Privacy policy

The short version

What you tell me in a session stays between us, except in the narrow situations set out below where the law or a serious risk to someone's safety requires otherwise.

This website does not store your enquiry. The contact form emails your message to me and keeps no copy on the site. There is no database behind this website at all.

Who is responsible

Wise Beginning Counselling, run by Alpha Ponce, is responsible for the personal information described here. You can reach me at alpha.ponce@wisebeginning.com.au.

I handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. Health information — which includes anything about your mental health, and the fact that you are a client at all — is treated as sensitive information under that Act and carries stricter obligations than ordinary personal information.

What I collect

Through this website. If you use the contact form: your name, email address, an optional phone number, and whatever you choose to write in the message. If you fill them in, also how you found me and which therapy you're interested in. All of that is emailed to me and is not stored on the website.

As a client. Your contact details, relevant health and personal history, and clinical notes about our work together. I collect only what is necessary to provide the service safely, and you can decline to answer anything.

Automatically. Standard web server logs, which include IP addresses, for security and reliability. These are not linked to you as an individual.

Confidentiality and its limits

What you say in a session is confidential. There are a small number of exceptions, and I would rather you know them before you start than discover them later:

• If you are in imminent danger of harming yourself or someone else. Where I can, I'll discuss it with you first.
• If information indicates a child is at risk of harm, in line with Queensland's mandatory reporting laws.
• If a client is under 18 and there is a serious risk of harm to themselves or another person.
• If a court subpoenas records, a court order applies, or the law otherwise requires disclosure.
• If you are funded by WorkCover or an insurer, they receive reports on attendance and progress. Those reports cover function and capacity, not the content of what you talk about. I will tell you what goes in them.
• Where information is necessary for professional consultation or clinical supervision, which is a professional requirement. Cases are discussed in a way that doesn't identify you.
• Where it is necessary to defend against a malpractice claim or a professional complaint.
• If I believe my own safety is compromised.

Outside these situations, I do not disclose that you are a client to anyone — including family members — without your consent.

Clinical notes are not the property of clients. I reserve the right not to share them where doing so would not be safe.

Third parties this site and practice use

Zanda Health: the booking and practice management system. Your appointment and client details are held there, and clinical notes are stored under the ISO 27001 security standards Zanda certifies to. Zanda states that data for its Australian customers is hosted in Sydney.

BizzyAI (Zanda): with your consent, sessions are transcribed live by Zanda's AI assistant to help me write my notes. Zanda states the audio is processed by Amazon's transcription service, is not kept after the notes are produced, and is not used to train any AI model.

Stripe: processes card payments for sessions, through Zanda. Your card details are held by Stripe, not by me and not on this website.

Calendly: used only to schedule the free discovery call. It receives the name and email you enter when booking that call.

Resend: the email delivery service that carries contact form messages to my inbox.

Vercel: hosts this website and keeps standard server logs.

Resend, Vercel and Calendly are based in the United States, so contact form messages, standard server logs and the details you enter when booking a call with Calendly are processed and stored outside Australia. Zanda states that clinical records stay in Sydney.

Each of these has its own privacy policy. I have chosen services appropriate to a health practice, but I am not able to control their internal practices.

How long records are kept

Clinical records are kept for the period required by law, approximately 5 years, after which they are securely destroyed.

Contact form emails are kept in my inbox only as long as needed to respond and to keep a record of our correspondence.

Your rights

You can ask to see the personal information I hold about you, and to have it corrected if it is wrong. Requests for access to clinical notes are handled in line with the Privacy Act, which allows limited exceptions where access could pose a serious risk.

You can withdraw consent for me to hold your information, though I may still be required to retain clinical records for the legally mandated period.

If you are unhappy with how I have handled your information, tell me first and I will try to resolve it. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

A practical note

Email and web forms are not secure channels in the way a clinical record is. Please don't send detailed clinical information through the contact form: a sentence about what brings you here is enough, and the rest is better said in a session.