Privacy and Confidentiality

One of the key elements of successful therapy is the assurance of knowing that what you share with your psychologist will be confidential. It can be very freeing to share your deepest concerns and struggles with someone who is not part of your usual social group and who is skilled at listening without judging or offering biased advice.

Your privacy is important to us. As a psychologist, we follow strict guidelines for professional conduct and confidentiality. Essentially, information disclosed by you will remain confidential unless you have given your psychologist permission to release it. Your psychologist will write notes on your session and these notes form part of your patient records that are securely stored.

Confidentiality is outlined for you in detail on the consent form given to you at your first session.

For Telehealth sessions, you will be emailed a telehealth consent form prior to your appointment. If you have not received this form, please contact us.

Limitations of confidentiality, informed consent

The exceptions to confidentiality are:

1. If a court subpoenas your records, we must comply with the court request to release your information; or

2. If tell your psychologist you are thinking of harming yourself or someone else, as a duty of care to reduce the risk of harm, the psychologist may be required to break confidentiality to notify the relevant people to promote safety.

In addition, other limitations of confidentiality are:

3. It is usual practice for a psychologist to write back to any referring party such as your GP. Specifically, the psychologist is required to provide a brief report back to your GP on your treatment progress for your defined goals and any recommendations that may assist in your care.

4. If the psychologist seeks supervision regarding your presentation - in this instance, identifying information (e.g., your name), will remain confidential to ensure anonymity.

First 2 sessions

"Practice creates mastery", implementing a routine to 'practice skills' will reinforce changes and help you experiment new ways of thinking and responding.

Therapy

Generally, therapy may take 6 - 12 sessions, which depends on the goals you have, the complexity of the issues you require help with and your commitment to therapy. Some sessions will likely require the completion of assessment tools to monitor your symptoms and progress to ensure we are working towards achieving your goals. 

Handouts

Focuses on understanding you to work towards developing a treatment plan that will best suit you and your desired goals.

"Practice"

Most sessions will be approximately 50 minutes in length. Some sessions may require 90+ minutes to enable time to process strong emotions and be in a more relaxed state by the end of the session.

Length of sessions

On occasion, we will send you electronic handouts to assist you to remember the skills covered in session, and when combined in a folder can make a personalised self-help resource. The number of handouts will ultimately depend on your needs and the goals for therapy.

Telehealth sessions - preparation

Telehealth sessions will be conducted either by telephone, or an online app called ZOOM. The ZOOM program can be downloaded for free as an app on your mobile, tablet or computer, or through an internet browser.

Mobile or Tablet: To install ZOOM on your mobile or tablet apps, go to https://zoom.us/download from your device and click the appropriate "download" button under the fourth option "ZOOM mobile apps".

Computer: To install ZOOM on your computer, go to https://zoom.us/download and click "download" under the first option "Zoom client for meetings".

We aim to make the rooms at Bell Psychology Services warm and inviting so that clients feel comfortable and safe during their sessions. Consider creating a similar environment for your telehealth sessions by:

www.bellpsychology.com.au