Privacy Policy

We may collect the following types of information:

• Personal information — name, date of birth, address, phone number, email address, Medicare number, NDIS participant number, private health insurance details, and emergency contact details.
• Health information — referral letters, medical history, assessment results, diagnosis, treatment plans, progress notes, and correspondence with other treating professionals.
• Information about children and adolescents — developmental history, school reports, behavioural observations, and information provided by parents, guardians, carers, or educators.
• Payment information — billing details necessary to process Medicare rebates, NDIS claims, or private payments.

We collect information directly from you (or the parent/guardian of a child client) through intake forms, consultations, telephone calls, emails, and our website. We may also receive information from referring professionals, schools, hospitals, and other healthcare providers with your consent.

We use your information to:

• Provide psychological assessment, therapy, and early intervention services.
• Communicate with you regarding appointments, reports, and treatment progress.
• Process Medicare rebates, NDIS service claims, and other payments.
• Meet our legal, professional, and regulatory obligations.
• Improve the quality of our services.

Where we provide services to NDIS participants, we comply with the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth) and associated rules. We will only share information with the NDIA or plan managers to the extent necessary for service delivery and claims processing, and with your informed consent.

We will not disclose your personal or health information to third parties unless:

• You have provided informed consent (or a parent/guardian has provided consent on behalf of a child).
• Disclosure is required or authorised by law, including mandatory reporting obligations under the Child Protection Act 1999 (Qld).
• Disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health, or safety of any individual.
• Disclosure is required for Medicare, NDIS, or other funding body claims.

Third parties may include referring GPs, paediatricians, schools, the NDIA, Medicare, and professional supervisors (in de-identified form).

Clinical records are maintained in accordance with the AHPRA and Psychology Board of Australia guidelines. Records for adult clients are retained for a minimum of seven years from the date of last contact. Records for children are retained until the child turns 25 years of age, or for seven years from the date of last contact, whichever is later. Records may be securely destroyed after the applicable retention period.

We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. Our measures include secure electronic practice management systems with encryption, password-protected files, locked physical storage for paper records, and restricted staff access on a need-to-know basis.

Our website may use cookies and analytics tools to monitor site traffic and improve user experience. These tools may collect anonymised data such as browser type, pages visited, and time spent on the site. No personally identifiable health information is collected through our website analytics. You may disable cookies through your browser settings.

You have the right to:

• Request access to the personal and health information we hold about you (or your child).
• Request correction of any information that is inaccurate, out of date, or incomplete.
• Request information about how your data has been used or disclosed.

Access requests should be made in writing to our Privacy Officer. We will respond within 30 days. In limited circumstances, access may be restricted in accordance with the APPs, for example where providing access could pose a serious threat to health or safety.

If you believe your privacy has been breached, you may lodge a complaint with our Privacy Officer. We will investigate and respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au or by calling 1300 363 992.

For all privacy-related enquiries, requests, or complaints, please contact:

Privacy Officer
Caterpillar Clinic
4/161 Aumuller Street, Bungalow QLD 4870
Phone: 07 4281 6886
Email: [email protected]

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legislation or our practices. The current version will always be available on our website. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.