Privacy & Confidentiality
How I protect your information
Confidentiality is central to counselling. I want you to know, in plain terms, how your information is kept private and secure.
The limits of confidentiality
What you share with me is confidential — with one important exception. If I believe there's a serious risk to your safety or someone else's, I may need to act on that, including sharing information with relevant services. Wherever possible, I'll discuss this with you first rather than acting behind your back.This includes situations where concerns about violence toward a partner or family member emerge in our work together. If that happens, I'll talk it through with you openly and support you to access a specialist family violence service — alongside our sessions, or instead of them, depending on what's needed.
Your session notes
Session notes are written on a dedicated device that stays offline by default. It connects to the internet only briefly and deliberately — to install security updates or transfer completed files to encrypted external storage — then returns to offline use.
Notes are backed up to an encrypted storage drive.
That backup is kept in a fireproof safe at a separate, secure location.
Notes are kept for 7 years after your last session, in line with standard professional record-keeping practice, and securely destroyed afterwards.
Email & videoconferencing
My email address is andrew@allthedifference.com.au, hosted through Proton Mail, a provider that encrypts stored messages by default.
I don't discuss session content by email.
If a message contains anything identifying or sensitive, I send it password protected. Only someone with the password can open it.
Each client has their own password, shared with you in person or over the phone. I won't send it by email or text, since that would defeat the purpose.
Protected messages automatically expire after 28 days, so old links can't be reused.
If your circumstances change — for example, a shared device or a change in your household — let me know and I'll update your password.
If you stop seeing me and later want access to old correspondence, you're welcome to. This requires a brief in-person visit with photo ID, rather than a phone request, to protect your information from anyone impersonating you.
Remote sessions are run through the security of Proton Meet, an encrypted videoconferencing platform.
Invoices
You choose what works for you when you begin with me:
No invoice, if you don't need one.
A paper invoice. I won't hand this to you right at the end of a session, so it doesn't interrupt your time to settle afterwards. I'll usually give it to you at the start of your next visit, or by post in a plain envelope that doesn't identify the practice on the outside.
A monthly emailed statement, password-protected, if you'd rather receive things that way.
Your choices
You're always welcome to ask me to use a different contact method, a personal email you nominate, or to simply discuss preferences at any time. Whatever feels right for your situation, I would rather adjust how I communicate than have you worry about privacy.
If you have concerns
If anything about how your information is handled doesn't sit right with you, please raise it with me directly. I'm happy to talk it through and adjust where I reasonably can.