Privacy Policy

Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy values the privacy and confidentiality of your personal and health information. We are committed to protecting your privacy, and comply with our obligations under the Information Privacy Act 2000 and the Health Records Act 2001. This privacy policy outlines how we collect and manage your personal information, and the procedures in place to protect your privacy.

Using and continuing to use the Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy website and services indicates that you accept the Privacy Policy and approve the collection, use and disclosure by Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy of your personal information according to the terms below.

Collecting personal information

As part of providing a psychological service to you, Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy needs to collect and record personal information from you that is relevant to your situation. This collection of personal information will be a necessary part of delivering psychological care and support. Personal information is any information that can be used to identify you. We collect personal information you disclose to us in communications between us and you, as well as transaction details relating to your payment of services from us. We collect current and historical personal information, such as your name, contact details, identification, health details, payment details and Medicare details. Sometimes we collect personal information from third parties, your representatives and the parties with whom we exchange information as described here (eg. GP, lawyer, health professional). Most of your personal information is provided to us directly by you and for a specific purpose.

The personal information collected by Diverge Emerge Holistic Therapy includes:

The content you submit directly to us or via the website asking us to provide services or information;
Information submitted if you ask to receive newsletters/updates, promotional materials or you complete a feedback form;
Any communication you submit directly or via email or phone, which may include personal information such as name, email address and phone number;
Information obtained for the purpose of delivering psychological services to you.

Personal information collected is for the purpose of responding to your contact with Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy. Any Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy staff members may read your written communications with us, including emails. Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy may not be able to provide you with required information or services if you do not provide the personal information requested.

Sensitive information

Sensitive information is personal information that generally has greater privacy protections under the Privacy Act. We will only collect sensitive information (e.g., health, race and sexual preferences or practices) from you if it is relevant to providing you with clinical mental health services.

Information provided by "cookies"

Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy uses "cookies" and similar technology built into wix website software to assist in improving the browsing experience for users, to allow use of features on the Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy website, and to make it easier to access our services. Cookies identify how visitors interact with the Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy website, including traffic coming into and out of the website. Cookies enable our webserver to collect information back from your browser each time you visit the Diverge Emerge Holistic Therapy website. Statistical information may be recorded about your usage, the time of your visit, its duration, the pages you visit and style settings. The use and access of this information is restricted to Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy and is not used to identify individual users of the website, unless legally required.

Using and disclosing information

All information gathered is used or disclosed solely for the original purpose of collection: to facilitate best practice service provision for the client.

The information Diverge Emerge Holistic Therapy collects from you may be used for:

The administrative purposes of running the practice
Billing, either directly or through a third party
Use within this organisation, when passing information to other clinical staff for your ongoing treatment and care
Disclosure of treatment, advice or medical information to you or other clinical providers
Clinical supervision provided by an external Mental Health Practitioner for the purpose of maintaining quality clinical mental health practice
Electronic means such as SMS and email reminders for appointment reminders

We will only use your personal information provided for the purposes for which it was collected unless:

You consent to its use for another purpose; eg. to provide a written report to another professional or agency (e.g., lawyer, GP, school, NDIA);
It is subpoenaed by a court;
A disclosure is otherwise required by law because of Duty of Care (details below)

We will not disclose your personal information to any third parties without your consent, unless permitted or required to do so by law, in particular when we exercise our Duty of Care (details below). We may exchange your personal information with your and our representatives, and with our service providers that assist us with banking, payment or technology services related to the provision of professional mental health care.

Duty of Care

In circumstances where your communication with Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy raises safety concerns, we will endeavour to contact you to check the welfare and safety of you and/or others. If necessary for protection of you and/or others, Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy may give relevant information provided by you to appropriate persons, such as a caregiver, parent/guardian, medical practitioner, emergency or police services. Where possible we will work with you openly, letting you know if our concerns reach the point where we need to involve other services. Social workers are mandatory reporters under Victorian law. Further information can be obtained at: https://www.cpmanual.vic.gov.au/advice-and-protocols/advice/intake/mandatory-reporting.

Data Quality, Security and Retention

Your personal information is gathered as part of your assessment and therapy, is kept securely, in password protected system and, in the interests of your privacy, used only by Diverge Emerge Holistic Therapy clinical staff and the authorised administrative assistants to the practice (as necessary). Your personal information is retained in order to document what happens during sessions, and enables Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy to provide a relevant and informed psychological service to you.

We hold personal information electronically with the assistance of our service providers (Wix and Halaxy). Your personal information is only kept while it is required for the purpose for which it was collected, for a permitted secondary purpose or as required by law. We take reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, current, complete and relevant. Informing Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy of changes to your contact details will help keep your information up to date. We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we maintain from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, interference, modification and disclosure; and to only keep personal information while it is required for the purpose for which it was collected or for a permitted secondary purpose. However, no transmission of information over the internet is completely secure. Whilst we have implemented security technology and procedures to protect your information, Diverge Emerge Holistic Psychotherapy gives no warranty and cannot ensure the security of any information which you send to us online, and individuals do so at their own risk. If you are concerned about communicating sensitive material to us over the internet, you may prefer to provide information directly.

In general, the third-party providers used by us will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us. Certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies in respect to the information we are required to provide to them for your payment-related transactions. For these providers, we recommend that you read their privacy policies so you can understand the manner in which your personal information will be handled by these providers.

Accessing & updating your personal information

If you wish to access your personal information, have any questions about the collection or usage of your information or ask that it be corrected, please contact us via email at: contact@divergeemergetherapy.com.

(updated 20/05/2026)