Law for School Counsellors & Guidance Officers QLD 2026

Register

Program

8.45      LawSense Welcome

8.50      Chairperson’s Introduction

Cathy Perkins, Head of Health and Wellness, All Hallows’ College

9.00      AI Update: Examining Evolving AI Use Options, AI Wellbeing Chatbots, and Managing Student Impacts, Legal Risk and Compliance

Evolving Applications of AI

• Exploring the application of AI affecting school counsellors including:
  • note-taking and report writing
  • assessments including risk assessments
• Understanding the legal risks from the rising use of companion apps and students using AI for wellbeing
• AI governance: examining how AI used by school counsellors must work with an overall AI governance strategy

Ensuring Legal Compliance in Using AI – Navigating Rights, Obligations and Risks with Different Applications

Privacy, Legal and Compliance Requirements

• Examining current legal and risk issues in using AI:

• • privacy and data use risks
  • accuracy/reliability
  • contractual terms of AI software/service providers
• Understanding the application of existing law and regulation, including:
  • privacy and confidentiality, including privacy reforms
  • surveillance laws, use of recordings
  • contractual requirements in a platform’s terms of service, including examining the terms of
  • understanding The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Ethics Framework and application to practitioners

Reviewing Some Available AI Applications for Compliance and Legal Risk

• Exploring some AI applications used in mental health for note taking, risk assessments and reports, meetings and other functions, including:
  • how they operate to provide benefits and efficiencies
  • how/where the applications store and use data and what data protections to they have in place
• running the privacy and legal compliance “ruler” the applications – can you use them in a legally compliant way? What changes or “work-arounds” should you implement or request?

Examining Questions to Check / Ask AI Suppliers and Implementing Effective AI Policies

• Examining key requirements or questions to ask of AI supplier to optimise legal compliance and risk management
• Exploring optimal AI policies to implement for counsellors’ practice

Hayden Delaney, Partner, Thomson Geer Lawyers

10.00    Break   

10.25    Case Studies: Exploring Best Practice Note-Taking – Good Versus Bad Notes

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

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

11.25    Examining the Implications of the New Child Safe Standards and Reportable Conduct Scheme for School Counsellors

• Examining the Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 and what is new for schools and school counsellors – Child Safe Standards and Reportable Conduct Scheme
• Examining the implications in practice for school counsellors of the new Child Safe Standards
• Understanding the new Reportable Conduct Scheme, including:
  • definitions of:
    • ‘ill-treatment of a child’
    • ‘significant neglect of a child’
    • ‘behaviour that causes significant emotional or psychological harm to a child’
  • the extent of evidence, suspicion or knowledge required to meet the reporting threshold
  • the nature and extent of investigation required by a school
• Examining the role and expectations of the school counsellor in implementing the Reportable Conduct Scheme, including navigating confidentiality and the counselling relationship
• Exploring key elements of a best practice policy for school counsellors in meeting the new requirements

Jessica Lipsett, Director, Vocare Law

12.25    Chairperson’s Remarks

12.30    Lunch

1.15      Chairperson’s Remarks

Brian Day, Senior Guidance Officer, Department of Education Queensland; Immediate Past President, Queensland Guidance and Counselling Association (QGCA)

1.20      Student Disability: Navigating Diagnosis, or Lack of Diagnosis and Developing Assessments and Reasonable Adjustments

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 requires 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

Annie Smeaton, Partner, Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers

2.20      Break

2.40      Conflict Between Parents, Family Court Orders, DVOs and Objecting to Subpoenas

Understanding Family Court Orders, Rights and Obligations Where There Are No Court Orders and Recent Changes Regarding Objecting to Subpoenas

Rights and Obligations Where there are No Court Orders

• Understanding parent rights and responsibilities where there are no court orders or any written agreement/arrangement

Understanding & Interpreting Court Orders

• Outlining how Family Court Orders can dictate:
  • the obligations of parents, including consequences of non- compliance
  • school obligations
• Understanding and interpreting Family Court Orders and parenting agreements including:
  • Interim Orders
  • Final Orders
  • the difference between Family Court Orders and Parenting Plans
  • orders regarding parental responsibility and living with/spending time with one parent or the other
  • responsibility for day-to-day and longer-term decision regarding the child
• Learning from examples of different Court Orders and Parenting Plans

Objecting to Subpoenas/Information Requests, Including Implications of Recent Changes

• Understanding recent changes regarding Protected Confidences
• Examining key considerations in deciding to object to production of subpoenaed documents or information requests
• Understanding options to object to or change a subpoena, including:
  • dealing with the subpoenaing party lawyers to reduce the scope of documents caught by the subpoena
  • limiting who can access to documents
  • redacting documents
• Exploring circumstances where you might object to a subpoena from the Independent Children’s Lawyer
• What should be contained in your communication to the Court regarding your objection?

Challenges for School Counsellors – Consent to Counselling, Information Requests by a Parent, Student Wishes

Consent to Counselling

• Navigating circumstances where:
  • one parent agrees to the student attending school counselling but the other does not
  • the parents do not agree to counselling but you assess that the student needs it

Providing Information to One Parent or the Other

• Examining factors dictating what information can be provided to a parent or withheld from a parent
• Navigating circumstances where one parent agrees to counselling, but asks that you do not inform the other parent
• Understanding the role of the students wishes/consent:
  • when should student consent be sought in releasing information to parents
  • when do student wishes about parent information access override parent requests
  • understanding how student wishes should be documented where information is going to withheld from one parent or another

Student Wishes Contrary to Court Orders

• Navigating circumstances where the student does not want to go with or stay with one parent despite contrary Court orders regarding spending time with that parent

Family Domestic Violence Orders

Navigating Domestic Violence Orders and Obligations Where You Suspect Domestic Violence / Coercive Control

• Examining common orders made in Intervention Orders in the context of parent relationship breakdown
• Do they override other orders, such as interim Family Court orders?
• What steps should you take to ensure that the Intervention Order is current? Are you entitled to ask for a copy of the orders?
• Understanding your obligations where you suspect domestic violence or coercive control
• What evidence do you require before escalating/reporting?

Fiona Manderson, Head of Compliance, Risk and Legal, Hillcrest Christian College

3.40      Case Studies: 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 changes in legislation, expectations and enforcement of privacy and confidentiality for school counsellors
• Outlining professional obligations and difference between psychologists and non-psychologist counsellors
• Examining how current duties to your employer affect your privacy and confidentiality obligations towards the student

Ownership of Files

• Examining rights to files, including notes, diaries, and communications

Student Capacity to Consent to Disclosure – Mature Minors, Recent Cases [TOO 101?]

• Examining the key elements of informed consent
• How is age considered in assessing consent in different circumstances?
• How does age affect considerations of consent where the student is between 12 and 14?
• What level of information is required to make it “informed” when dealing with mature minors?
• Examining recent cases regarding assessing Gillick competency (10 year olds)
• 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, including:
  • school leadership seeks access to your notes or details of which students are seeking counselling
  • school policy now requires you to share information with the wellbeing team, however some members of the team are not mental health professionals
  • managing a request for school counselling support from students where there have been abuse and domestic violence disclosures. How can the school respond without parental consent or putting the student at further risk

Tracey Jessie, Principal, Jessie Lawyers; Former School Principal, Education Queensland

4.40      Chairperson’s Conclusion

4.45      Event Close

Presenters / panelists include:

	Cathy Perkins is a psychologist by background and has over 20 years experience working in school settings. Cathy spent several years working in the Toowoomba Diocese, in this time working in rural and remote communities. She has worked in both primary and secondary schools in the Catholic and Independent school systems. Her qualifications include a Master of Educational Psychology.
	Hayden Delaney is highly experienced in complex intellectual property and technology transactions, intellectual property management and intellectual property enforcement - both in domestic and international matters. He holds qualifications in Laws and Information Technology (with Honours and Distinction respectively). Hayden is recognised as a Leading Technology, Media and Telecommunications Lawyer, 2015–2023 and a Leading Intellectual Property Lawyer by Doyle’s Guide, 2015, 2018–2022.
	Dr Tim Lowry is a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist and current national chair of the College of Forensic Psychologists. Tim possesses substantial experience in forensic mental health, risk assessment, and intervention, having worked across both public and private practice settings over the past 22 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.
	Having worked across multiple roles in the Education and Not-for-Profit sector, Jessica Lipsett combines her practical experience and legal knowledge to assist institutional clients navigate their way through dispute-related matters. Jessica has experience conducting matters in the Supreme Court of Queensland, Federal Court, Federal Circuit Court, Family Court of Australia, Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, Australian Human Rights Commission and Fair Work Commission.
	Annie Smeaton specialises in employment, anti-discrimination and industrial law. She has extensive experience dealing with proceedings in the Federal Court, Federal Circuit Court, Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, Fair Work Commission, Australian Human Rights Commission, Anti-Discrimination Commission and the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
	Brian Day is a dedicated professional with over 20 years of experience in the education sector. He is currently a Senior Guidance Officer for the Department of Education Queensland, Metropolitan Region, specialising in the developmental and primary school sector. He has worked in regional and remote regions of Queensland and New South Wales and has interests in mental health and wellbeing, learning disabilities, engagement and making a positive difference in the lives of children and young people.
	Fiona Manderson was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia in January 2005. She practiced in traditional law firms and Legal Aid Queensland for 15 years before leaving to undertake an “in-house” role at Hillcrest Christian College. Fiona has significant experience in family, child protection and domestic violence law, employment law, discrimination, defamation, consumer protection, and contractual disputes.
	Tracey Jessie is the principal of Jessie Lawyers - a boutique law firm in Queensland. Tracey has over 20 years’ experience including 6 years as a partner in State and National firms. Before studying law, Tracey was a teacher and principal within Education Queensland. Tracey now advises a range of educational institutions, not-for-profit organisations and small to medium business enterprises.

Terms & Conditions