Terms of Service
Personal Information
We gather necessary personal information about you during the course of your treatment to ensure your treatment is individualized and a treatment plan can be developed to appropriately address your concerns. All information collected during your treatment is kept confidential and secure, except when:
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It is subpoenaed by a court;
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Failure to disclose the information would place you or another person at risk of harm; or
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Your prior written approval has been obtained to release information or a written report.
If you claim rebates from funding bodies, doctors and health professionals, we may be required to provide summary reports to referring doctors, specialists and/or agencies regarding your treatment and your progress in treatment. Health research using de-identified data may be undertaken by this practice, by funding bodies or by this practice’s technology providers, which you consent to as a patient of this practice.
Confirming Appointments
We use email, phone and/or sms as part of our service delivery to you. We also use these carriages to contact you to confirm appointments, however it remains your responsibility to be aware of your scheduled appointments. In providing an appointment confirmation service, we endeavor to provide you with enough notice to cancel or reschedule your appointment without incurring additional fees. We do have a short-notice cancellation and rescheduling policy. We use Halaxy Pty Ltd for automating our reminder system, including emails and sms.
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Please note: many people are waiting for psychology services, if you are unwell or otherwise cannot attend your scheduled appointment, please use the online client booking portal or email hello@unburdenpsych.au as early as you can to allow time for someone else. Thank you!
Service and Consultation Fees
At Unburden Psychology, we aim to keep fees affordable and therefore below the recommended fee from the Australian Psychological Society (see www.UnburdenPsych.au for more information). Our standard fees are published on the website, fees differ for some clients with funding providers (e.g. NDIS, DVA, Workcover, etc.). Our standard fees are reviewed annually and fee increases are advised via our usual reminder systems. The fee for your session is payable in full at the time of your consultation. We cannot accept cash. Payments accepted include Automatic Payments from your debit/credit card details via Halaxy; BPAY or direct bank deposit (BPAY or bank deposit will be due on the day of your appointment; a follow up appointment may not be offered for clients with unpaid invoices). By signing this consent, you authorize Unburden Psychology to store your clinical records on Halaxy Pty Ltd. You authorize Halaxy Pty Ltd ACN: 633 220 612 to store your debit/credit card and debit payments from your nominated debit/credit card stored on Halaxy when you have an appointment. You understand that Halaxy Pty Ltd Terms and Conditions can be found on their website.
NDIS clients - a service agreement must be in place to allow correct invoicing prior to your first appointment.
Workcover or other third party funded clients - you acknowledge you are personally liable for fees if Workcover or other third party funders do not cover the service for you. At this time, Victims Assist clients will need to pay upfront and claim their rebate following the appointment.
With a current GP Mental Health Care Plan, the rebate from Medicare will apply for up to 10 sessions with a Psychologist in a calendar year. Refer to our website for the current Medicare rebate amount. Alternatively, with appropriate Private Health Cover, you can claim your consultation rebate through your health insurer.
Automatic Payments and Online Medicare Rebate Claiming
Unburden Psychology gives you the option to use Auto Payments via Halaxy to pay your appointment fees. This easy option means your consultation fee payments are processed automatically at the time of your appointment from the nominated debit/credit card provided by you and stored electronically on Halaxy. This allows you to focus your entire appointment on treatment without the need to worry about payments. When payments are processed, you can receive a confirmation email in addition to the invoice we usually sent through to you.
Unburden Psychology allows you to claim Medicare rebates following your consultation using online Medicare claiming. This means that you don’t need to take your invoice to a Medicare office to claim a rebate. We will submit the claim to Medicare on your behalf within 48 hours of your appointment, and Medicare pays the rebate directly into your bank account.
Time and Punctuality
A consultation will usually last 50 minutes. If you are late, your consultation will still aim to finish at the scheduled time to be fair to your treating psychologist and the clients with appointments after yours. If you require a longer appointment, you are encouraged to schedule a double-appointment. Double-appointments are billed at double the usual consultation fee and they attract a single Medicare rebate.
Cancellation and Rescheduling Policy
Although we understand that things happen unexpectedly, we ask that you provide more than 2 business days notice when needing to cancel or reschedule your appointment without incurring any extra fees. We also realise that it can be quite nerve-wracking attending your first appointment. We would encourage you though to keep your appointment and see first-hand the benefits that seeing a Psychologist can have for you, your situation, your family, or issue you are needing help with.
Providing you with good therapy in a timely manner is important to us. Our focus is to have you in therapy not collecting missed appointment fees. Please support us in our goal to provide you with the best service possible by understanding our cancellation policy. Cancellation fees are not refundable through Medicare.
Our cancellation policy is in line with guidelines recommended by the Australian Psychological Society. In implementing this policy, we understand that sometimes you may be unable to keep an appointment because of sudden illness or an unexpected personal emergency. If you find yourself in this situation, please contact our office as soon as you can via telephone to explain the situation. We support your access to attending your appointments by providing a reminder system. We request you support us in supporting you by respecting our cancellation policies.
Short-notice cancellations (less than 24 hours notice) to reschedule or cancel an appointment will result in additional fees as outlined:
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Non-attendance or less than 2 hours notice: Full fee charged to individual client. (This fee is not eligible for Medicare rebate and is not covered by Workcover/DVA payment.)
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Cancel or reschedule within 24 business hours of your scheduled appointment:... Cancellation fee (see Fees & Rebates on website) (This fee is not eligible for Medicare rebate and is not covered by Workcover/DVA payment.)
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Cancel or reschedule via online client portal more than 24 hours before appointment: No fee, thank you for the advanced notice.
Any outstanding cancellation fees are required to be paid prior to scheduling or attending further appointments. We will contact you to seek payment of outstanding fees to prevent your treatment from being interrupted. If we are unable to contact you to seek payment for a cancellation fee, we will leave a message and request you contact us in a timely manner. If we do not hear back from you, future appointments will be cancelled and you will be notified of this outcome.
OTHER FUNDING PROVIDERS: NDIS, DVA, WORKCOVER, ETC. The cancellation fees outlined above apply - however, most funding providers will not cover you for cancellation and non-attendance - you are personally liable for these fees. Victims Assist payments must be made by you at the time of payment. NDIS participants, please refer to your service agreement for more information about your NDIS fee payments payments. If you have any questions regarding funding and payments,
Welcome to Unburden Psychology
Unburden Psychology provides psychological services with registered or provisionally registered Psychologists, and may at times provide services with other professionals.
Outlined below are our terms of service and your rights and responsibilities as a patient and/or parent in relation to information security, access and confidentiality as well as obligations regarding fees and payments, cancellations and rebates.
Before starting psychological services, you’ll need to agree in writing to these terms of service. Attending the first service session assumes your knowledge and consent for these terms.
Crisis Care
Please note Unburden Psychology is unable to provide crisis services. In case of emergencies, please call either your GP or present to the emergency ward of your nearest public hospital. You are welcome to use the client portal to book the next available appointment.
Waiting list: We have a waitlist for those who are seeking an earlier appointment. Please email hello@unburdenpsych.au to ask to be notified of any last minute cancellations for an earlier session.
Contact Outside Sessions
If you need to contact your psychologist outside of your psychology sessions (via email, sms or phone message), your psychologist will endeavour to respond on their next working day. If the matter is complex and requires a lengthy response, time for your psychologist to read documents, or a discussion with you, we may recommend attending an additional session (either in person or on the phone), which would be charged according to the fees above. The psychologist’s time for reading long documents and/or writing reports outside session will be charged at the same pro-rata session rate.
Social Media and Online Reviews
In order to protect your confidentiality and respect for your psychologist's privacy, our team are unable to accept friend requests on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram from clients or patients. Likewise it is a breach of the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency guidelines on advertising for psychologists to allow testimonials or online reviews (e.g., Google review). It is always preferable that you share positive or negative feedback with your psychologist directly. Please refer to the existing client website page on how to provide feedback.
Our Commitment to You
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Be open and honest about how we can help
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Work collaboratively and supportively with you to provide the best service we can
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Provide you with enough information to help you make informed decisions around entering into, and remaining in treatment, including advising you of fees and providing invoices/statements and applying GST when required
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Be polite and respectful
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Be transparent and genuine in our dealings with you
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Respect your values and beliefs
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Provide you with the service you are seeking and if we can’t, we will discuss this with you directly
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Listen to feedback and resolve any concerns
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Keep information confidential and secure
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Ensure there is no conflict of interest between you and our team members
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Abide by all relevant legislation
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Regularly review how the service is working for you
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Continuously focus on how we can improve.
Our team aims to provide an optimal service to all our clients. If at any time you are unhappy with any part of the service, please discuss this with your psychologist directly - they will try to resolve the issue wherever possible. Alternatively, you may speak with any other member of the team.
Privacy and Confidentiality
Your personal information is kept confidential to the extent as outlined in the section on Personal Information above. Details of your Psychological Treatment remain private and confidential unless you provide written consent for your Psychologist to disclose information. If you have been referred by a GP/Psychiatrist/Pediatrician, your Psychologist is required to provide periodic feedback to your health care provider regarding your treatment. Your psychologist may also confidentially discuss aspects of your symptoms and treatment with another clinical psychologist, also bound by confidentiality, for the purpose of professional development and to provide the best possible psychological practice for you - in which case, any identifying information will be removed, or you’ll first be consulted for your approval.
Your information will, therefore, remain confidential within these parameters unless there is any concern that you may present a risk of harm to yourself or others. If this occurs, your Psychologist may be required to disclose information to other third parties WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT TO DO SO to ensure your safety.
By signing this form you are indicating that you acknowledge and accept these conditions of privacy and confidentiality.
All clinical notes recorded during the course of treatment will remain in the possession of the treating Psychologist. We use Halaxy, an electronic health record system to store your patient file, which you consent to as a patient of this practice. You have a general right to access your records (subject to some exceptions which mainly relate to privacy, health or legal considerations) and you can request access to your records. Your request must be made in writing, after which your request will be discussed with you and there may be a fee associated with the time required by the psychologist. By law, we are required to store your personal information for 7 years after ceasing engagement with your treating psychologist, and up to age 25 years for a young person under the age of 18 years.
Our psychologists focus on providing Psychological Treatment. To this end, we do not engage in Medico-Legal matters, including report writing.
When there are Legal Matters
Our psychologists and other members of the team focus on providing Psychological and mental health treatments. To this end, we do not engage in Medico-Legal matters.
We do not accept third party consent forms for the release of session notes, even when signed by clients. By law, psychologists must gain informed consent directly from the client before disclosing any information to a third party. See the Privacy Policy regarding Disclosure of Personal Information.
We strongly recommend to our clients not to consent to releasing session notes from their therapy - it is almost never in the interests of clients to do so. Instead, we recommend commissioning a report that addresses the specific questions related to the legal matter.
Please speak to your psychologist for more information.
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