Privacy Policy
Alongside Pastoral Supervision
Last updated: 23rd September 2025
Thank you for choosing Alongside Pastoral Supervision (“Alongside”, “we”, “us”, “our”). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and store your personal information, your rights, and how we comply with applicable laws and ethical codes (including the Anglican Church’s Faithfulness in Service, and the Australasian Association of Supervision’s ethical standards).
1. Who We Are
- Name: Alongside Pastoral Supervision
- Website: getalongside.me
- Contact: phil@getalongside.me
- Postal address: 49 Farm Road, Springwood, NSW, 2777
- Telephone: 0411 368 641
2. What Personal Information We Collect
We may collect personal information that is necessary for providing our supervision services and for running our website and client management software. The kinds of information that we may collect include:
• Your name, title and contact details (e.g. email, phone, postal address)
• Professional and ministry background (role, church/diocese, qualifications, employment status)
• Information you provide as part of your registration as a client for Alongside Pastoral Supervision (e.g. The Pastoral Supervision Service Agreement, Working Alliance, Mental Health Information).
• Information you provide in supervision sessions (concerns, reflections, goals, case material where relevant)
• Billing and payment information (where required to administer invoices and payments)
• Website and technical information (IP address, device/browser type, analytics and cookie information)
• Any other information you voluntarily provide to us
3. How We Collect Information
We collect information:
• Directly from you when you engage our services, complete forms, or contact us
• During supervision sessions and in notes taken by the supervisor
• Via our website (contact forms, booking forms, surveys)
• Automatically by cookies and analytics tools when you visit our website
4. Purposes for which We Use Your Information
We collect and use your personal information for the following purposes:
• To provide and manage pastoral supervision and related services
• To administer bookings, scheduling, invoicing and payments
• To communicate with you about your supervision, accounts, and service updates
• To monitor and improve our services and to produce de‑identified summaries for quality assurance
• To meet our legal and regulatory obligations (including safeguarding and mandated reporting where applicable)
• To manage complaints, legal claims or disputes
5. Disclosure of Your Information
We will not sell your personal information. We may disclose personal information only as reasonably necessary and permitted by law, including:
• With your consent
• To service providers who assist us (e.g. payment processors, scheduling platforms, IT/cloud providers) who are contractually required to protect your information
• If required by law or a court order, or to comply with mandatory reporting obligations
• To protect the health, safety or welfare of an individual (where allowed or required by law)
• In connection with a business sale, merger or reorganisation (subject to legal protections)
6. Storage, Security and Retention
• We store personal information securely and restrict access to authorised personnel only.
• We use reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss or misuse.
• We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, to meet legal or professional obligations, or to resolve disputes. (Editor note: consider specifying exact retention periods, e.g. supervision notes retained for Seven (7) years after the last session.)
• Backup copies may be retained for operational resilience; these are protected by the same security controls.
6.1 Data breach response (Notifiable Data Breaches)
If we suspect an eligible data breach under the Australian Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme, we will promptly assess the incident and, where required, notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as soon as practicable, consistent with OAIC guidance.
7. Cookies and Tracking on the Website
• We may use cookies and similar technologies to operate and improve the website and to provide basic functionality (for example, to accept bookings).
• Where we use analytics or advertising tools, they may collect aggregated information about your browsing behaviour. You can disable cookies via your browser settings, but this may affect site functionality.
8. Children and Young People
• The Privacy Act protects personal information regardless of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18 without appropriate consent and safeguards.
• Where we do collect information from a person under 18 we will assess their capacity to consent on a case‑by‑case basis and seek parental/guardian consent where appropriate (as a general rule, organisations may assume individuals aged 15 and over have capacity unless there are reasons to doubt this).
9. Your Rights
Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), you have rights to:
• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
• Request erasure or restriction of processing in certain circumstances
• Object to certain processing activities (for example, direct marketing)
• Request a copy of your data in a portable, usable electronic format
To exercise these rights, a request must be made in writing (see section 12). We will respond within a reasonable time and in accordance with legal requirements.
10. Cross‑border or Overseas Data Transfer
If we transfer personal information outside Australia (for example, to cloud providers or overseas service suppliers), we will take reasonable steps to ensure equivalent protections are in place (contractual safeguards, standard contractual clauses), and will inform you where required.
11. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. We will publish the revised Policy on our website with an updated 'Last updated' date. Where changes are material we will notify affected users as appropriate.
12. Complaints / Further Information
If you have questions or concerns about how we handle your personal information, or wish to make a complaint, please contact us:
• Email: phil@getalongside.me
• Mail: 49 Farm Road, Springwood, NSW, 2777
• Telephone: 0411 368 641
If you are not satisfied with our response you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):
• Phone: 1300 363 992
• Website: www.oaic.gov.au
• Mail: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
13. Regulatory and Ethical Frameworks We Adhere To
• Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) (Find it here)
• The Anglican Church of Australia — Faithfulness in Service (Code of Conduct for clergy and church workers). (Find it here)
• Australasian Association of Supervision (AAOS) — Ethical Practice Guidelines (Find it here)