Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 2026
Tom Rule Psychology is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal and health information responsibly.
This Privacy Policy explains how Tom Rule Psychology collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information. The practice handles personal and health information in accordance with applicable Australian privacy legislation, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) and its Health Privacy Principles.
Australian health service providers have specific obligations in relation to health information, which is treated as sensitive information under Australian privacy law.
Information we collect
The information collected depends on how you interact with Tom Rule Psychology and may include:
your name and contact details;
information you provide when making an enquiry;
information about your health, wellbeing and reasons for seeking psychological support;
referral information and correspondence from your GP or other healthcare providers;
demographic and appointment information;
Medicare and billing information, where applicable;
clinical notes, assessments, treatment information and correspondence created during the provision of psychological services; and
other information reasonably necessary to provide and administer psychological services.
Tom Rule Psychology aims to collect only information that is reasonably necessary for providing or administering its services.
New client enquiries
When you submit the new client enquiry form on this website, you are asked to provide your name, telephone number, email address, a brief description of what you are seeking support with, and whether you have a referral from a GP or another health professional.
You are asked not to provide detailed or sensitive clinical information through the website enquiry form.
This information is collected for the purpose of responding to your enquiry, assessing whether Tom Rule Psychology may be suitable for your needs, and assisting with arranging an appointment if appropriate.
If you do not provide the information requested in the enquiry form, Tom Rule Psychology may be unable to properly assess or respond to your enquiry.
Submitting an enquiry does not establish a psychologist–client relationship and does not guarantee that an appointment or psychological service will be offered.
How website enquiries are handled
The website is hosted by Squarespace. Information submitted through the new client enquiry form is processed by Squarespace and may be retained within Squarespace’s systems. Squarespace states that form submissions containing a required email address are stored within its Form Submitters system.
Form submissions are also sent to Tom Rule Psychology through its Google Workspace email service.
New client enquiries are ordinarily made available to authorised Wellspace administrative staff who provide administrative support to Tom Rule Psychology. This allows administrative staff to contact prospective clients, assist with appointments and onboarding, and establish the appropriate administrative record where an appointment proceeds.
Where an enquiry progresses to psychological services, relevant client information may subsequently be entered into Tom Rule Psychology’s practice-management and clinical-record system.
How we collect information
Personal and health information will usually be collected directly from you, including:
through this website;
through forms and questionnaires;
by email or telephone;
during appointments; and
through the practice’s booking and practice-management systems.
Where appropriate, information may also be received from other people or organisations involved in your care, such as your GP, psychiatrist or another healthcare provider.
Health information will only be collected where it is reasonably necessary for the practice’s activities and where there is an appropriate basis for collection, including consent where required. Australian privacy guidance generally requires health information to be collected directly from the individual where reasonable and practicable.
How we use your information
Personal and health information may be used for purposes including:
responding to enquiries;
determining whether the service is appropriate for your needs;
arranging and managing appointments;
providing psychological assessment and treatment;
communicating with you about your care;
maintaining clinical and administrative records;
billing and processing Medicare rebates where applicable;
communicating with healthcare providers involved in your care where authorised or otherwise permitted by law;
managing the operation of the practice; and
complying with professional, regulatory and legal obligations.
Personal and health information will not be used for unrelated marketing purposes without appropriate consent.
Disclosure of information
Personal or health information may be disclosed where reasonably necessary to provide or administer services, where you have consented, where you would reasonably expect the disclosure for a directly related purpose, or where disclosure is otherwise authorised or required by law.
Depending on the circumstances, information may be disclosed to:
authorised Wellspace administrative staff supporting the practice;
healthcare providers involved in your care;
Medicare or other relevant organisations for billing and rebate purposes;
technology and service providers that support the operation of the practice; and
other persons or organisations where disclosure is authorised or required by law.
Further information about confidentiality and the circumstances in which health information may be disclosed is provided as part of the practice’s informed-consent process.
Storage and security
Tom Rule Psychology takes reasonable steps to protect personal and health information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.
Electronic systems are used to manage enquiries, communications, appointments and clinical records. Appropriate security measures are used according to the nature of the information being handled.
Clinical records for clients of Tom Rule Psychology are maintained using the practice’s secure practice-management and clinical-record system.
The Victorian Health Privacy Principles require organisations holding health information to take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Overseas processing and storage
Some personal information may be processed or stored outside Australia because Tom Rule Psychology uses third-party technology providers.
In particular, Squarespace states that data associated with its services is stored in data centres across the United States, with some content delivered through geographically distributed networks.
Tom Rule Psychology also uses Google Workspace for email and related business services. Google Workspace supports data-region settings for certain covered data and eligible plans, but its available geographic regions are the United States, Europe, or no geographic preference; Australia is not currently offered as a Workspace data region. Accordingly, information handled through Google Workspace may be processed or stored outside Australia.
Tom Rule Psychology’s practice-management system is configured for Australian data hosting.
Where personal or health information is transferred outside Victoria or Australia, Tom Rule Psychology takes reasonable steps appropriate to the circumstances to safeguard the information and comply with applicable privacy obligations. Victorian Health Privacy Principle 9 specifically regulates transborder flows of health information.
Retention of information
Where information forms part of a client’s health record, Tom Rule Psychology retains that information in accordance with applicable legal and professional record-keeping requirements.
Under the Victorian Health Records Act 2001, a private health service provider generally must not delete health information until more than seven years after the last occasion on which a health service was provided to the individual.
Information relating only to an initial enquiry that does not proceed to psychological services is not necessarily retained for the same period as a client’s clinical health record. Such information will be retained only for as long as reasonably required for the purpose for which it was collected, subject to applicable legal, administrative and record-keeping requirements.
Accessing your information
You may request access to personal or health information held about you.
Depending on the circumstances, access may be provided by allowing you to inspect the information, providing you with a copy, or through another appropriate method.
There are limited circumstances in which access may be refused or restricted under applicable law.
Victorian law provides individuals with rights to access health information held about them by private health service providers, including psychologists.
Correcting your information
Tom Rule Psychology takes reasonable steps to ensure that personal and health information is accurate, complete, up to date and relevant.
If you believe information held about you is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading, you may request that it be corrected.
There are circumstances in which an original health record cannot simply be deleted or altered. Where appropriate, a correction or statement may instead be added to the record in accordance with applicable law.
Privacy breaches
Tom Rule Psychology takes suspected privacy or data-security breaches seriously.
Where a suspected breach occurs, reasonable steps will be taken to contain and assess the incident and reduce the risk of harm.
Where required under the Privacy Act 1988 or other applicable law, affected individuals and the relevant regulator will be notified.
Website information, cookies and analytics
Like most websites, this website and its hosting provider may collect technical information associated with visits to the site, such as device, browser, network and usage information, and may use cookies or similar technologies necessary for website functionality.
Tom Rule Psychology may also use website analytics services to understand how visitors use the website and to improve its content and functionality.
If additional analytics or advertising technologies are introduced, this Privacy Policy and the website’s cookie or consent arrangements will be updated where required.
Information collected through website analytics is not intended to be used to create clinical records or make clinical decisions about individual visitors.
Privacy enquiries, access requests and complaints
If you have a question about how your personal or health information is handled, would like to request access to or correction of your information, or wish to make a privacy complaint, please contact Tom Rule Psychology using the contact details provided on this website.
Privacy concerns will be reviewed and responded to within a reasonable timeframe.
If you are not satisfied with the response, you may be entitled to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) or, in relation to the handling of health information in Victoria, the Health Complaints Commissioner (HCC).
Changes to this policy
Tom Rule Psychology may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, technology, service providers or the way the practice handles information.
The current version will be available on this website and the date of the most recent update will appear at the top of this policy.