Community Rules, Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines

Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the platform. This is a great platform to share advice and experience and participate in an ongoing conversation.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, contact the member services department via the Contact Us link on this site. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violate these rules.

By default, your display name will appear as the first and last name displayed on your PACFA member portal profile. Please contact the Registration and Membership Team if you would like your display name to be changed and would prefer to use an informal name instead. Please note, PACFA will still be able to see your formal name in our records, and your display name will be updated for the PACFA Community only. 

The Rules

• These rules have been made in conjunction with the PACFA communities and social media policy which can be found on the PACFA website here.
• Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question. Rude and degrading comments and bullying of any kind will not be tolerated.

• Respect the purpose of the community. The purpose of the community platform is to share successes, development, training and courses, broad practice, therapeutic approaches, challenges, constructive feedback, goals, ask questions and access information related to the community you are part of. 

• Do not provide information that can identify a client(s) or could potentially identify a client(s). You are personal responsibility for the information and/or resources you choose to share within the community. Refrain from sharing any information that you are not authorised to disclose.

• • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

• Do not share information, resources and/or present questions and answers about specific client cases. 
  • Ensure questions and answers are related to broad practice only. 
  • Your questions should be short and only provide information necessary to receive the required support in your practice or approach.
  • Seek guidance from a supervisor for any client related support.

• • Be mindful members in this community, or their family and friends, may also be clients of other members in this community. 

• Use caution when discussing all topics. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.

• Any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening or offensive comments, including illegal materials, or comments designed to bring the profession into disrepute, directed towards PACFA or any community member, is strictly prohibited.
  
  
• Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you. PACFA reserves the right to remove any comment or post that we deem to be in breach of these terms, comments that breach the PACFA Code of Ethics, Code of Conduct or Scope of Practice. The Code of Ethics requires practitioners to conduct their collegial relationships in a spirit of mutual respect. In keeping with the PACFA Code of Ethics, members should only post information or make comments on the issues that are within their scope of practice.

• Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.

• When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.

• In this online environment, we would like to remind all users that taking screenshots of any content, conversations, or interactions may infringe upon the privacy and trust of others. PACFA does not condone or endorse the unauthorised capture of screenshots and shall not be liable for any consequences resulting from the capture and sharing of screenshots without the consent of relevant parties. 

Discussion Group Etiquette

• State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.

• Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in every message.

• Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

The Legal Stuff

This site is provided as a service for the members of Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia.  Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.

Your participation in the Forum is entirely voluntary. You have chosen to share information, ideas, and opinions with full awareness of the potential risks associated with the online environment. You are personally responsible for the information you choose to share within the Forum. Exercise caution and judgment in disclosing any sensitive details and refrain from sharing any information that you are not authorised to disclose.

PACFA, its administrators and moderators shall not be held responsible or liable for any unintended or unauthorised disclosures of information that may occur within or outside the Forum. This includes, but is not limited to, any leaks, sharing, or dissemination of information beyond the intended scope of the Forum.

Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials.  Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

Messages from community members should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages from community members that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia we will take all appropriate action.

Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.


Privacy Policy

Any personal information you provide to us including and similar to your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization except as noted below.

With Whom Do We Share the Personal Information We Collect Through This Site:

Our Service Providers
We may share your personal information with companies (including our affiliates) that perform services on our behalf, for example, companies that help process credit card payments. Our service providers are required by contract to protect the confidentiality of the personal information we share with them and to use it only to provide specific services on our behalf.

Business Transfers
Your personal information may be transferred to another entity (either an affiliated entity or an unrelated third party) in connection with a merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar corporate event. If such a transfer were ever to occur, the acquiring entity’s use of your personal information will still be subject to this Privacy Policy.

Government and Legal Disclosures
We may disclose the personal information we collect through this Site, when we, in good faith, believe disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law (or a court order or subpoena); to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; to enforce our Terms and Conditions or other agreements that govern your use of this Site; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, or others.

External Sites
We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.

Cookies
A "cookie" is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit this site (personalization, etc). Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and we do not use cookies to collect personal information. Cookies may also be used by 3rd party content providers such as news-feeds.

Remember The Risks Whenever You Use The Internet
While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies.  For any other information please contact us using the Contact Us page.