We take your privacy seriously

Partners in Wellbeing (“We/us”) service is provided in partnership with Neami National, ACSO, EACH and Melbourne Innovation Centre (together ‘Partners in Wellbeing organisations’). The Partners in Wellbeing organisations may share your information between each provider to provide you with necessary supports.

Adult Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs are provided by Neami National, ACSO, EACH, Mind, Mentis Assist, Star Health, Wellways Australia and Mallee Family Care.

Generally we collect your personal information directly from you.

We will do this:

• in person;
• over the phone; and
• via online interactions, including through our website, and social media (such as Facebook or Twitter).

At other times, we may collect information from third parties, such as other services you are linked in with. This will generally only occur with your consent. However, if there is an emergency situation or we are concerned about the safety and welfare of you or anyone else, or if required by law, we may collect personal information without your consent.

Wherever possible we will collect information from you directly, unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so.

Any information, or an opinion that could be used to identify you, is considered personal information.

We collect the personal information that you share with us, such as your name, address, age or date of birth, telephone number, email address and sensitive information related to your health, including clinical documentation, records of service contacts, registration to programs, clinical information and medical history for allied health services, financial situation, needs and objectives, employment details and history.

The choice and control over the level of information you provide to us remains with you. If you want to participate in our services, we require certain information from you in order to provide you with those services.

You have the right not to disclose personal information to us. However, this may limit our ability to provide you with the services you have requested. In certain situations, you may have the option to interact with Partners in Wellbeing anonymously or by using a pseudonym, to feel more comfortable in these interactions with us. For example, if you contact us by telephone with a general question, we will not ask your full name unless we need it to answer the question.

We only collect, maintain and use your personal information to assist us in providing you with services or providing you with information about our services, or other services of Partners in Wellbeing organisations, or to meet any obligations under applicable laws and standards.

All information about you collected by Partners in Wellbeing is used and disclosed in compliance with relevant laws and this Privacy Policy.

If you are a current consumer, Partners in Wellbeing may use your personal information to contact you, via SMS or telephone, to talk about Partners in Wellbeing services and gauge your satisfaction.

Generally Partners in Wellbeing will only disclose personal or sensitive information to a third party when you give permission to Partners in Wellbeing to do so.

However, we will also disclose personal and/or sensitive information for a purpose directly related to Partners in Wellbeing providing you with services, when we are required to by law or the terms of a funding agreement, to meet specific duty of care obligations, or for a law enforcement purpose. Partners in Wellbeing may also disclose your information to our service partners including Neami National, ACSO, EACH and Melbourne Innovation Centre as well as Pop Up Community Mental Health Services as provided by Neami National, ACSO, EACH, Mind, Mentis Assist, Star Health, Wellways Australia and Mallee Family Care.

It is a requirement of funding bodies that we submit regular reports on our performance, which may include information about the characteristics of people using Partners in Wellbeing services.

General information is also used to help improve the overall quality of our services, and feeds into Partners in Wellbeing organisations research and evaluation projects.

Any information provided to funding bodies, or used for research and evaluation purposes, is done in a way that protects your privacy.

When you cease to be a consumer of Partners in Wellbeing, any personal information which we hold about you is maintained for the relevant periods and then destroyed as required by law.

You have the right to request to see all of the information that Partners in Wellbeing has relating to you and your services. You can ask for access or correction by ‘contacting us’, where we will respond as soon as possible. If we refuse to give you access to, or correct, your personal information, we will notify you in writing setting out the reasons.

It is important to Partners in Wellbeing that all personal information we hold is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading. When Partners in Wellbeing becomes aware of an error, either directly from you or in some other way, we will take all reasonable steps to correct personal information we hold as soon as possible.

Partners in Wellbeing is committed to ensuring that all personal and sensitive information is kept secure. Partners in Wellbeing ensures all information held by us is protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access and disclosure.

Only authorised personnel are granted access to your information and additional privacy measures, such as password protection and locked cabinets, are employed to protect sensitive information.

The Partners in Wellbeing website uses cookies. When you access our website, we may send a ‘cookie’ (a small summary file containing a unique number) to your computer. This allows us to track site visits and website usage.

The Partners in Wellbeing website also uses Google Analytics. This service does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage.

The following non-personal information is automatically recorded by Partners in Wellbeing’s web server for statistical and system administration purposes:

• your server address;
• your top level domain name (e.g. .com, .au, .gov);
• the date and time of your visit to the site;
• the pages you accessed and downloaded;
• the address of the last site you visited;
• your operating system; and
• the type of browser you are using.

Partners in Wellbeing will operate a live chat feature between the hours of 9am – 10pm weekdays and 9am – 5pm weekends. The live chat feature will connect you with a Partners in

Wellbeing staff member, who can provide you with information about the service and help you access Partners in Wellbeing support.

All information you provide on live chat is voluntary. We will not be asking for specific details or asking for personal information in order to chat with you. You will need to provide a name to identify your chat, you can use a pseudonym if you wish. You are also able to add your phone number and email address if you wish, however, this is not required to use live chat. Any personal information you do share will be collected in accordance with this Partners in Wellbeing website Privacy Notice.

As part of the live chat feature, we keep a copy of the transcript of each live chat for record purposes. You also have the option to have a copy of the transcript emailed to you.

Partners in Wellbeing uses Happy Fox to provide the live chat feature. The application collects default information, such as your IP address, device, and browser information, which can be deleted upon request. Please refer to the Happy Fox Privacy Policy for further details.

With any online service, there is some level of risk when communicating over the internet. By using the live chat feature, you agree to these conditions and the Partners in Wellbeing website Privacy Notice.
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Please note: We may make changes to this Privacy Notice from time to time. The most current version will be posted on our website.

If you have any privacy concerns, please contact Partners in Wellbeing

For more information on protecting your privacy and your rights to your information visit the The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)