Sheltering Arms is committed to maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of personal information. Our privacy practice accords with relevant privacy legislation including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), Information Privacy Act 2014 (ACT), Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW), Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) and Privacy and Data Protection Act (Vic). We also adhere to the associated Privacy Principles when collecting, using, disclosing, securing and providing access to personal information. Every person engaging with Flourish Australia (the person) has the right to privacy and to be treated with dignity in all areas of their life including the services and supports provided by Flourish Australia.

This policy applies to all Sheltering Arms services, staff and persons who use our services. It details how Sheltering Arms generally collects, retains, uses and discloses personal information and an individual’s rights in relation to that personal information.

The personal information Sheltering Arms may collect will depend on the circumstances of collection, including whether Flourish Sheltering Arms collects the information from:

The types of personal information collected depends on the nature of the relationship with the individual or the particular service we provide. Sheltering Arms:

In most cases, Sheltering Arms collects personal information about an individual directly from the individual, through meetings with the individual in person, or through other contact methods such as by telephone, facsimile, email and mail, or when the individual completes application or consent forms or transacts with Sheltering Arms. Sheltering Arms may also collect personal information about the individual from the following third parties such as family members or guardians, government agencies, publicly available records, service providers, parties to whom the individual refers Sheltering Arms or from whom the individual authorises collection, on-line searches and social media.

Sheltering Arms generally collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information for the following purposes:

Sheltering Arms collects and may use an individual’s personal information collected to send the individual information about its programs or services that may be of interest to the individual. If at any time the individual no longer wishes to be notified about Sheltering Arms programs or services, the individual can contact Sheltering Arms at the contact details set out below.

Personal information will not be disclosed to overseas recipients.

Protecting and maintaining the quality and accuracy of personal information is one of Sheltering Arms key priorities. Sheltering Arms takes reasonable steps to keep an individual’s personal information as accurate, complete and up to date as possible. An individual may assist Sheltering Arms by notifying Sheltering Arms if his or her circumstances change. An individual may request that Sheltering Arms correct personal information it holds about that individual that is inaccurate or out of date. Sheltering Arms will take reasonable steps to rectify the situation free of charge if it is satisfied that the information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. If Sheltering Arms refuses to correct an individual’s personal information, Sheltering Arms will give the individual written notice setting out its reasons for the refusal and the mechanisms available to complain about the refusal.

It is important to Sheltering Arms to ensure the security and confidentiality of personal information in both the physical and electronic environments. In this regard, Sheltering Arms has implemented physical, organisational, contractual and technological security measures to protect personal information from loss or theft, unauthorised access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. Sheltering Arms maintains standards for the security and protection of information and endeavours to ensure that personal information is stored securely in lockable cabinets or password protected electronic files and access is restricted to authorised personnel only.

Subject to any exceptions in the Privacy Act, where Sheltering Arms holds personal information about an individual in such a way that it can readily be retrieved, the individual has a right to request confirmation of whether or not Sheltering Arms holds that individual’s personal information and to have access to it. Within a reasonable period after receiving a request from the individual, Sheltering Arms will take reasonable steps to provide the individual with access, if it is reasonable and practicable to do so. If the individual wishes to request access to or update his or her personal information, please contact Sheltering Arms on the details provided below.

If an individual has any questions regarding this document, or if an individual has a complaint regarding Sheltering Arms handling of his or her personal information please contact Sheltering Arms at:

Chief Executive Officer
Sheltering Arms
1 Gorham Ave, Epping VIC 3076, Australia
Phone: 1300-952-289

Sheltering Arms will respond to complaints within a reasonable period of time. If an individual disagrees with Sheltering Arms decision, the individual may refer the complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by visiting www.oaic.gov.au, calling 1300 363 992 or by emailing enquiries@oaic.gov.au.

Failure to ensure compliance with privacy obligations exposes Sheltering Arms to breaches of privacy legislation and associated penalties. Breaches of a person’s privacy rights may also damage Sheltering Arms reputation as a mental health NGO.

This policy will be reviewed:

• Every two years.
• When changes are made to relevant Acts, Conventions or Standards.

All policies will be reviewed over time under the direction and coordination of the General Manager Business Excellence. Staff and persons accessing Sheltering Arms services will be consulted as part of the review process.

The Sheltering Arms website uses ‘cookies’ for maintaining contact with a user through a website session.

A cookie is a small file supplied by our website and stored by the web browser software on your computer when you access our website.

Cookies enable Sheltering Arms to recognise you as you move from one page to another and track our site usage. This information is used to help you use our website systems more efficiently and to provide functionality, not to track your movements or to record information about you.

Any system on this website that records information about you will specifically ask your permission first.

This information is analysed to show broken links in our website, traffic problems, and which pages are performing well to make improvements and provide a better service.

No attempt will be made to identify anonymous users or their browsing activities unless legally compelled to do so, such as in the event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the Internet Service Provider’s log files.

Our website uses Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics 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 usage.

Please note, by using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in ‘How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps’ which is located at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

The following table shows cookies we use on our website. By using this website, you agree that we can place these cookies on your computer/device for the stated purposes.