Date 15 October 2026
Time 8.45am-2.45 pm AEDT (Melbourne time)
Venue Live Online & Recorded
Recording access expires 15 November 2026
Pricing $595
Prices includes gst.
CPD Available for psychologists & teachers
Other LawSense Events See Other Leading LawSense Events for Schools
Registration
Program
8.45 LawSense Welcome
8.50 Chairperson’s Introduction
Bernadette Cronin, Chief of Student Services, Education Excellence, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS)
9.00 Examining the New Code of Conduct for School Psychologists and Standards for Other School Counsellors: What Has Changed, Exploring Obligations Versus Guidance and Identifying Grey Areas
- Outlining professional standards applying to school counsellors who are psychologists and non-psychologists
- Examining key aspects of the new Code of Conduct and what has changed
- Exploring legal obligations versus guidance arising from the new Code
- Examining particular areas of the Code:
- understanding consent obligations and best practice
- supervision and code obligations/guidance
- understanding and managing requirements regarding cultural safety and responsiveness
- Updating policies to implement the Code of Conduct
- Examining the differences in professional standards between school psychologists and other school counsellors
Nevena Brown, Consultant, Meridian Lawyers
9.50 Break
10.00 Navigating Disclosure of Information and Student Consent in Challenging Scenarios
Outlining Key Obligations, Including for Psychologists, Non-Psychologist Counsellors, and Social Workers in Schools
- Outlining privacy and confidentiality obligations for school psychologists and counsellors
- Examining how current duties to your employer affect your privacy and confidentiality obligations towards the student
- Exploring the effect in practice of the new Code of Conduct managing privacy, confidentiality and consent
Ownership of Files
- Examining rights to files, including notes, diaries, and communications
Student Capacity to Consent to Disclosure – Mature Minors, Recent Cases
- Examining the key elements of informed consent
- How is age considered in assessing consent in different circumstances?
- What level of information is required to make it “informed” when dealing with mature minors?
- Examining recent cases regarding assessing Gillick competency
- Navigating student disability and consent
Documenting Consent and Optimising Policies and Forms
- Exploring best practice in obtaining and documenting consent for counselling, including policies, notes and forms
Providing Information to Parents/Guardians Without Student Consent
- Exploring circumstances where you would be able to provide information to a parent without or contrary to student consent
Sharing Information Outside the School
- Outlining laws allowing sharing of information with other schools, agencies or organisations, and how the laws work in practice
- Documenting sharing requests and what information has been shared
Dealing With Challenging Scenarios
- Navigating challenging scenarios, considering examples including situations involving abuse and domestic violence
Steven Troeth, Partner, Gadens
11.00 Break
11.15 Student Social Media Update: Navigating Social Media Age Limits, Deep Fakes, Conduct Outside the School “Gates” and Impacts Such as Self Harm
Social Media Age Limits
- Examining the new laws regarding age limits on social media use, including examining exceptions
- Exploring the implications of the new laws for schools:
- what action should you take if you suspect students are using social media in breach of the age limit?
- do the changes provide further rights or expectations for the school to search student devices or monitor social media use
- exploring impacts on the duty of care generally
- Updating school polices to deal with the changes in social media laws
Deep Fakes-Applicable Laws and Obligations
- Exploring how deep fakes have emerged in the school context, including “nudity” apps and other tools
- Examining the law relevant to deep fakes, including with AI generated explicit images
- Exploring the obligations of the school where staff are the subject of deep fakes
- Understanding legal restrictions on the school copying, storing or sharing the offending explicit material, including deep fakes,
Schools Obligations with Activity Occurring Outside School
- Understanding the extent of a school’s obligations where the activity happens outside school including where material:
- is sent by a student outside the school
- is posted on social media relating to parties or events which are not school activities, but include students at the school
Student Self Harm – Managing Obligations and Exploring Best Practice Risk Assessments, Absence and Return Plans
- Outlining obligations where students self-harm or express suicidal ideation arising from social media interactions
- Understanding how assessments and plans can affect legal compliance or be used in legal claims against the school?
- Outlining key elements to consider:
- exploring how extensive assessments and plans should be and who should be involved
- developing risk assessments and plans, including considering all points in the day
- absence and return plans – what should be considered and recorded
- balancing impacts on other students and navigating parents
Elena Totino, Founder, Director and Principal Lawyer, Safety Quality & Care Legal Services
12.15 Break
Confirmed: Dr Emma Steer, Head of Psychological Services, Clinical and Educational & Developmental Psychologist MAPS, Lauriston Girls’ School
12.30 Student Disability: Navigating Diagnosis, or Lack of Diagnosis and Developing Assessments and Reasonable Adjustments
Current Legal Framework and Proposed Reforms
- Reviewing the current laws affecting enrolment of students with a disability in schools including the requirement to provide reasonable adjustments
- Outlining notable proposed changes to the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) and potential impacts on schools of changes to definitions of discrimination and burden of proof
Rights of the School to Determine Adjustments Versus Experts
- Understanding the rights and responsibilities of the school versus health experts to determine what the student needs to meet the diagnosis or disability
Risk Assessments
- Exploring best practice in developing risk assessments, including, when they are required, exploring how extensive assessments should be and who should be involved
Support Plans/Reasonable Adjustments Case Studies – Disability Affecting Behaviour
Examining the Extent of Reasonable Adjustments Required, Assessing and Balancing Risk and Examining Options to Decline Adjustments
- Exploring the range of disabilities encountered by schools impacting behaviour or causing significant impacts of students and staff – ADD/ADHD, ODD and other behaviour disorders, depression/self-harm
- Learning from case studies and examples:
- how should schools interpret and apply obligations to make reasonable adjustments?
- how should schools approach determining the limits of reasonable adjustments required in each circumstance?
- balancing impacts on other students and staff
- managing experts: responding to experts, briefing, and managing school experts
- determining unjustifiable hardship
- Managing consultation and communications with parents, other stakeholders, and advocates
- Documenting steps and decision making regarding reasonable adjustments to ensure compliance and optimise your legal position
Reasonable Adjustments Case Studies – Learning Disability
- Learning from case studies and examples:
- optimising assessment of learning needs
- understanding the extent to which you can make changes to the curriculum
- exploring the limits of required learning support resources
- implementing changes to the physical learning environment
Dealing With Challenging Scenarios
- Managing differences in views between experts, parents and the student about adjustments required and what is reasonable, including managing separated parents
- An expert report suggests certain adjustments, but the school has no evidence of the student needing the adjustments
- Examining your duties where:
- you consider there is undiagnosed mental illness
- there is no diagnosis found but you still feel there is something
- Assessing the reasonableness of one-on-one support
- Considering partial student attendance
- Managing circumstances where parents do not wish adjustments to be made, despite the disability
Alishia Prpich, Partner, MinterEllison
1.30 Break
1.40 Exploring Best Practice Note-Taking: Good Versus Bad Notes and Navigating the New Code of Conduct and AI
Exploring Changes in the New Code of Conduct
- Examining the new Psychology Board Code of Conduct and how it applies to note-taking. How is it different in practice to the previous Code?
Principles to Apply
- Outlining key principles to apply in note-taking and record keeping by school counsellors, including:
- level of detail or clarity
- ensuring you cover key aspects
- “loaded” words from which inferences could be drawn about the writer
- recording conversations and dealing with hearsay
- communications with external professionals
- recording your hypotheses, investigations, conclusions and setting out the basis of opinions
- making changes to notes after they were originally written
- naming or referring to other individuals in case notes
- Using the student’s language or quoting others
- Taking notes, but also being “in the moment” with the student
AI Use in Note-Taking, Including Under New Code of Conduct
- Understanding the existing law and guidelines affecting the use of AI, including the New Psychology Board Code of Conduct
- Examining your obligations in using AI applications and steps you should take in evaluating and using the AI applications
Learnings from Examples and Case Studies – Good v Bad Notes
- Exploring best practice note-taking and good versus not so good notes in particular areas:
- cyber bullying
- sexualised behaviours/assault
- anxiety, self-harm
- case management of complex matters
Dr Tim Lowry, Clinical & Forensic Psychologist, Silverton Psychology Group; Statewide Program Coordinator: Forensic Liaison and Community Forensic Networks, Queensland Forensic Mental Health Service, QLD Health
2.40 Closing Remarks
2.45 Event Close
Presenters / panelists include:
Bernadette Cronin is the Chief of Student Services at Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) and leads the Student Engagement unit, which has remit for work across the domains of inclusive learning, student behaviour support and student health and wellbeing. Prior to MACS Bernadette worked in both government and Catholic schools, with a focus on teaching and leading in the messy middle years.
Nevena Brown has over 25 years’ experience as a health and insurance lawyer. Her experience with medical and allied health professional negligence claims began in 2000 when she advised Avant and Guild Insurance Ltd regarding civil claims against its members. Nevena now acts nationally for allied health and medical indemnity insurers, assisting a range of health practitioners.
Steven Troeth has extensive experience in the education sector, including acting for independent and Catholic schools. He advises on employment, student and parent issues, including staff and teacher disputes, discrimination, bullying, cyber and social media issues, enterprise agreements and contractual disputes.
Elena Totino has been a practising lawyer for over 24 years. During this time, Elena has advised and supported children and young people, other vulnerable people, service providers, government departments, agencies and regulators. Elena's work has included as Principal Lawyer and Manager of the Department of Education VIC and as Senior Legal Advisor and Acting General Manager, Reportable Conduct at Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools.
Dr Emma Steer works as the Senior Psychologist at Lauriston Girls’ School and in private practice at Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre. She has worked with children, adolescents and young people for over seventeen years in clinical and educational settings. Emma also works with athletes and performing artists. Emma is endorsed as both a Clinical and Educational and Developmental Psychologist and a professional psychology supervisor.
Alishia Prpich has a broad employment and discrimination practice, working in a range of jurisdictions at the State and Federal level. In addition to her employment law practice, Alishia routinely acts for and advises a number of schools and governing authorities on various education-specific and child safety matters, including reportable conduct matters. Alishia is able to provide her clients in the education sector with holistic advice on responding to a range of sensitive child-related matters.
Dr Tim Lowry is a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist with master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology and has completed additional postgraduate training. Tim possesses substantial experience in forensic mental health, psychological risk assessment, and intervention, having worked across both public and private practice settings over the past 24 years. He has provided independent opinions to the courts, QLD Parole Board, and the QLD Coroner, and is a member of the Panel of Assessors (Psychology) for the QLD Civil and Administrative Tribunal.