1. Introduction

Your privacy means a lot to us. This Privacy Policy explains how Mental Health Academy (“MHA”) collects, uses, and safeguards your personal data.

The practices and policies described herein apply to all users of our website. By using our website or services, you consent to the practices outlined in this Privacy Policy. If you have questions about this policy, email us at help@mentalhealthacademy.com.au.

This policy was last updated on 23 January 2025.

2. What data we collect

Overview

For the purpose of operating the website effectively and providing the services described in the same, MHA collects personal information from its visitors and members.

We may collect your personal data when you voluntarily:

• Visit/navigate our website
• Register as a member/user through an online registration form in our website
• Subscribe to receive our e-newsletter and/or promotional updates
• Complete a customer survey or provide feedback via an online contact form

If you choose to become an MHA member and/or register for an MHA event/course (by submitting your details via an online form in our website), personal identification information (including your name and email address) will be collected and stored in our secure online user management system.

This information will be used to provide you with access to our online learning portal and associated content/resources, and to communicate details relevant to your account via email.

We may collect the following categories of personal data:

• Personal Identification Information: Name, email address, phone number.
• Account Information: Login email, password, and subscription details.
• Payment Information: Credit/debit card details, billing address (note: MHA does not store credit card information in its systems; see the “Third party providers” section below for more details).
• Usage Data: Information on how you use our website, products, and services.
• Marketing Preferences: Your consent and preferences for receiving marketing communications.
• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, and operating system (via cookies and similar technologies).

Third party providers

MHA uses third party services to enhance your user experience. Following is information about each of these services, including how they improve your experience and links to their specific website’s privacy policies.

If you visit our website, we use third party services, Google Analytics and Posthog, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the website. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify you. We do not attempt (or allow third party services) to find out the identities of those visiting our website. You can read Google Analytics' privacy policy here and read Posthog’s privacy policy here

If you choose to subscribe to our e-newsletter and/or email offers/updates, your name, email and other location data (such as your IP address) will be collected and stored by a third party service, MailChimp. We use this service to manage and deliver our email communications, including our informative e-newsletters, special announcements, and updates to our website/systems. You can read MailChimp’s privacy policy here.

As an MHA member and/or event/course participant, from time to time you will be invited to complete evaluation/feedback surveys. Information you submit via surveys is collected and stored by a third party service, SurveyMonkey. Some surveys are anonymous, whereas others may ask you to enter basic contact information such as your name and email address (in such cases, we only ask this information for the purpose of providing you with tailored customer support). You can read SurveyMonkey’s privacy policy here.

If you contact us via email (either directly or through using one of our website contact forms), the contents of your message (including sender contact details) will be sent to and stored by our third party email support platform, HelpScout. This service streamlines how we provide email support to members/users, drastically improving response times and support quality. You can read HelpScout’s privacy policy here.

To collect and store financial data (i.e. credit card information) required to process payments (including membership and event/course registrations, and recurring membership fees), we use a third party service, Stripe. Stripe is one of the world’s leading payment processing services, and a certified PCI Service Provider Level 1. This means they meet the highest security standards available in the payments industry (you can learn more about it here). All credit card information collected and processed via our online payment forms is handled and stored by Stripe, ensuring your details are as secure as they can be. You can read Stripe's privacy policy here.

To run live webinars and other live events, we use a third party service, WebinarJam. Information you submit via WebinarJam’s webinar registration/login forms is collected and stored to grant you access to live webinar sessions, for a very limited time (identifying information such as your name or email address are typically deleted from WebinarJam within 30 days of the conclusion of a webinar). You can read WebinarJam's privacy policy here.

The MHA Community and MHA Schools Community are dedicated online spaces for mental health professionals (MHA Community) and school teachers/educators (MHA Schools Community) to connect, share resources, and engage in meaningful discussions through forums, live chat, and other interactive tools. These vibrant platforms are hosted via the third-party service, Circle. While much of the Communities’ content is publicly accessible, creating a free Circle profile unlocks full access to interactive features. These include liking and posting content, participating in live chats, and RSVP’ing to events. Any information you provide through Circle's registration or login forms is securely collected and stored to grant you access to the Community's full range of features. For details on how your data is handled, you can review Circle's privacy policy here.

Content updates

The website content may be updated at any time. In the case of a major change, users will be provided with a notice either by email or through the website. Any changes to this Privacy Policy or the Terms and Conditions will be updated on the website (we advise you to periodically check the contents for any changes).

3. How we use your data

We will only collect personal information from individuals by fair and lawful means which are necessary for its functions. MHA will only collect sensitive information with the consent of the individual and if that information is reasonably necessary for the functions of the website. Some relevant ways we may use your data include:

• To provide access to courses/educational content (via your unique member/user login)
• To administer and manage your member/user profile, including billing
• To advise you of relevant updates and improvements to our website/services
• To inform you about relevant events and learning opportunities
• To provide you with support relating to your account and associated services
• To improve our business practices and educational systems

If you choose not to provide certain information, such as your email address, then we may be unable to register you as a user or member.

The use of cookies

The MHA website, like many others, uses files called cookies to help improve and customise your visitor experience. Cookies are small text files that are stored by your internet browser (for example, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, etc.) on your computer or mobile phone if you agree. They allow websites to store information such as user preferences. Cookies enable your browser to “remember” a website, thus optimising how it delivers information to you. Cookies help us to provide you with a better experience when you browse our website, and also allow us to improve our website. By continuing to browse our website, you agree to our use of cookies.

How we use cookies

Here are some examples of how we use cookies to improve your visitor/user experience:

• To “remember” your login details – including keeping you logged in to your member/user account (so you don’t have to re-enter your login details every time you return to the website).
• To improve website functionality – including personalisation, location preferences, etc.
• For analytics – this helps us better understand your behaviours, so we can improve how we display information, deliver services, and develop resources. Analytics cookies do not collect or store personal information (i.e. information that can be used to identify individuals).

Managing cookies

All modern internet browsers allow you to change your cookie settings. You can usually find these settings in the “options” or “preferences” menu of your browser. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies, you may not have an optimal experience in using/navigation our website. To understand these settings, use the “Help” option in your browser.

More information about cookies and their use on the internet can be found in the Microsoft Cookies guide and on the All About Cookies website.

Email communications

Mental Health Academy may contact you if there are any problems with your personal information, account details, or other issues relating to the provision of our services. We will never contact you by email for the purposes of obtaining financial information (such as bank details or credit card numbers).

When a payment is processed and declined for any reason, we will inform you via email. However, if you need to update your payment details, please do not do so via email. Members have the option to 1/ change their details via their Profile (must be logged-in), or 2/ contact our support team during business hours on (07) 2113 3696 to update details via the phone.

4. How we look after your data

MHA is committed to ensuring the confidentiality, security and integrity of the personal information it collects, uses and discloses. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that any personal information collected is relevant to the purpose for which is was collected, is accurate, up to date, and complete.

We will store securely all records containing personal information and take all reasonable security measures to protect personal information it holds from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.

Where MHA has no further use for personal information for any purpose disclosed, or is no longer required to maintain that personal information, all reasonable steps will be taken to destroy or de-identify the information.

We will never sell, hire or distribute any information to third parties which are not involved in the system unless there is an affirmative consent from the user.

Disclosure of personal information

We may disclose your personal information to the following organisations:

• Service providers who assist with managing the services we provide to you including information technology, educational services, marketing and debt recovery (including the third party companies list in the “What data we collect” section above).
• Organisations involved in the transfer/sale of all or part of our assets or business.

MHA will not disclose an individual’s personal information to another person or organisation unless:

• The individual concerned is reasonably likely to have been aware, or made aware that information of that kind is usually passed to that person or organisation.
• The individual concerned has given written consent to the disclosure.
• MHA believes on reasonable grounds that the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of the individual concerned or of another person.
• The disclosure is required or authorised by or under law.
• The disclosure is reasonably necessary for the enforcement of the criminal law or of a law imposing a pecuniary penalty, or for the protection of the public revenue.

Where personal information is disclosed for the purposes of enforcement of the criminal law or of a law imposing a pecuniary penalty, or for the purpose of the protection of the public revenue, MHA shall include in the record containing that information a note of the disclosure.

Any person or organisation that collects information on behalf of MHA or to whom personal information is disclosed as described in this procedure will be required to not use or disclose the information for a purpose other than the purpose for which the information was collected by them or supplied to them.

Links to external websites

Where we provide links to the websites of other organisations (either via our website or via email), this privacy notice does not cover how that organisation processes personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy notices on the other websites you visit.

5. Your right to access and correct records

You have the right to access or obtain a copy of the personal information that Mental Health Academy holds about you. Requests to access or obtain a copy of personal information must be made in writing. There is no charge for you to access personal information that Mental Health Academy holds about you; however Mental Health Academy may charge a fee to make a copy. You will be advised of how you may access or obtain a copy of their personal information and any applicable fees within 10 days of receiving your written request.

If you consider their personal information to be incorrect, incomplete, out of date or misleading, you can request that the information be amended. Where a record is found to be inaccurate, a correction will be made as soon as practical. Where a request that a record be amended because it is inaccurate, but the record is found to be accurate, the details of the request for amendment will be noted on the record. There is no charge for making a request to correct personal information.

Written requests for access to, to obtain a copy of, or correct personal information held by Mental Health Academy should be sent to admin@mentalhealthacademy.com.au (by email) or 43 Baxter Street, Fortitude Valley, QLD, 4006, Australia (by post).

Complaints about an alleged breach of the APPs

Where an individual believes that Mental Health Academy has breached a Privacy Principle in relation to that individual, they may lodge a complaint using Mental Health Academy’s grievance handling procedures.

6. Tips to improve your data security

Sharing data makes life easier, but it’s important to have good practices and habits when it comes to protecting your data over the internet. Here are some useful tips:

• Do not provide your login details to other people (unless absolutely necessary). If you must, it is recommended you subsequently change your password.
• If you are using a public/shared computer, remember to log out and close your browser when you have finished a session.
• Ensure you do not expose private information in public forums, including social media websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and X.
• Be careful with hoax emails, unsolicited messages, and other suspicious communications, particularly if they ask for personal, financial, or account information.
• Never share your credit card number or payment information over email or social media websites. If you keep this information saved electronically, consider measures to ensure unauthorised persons do not gain access to the data (for example, by creating a password-protected document). Note: MHA will never request financial data over email. As a member, you may receive emails regarding issues processing payments; in these instances, we will specifically ask you to update your details securely by logging in to your online member profile (we will never ask you to provide card numbers via email).

Further information and assistance

If you have any enquiries about this Privacy Content or any of our services, please email us.

To find out more information about privacy content in Australia, visit the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner's website.