and what do you hope to get out of the sessions?