Confidentiality

Everything you share with your therapist is confidential. However, there are specific circumstances in which your therapist may have a duty of care to share information. These circumstances include:
• If your therapist considers you to be at serious risk of harm either to yourself or others
• If your counselling records have been requested by a court of law
• If another party or agency has requested your information, and you have agreed and provided your written consent to this

Sessions

All appointments are 50 – 60 minutes duration. This is your time where you work with your therapist in a safe space to discuss or work through the issues you choose. Appointments are usually weekly, but in some circumstances fortnightly arrangements can be made.

Payments & Cancellations

Each appointment is $160. Payment methods include cash, EFTPOS or credit card. Late cancellation fees are payable with the following notice periods:
• Less than 24 hours – full session fee payable
• 24-48 hours – 50% of session fee is payable
• If two cancellations occur in a row we will need to withdraw our service as we are unable to allocate your allocated time slot to another.

Your details will be kept on file after the booking fee is taken so that any outstanding fees can be settled within 3 days.

Record Keeping

Your therapist may or may not take notes during your session. They will, however, always record notes afterwards. These are called case notes and are a mandatory requirement of our practice. Case notes are stored online within a secure document program called Power Diary. All written notes are shredded as soon as they are transferred into Power Diary. All client records are kept, as required by law, for a period of 7 years. For children, once they turn 18, their records are kept for 7 years from the date of their last contact with the service.

Email & Telephone Contact

Email and telephone contact with your therapist is limited to practical arrangements only. Your therapist is not permitted to enter into telephone or email therapy unless permission is provided in advance by the Principal Practitioner. If you are faced with a situation where you require an urgent appointment, please call the office to request an alternate appointment time 0414480934. Alternatively, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or in a life-threatening situation call 000 without delay.

Ending Counselling

Normally, the end of therapy would be by mutual prior agreement. However, you have the right to end your sessions at any time. We would ask that you let your therapist know in advance when you anticipate your sessions ending. If you are unable to return, for any reason, please provide a minimum of 48 hours’ notice. If it is felt that our service is no longer appropriate, your therapist will discuss this with you and may make referrals to a more appropriate service.

Complaints Policy/Procedure

If you are unhappy with the service, you have received from an employee of Innate Therapies please follow our complaints process which can be uploaded from our website www.innatetherapies.com or email adminteam@innatethereapies.com and they can email you out a copy of our policy.