Rights + Responsibilities
Slow Practice Studio is committed to providing a therapeutic space that is safe, respectful and collaborative. Art therapy and counselling are most effective when there is a shared understanding of what each person can expect from the therapeutic relationship.
This document outlines the rights and responsibilities of Slow Practice Studio and its clients.
Our Responsibilities
Slow Practice Studio will:
Provide art therapy and counselling services that are respectful, ethical and responsive to your individual needs, circumstances and therapeutic goals.
Work collaboratively with you and support your right to make informed decisions about your care. You have the right to ask questions, express your preferences and participate in decisions about your therapy.
Provide clear information about the nature of the service, including fees, confidentiality and its limits, and other information relevant to your care.
Communicate with you in a respectful, honest and timely manner.
Respect your dignity, autonomy, privacy, identity, culture, beliefs and individual circumstances.
Maintain appropriate professional boundaries and provide services in accordance with relevant ethical and professional standards.
Protect your personal and health information and maintain confidentiality in accordance with applicable privacy laws and professional obligations.
Explain the limits of confidentiality, including circumstances where information may need to be shared without your consent because it is required or permitted by law.
Maintain appropriate qualifications, professional membership and ongoing professional development relevant to the services provided.
Engage in appropriate clinical supervision and reflective practice.
Take reasonable steps to provide a physically and psychologically safe therapeutic environment.
Discuss any concerns about the therapeutic process openly and respectfully with you.
Provide reasonable notice of changes to fees, policies or services that may affect you.
Your Rights
As a client of Slow Practice Studio, you have the right to:
Be treated with dignity, respect and consideration.
Receive a service that is free from discrimination and respects your identity, culture, beliefs, body, sexuality, gender, neurotype and lived experience.
Feel safe and supported within the therapeutic environment.
Receive clear information about art therapy or counselling and what participation may involve.
Ask questions and receive information that supports you to make informed decisions about your care.
Participate voluntarily in therapy and discuss or decline particular therapeutic activities where appropriate.
Be involved in decisions about your therapeutic goals and the direction of your therapy.
Have your privacy and confidentiality respected.
Be informed about the limits of confidentiality.
Access and request correction of your personal and health information in accordance with applicable law.
Seek a second opinion or access other services.
Pause or end therapy at any time.
Raise concerns or make a complaint without fear of being treated unfairly or negatively as a result.
For children and young people, these rights will be considered alongside their age, maturity, decision-making capacity, parental responsibilities and applicable legal requirements.
Your Responsibilities
To support a safe and respectful therapeutic relationship, clients, and where relevant parents, carers or guardians, are asked to:
Communicate openly and respectfully with Slow Practice Studio.
Treat the practitioner and other people using the space with respect.
Provide accurate and relevant information that may affect the provision of services, including changes to your contact details, health, safety or personal circumstances.
Let Slow Practice Studio know if your needs or circumstances change in a way that may affect your therapy.
Attend appointments on time where possible and provide notice if you need to cancel or reschedule.
Raise any concerns about the service, therapeutic relationship or your experience so they can be discussed and addressed where possible.
Respect the physical space, materials and property used during therapy.
Understand that art therapy and counselling are collaborative processes and that outcomes cannot be guaranteed.
Parents, Carers and Guardians
Where a client is a child or young person, parents, carers or guardians may have an important role in supporting their engagement with therapy.
The involvement of parents, carers and guardians will be discussed at the beginning of therapy and reviewed as appropriate. Arrangements regarding communication, confidentiality and information sharing will take into account the young person's age, maturity, capacity, safety and legal rights.
Parents, carers and guardians are expected to communicate respectfully and provide relevant information that may affect the child's or young person's wellbeing and care.
Fees and Changes to Services:
You are responsible for paying the agreed fees for services provided, unless another funding arrangement has been confirmed.
Slow Practice Studio may review and change its fees from time to time. Reasonable notice will be provided before any fee changes take effect.
Further information about fees, payments and cancellations is available in the Fees + Cancellations Policy.
NDIS Participants
If you are accessing services using NDIS funding, you are responsible for ensuring that you have sufficient available funding for the services you have agreed to receive.
You, or your nominee, are asked to inform Slow Practice Studio as soon as reasonably possible if:
your NDIS plan is suspended, replaced or ends
your plan funding changes in a way that affects payment for services
you are no longer an NDIS participant
there are changes to your plan management arrangements.
NDIS participants may have additional terms relating to service agreements and funding arrangements.
Concerns and Feedback
Feedback, including concerns or complaints, is welcomed at Slow Practice Studio. Feedback can help us understand your experience, address concerns and improve the quality of our services.
If something does not feel right, or you are unhappy with any aspect of the service, you are encouraged to raise this directly with your practitioner where you feel comfortable doing so. Concerns will be taken seriously and considered respectfully and fairly.
You can provide feedback or make a complaint by contacting Slow Practice Studio at:
Email: hello@slowpracticestudio.com.au
Making a complaint will not affect your right to be treated with respect or to access information about other available avenues for support.
If you do not feel comfortable raising a concern directly with Slow Practice Studio, or you are dissatisfied with how your concern has been handled, you may contact an external organisation.
External complaints
Health Complaints Commissioner (Victoria)
The Health Complaints Commissioner can receive complaints about health service providers in Victoria.
Phone: 1300 582 113
Website: Health Complaints Commissioner
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
NDIS participants can raise concerns about the quality and safety of NDIS supports and services.
Phone: 1800 035 544
Website: Make a complaint to the NDIS Commission
ANZACATA
As a practising member of the Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA), clients may also make a complaint regarding an alleged breach of ANZACATA's Ethics and Standards.
Website: ANZACATA Complaints Procedure