Ensuring confidentiality for our clients is a key consideration for Converge. Converge strictly adheres to the following standards for privacy and records management:

• Privacy Act 1988 and 2014 Australian Privacy Principles and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (and relevant State legislation), Australian and International Standard for Records Management, AS ISO 15489, the Archives Act 1983 (Cth) and other relevant state and federal privacy and records management legislation. 
• Converge controls and maintains Personal Information it collects, stores, updates and destroys according to the principles explicitly outlined in relevant national privacy legislation (e.g. Privacy Act 1988). We implement and maintain processes and security measures to protect personal information which we hold from misuse, interference or loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These processes and systems include:
• the use of identity and access management technologies to control access to systems on which information is processed and stored;
• the encryption of your personal information in transit via Transport Layer Security (TLS) and at rest;
• requiring all employees to comply with internal information security policies and keep information secure;
• requiring all employees to complete training about information security; and
• monitoring and regularly reviewing our practice against our own policies and against industry best practice

Access to client personal Information by Converge is restricted to authorised staff and controlled through systems access settings and passwords. Individuals accessing EAP services are electronically registered as numbers to ensure anonymity for invoicing purposes. Office environments are protected by smartcards for keyless access, and visitors are issued a temporary pass or are accompanied by authorised personnel. Access is provided on the principle of least interest, and access to technology rooms is limited to required access only.

We outline privacy and security expectations upon commencement of employment for employees and commencement of contract for subcontractors. Throughout clinicians’ tenure we also run bi-annual training on case note completion and storage, and complete monthly audits to ensure compliance.  Converge follows Office of the Australian Information Commissioner  guidelines in relation to privacy awareness and uses online training tool from the OAIC website to training staff.

Additionally, all Converge personnel are required to abide by a Code of Conduct, which includes information security, privacy and confidentiality considerations. 
Converge clinical consultants are all registered with their relevant professional associations, such as the Australian Psychological Society or Australian Association of Social Workers and are required to abide by the relevant legislation and code of ethics for their profession. Our Privacy Policy is publicly available on our website and can be supplied on request.