Child  Client  Policy

Working with a Child Client​

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The focus of Mindflow Psychology is the emotional and psychological wellbeing of the clients we see. When providing services to a child client, the child is considered to be the primary client. Participating parents are deemed client-parents, who may collaborate with the psychologist in order to support the child’s therapy. Mindflow Psychology requires consent of both parents to provide services to a child under the age of 18 in most circumstances. Exceptions are made case-by-case and assessed in both a legal and ethical framework. As per Australian Psychological Society Ethical Guidelines, the child’s best interests are paramount, and the treating psychologist must ensure that services are provided in a way which best supports treatment outcomes for the child.

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Separated Parents Policy

• It is the parents’ obligation to provide us a copy of any relevant legal documents or court order.

• Your psychologist encourages active communication between parents to ensure agreement relating to administrative matters, such as appointment bookings or payment. It is not the responsibility of the psychologist to keep each parent availed of information relating to appointments, payment, or treatment for their child.

• Your psychologist welcomes both parents to attend appointments. If the appointment is made by one parent, it is the responsibility of this parent to inform the other parent and invite them to attend. The attending parent is encouraged to share any relevant information regarding their child’s therapy with the other parent.

• In addition to attending their child’s appointments, each parent may book parent-only appointments to provide information regarding their child’s needs or discuss their child’s treatment; please note any information discussed during parent-only sessions are bound by confidentiality (i.e., if one parent attends a parent-only appointment, this information cannot be divulged to the other parent).

• Payment is to be made on the day of the child’s appointment.  If there is a legal agreement that requires the other parent to pay all or part of the treatment costs, it is the attending parent’s responsibility to settle the account and collect reimbursement from the other parent.

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Communication between sessions

Communication via email and telephone in-between sessions will be kept to a minimum with an expectation that it is limited to administrative issues. Extensive emails will be printed to discuss in the next scheduled session however it is strongly recommended that private information not be shared via email due to privacy and confidentiality issues.

 

Court reports

We do not offer letters, reports or assessments for court purposes and do not give opinions on custody matters.  This is a specialized area of psychology and you will be referred to a more appropriate service if this is the service being sought.

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