Your privacy is important to me, and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure, and only used for the purpose for which it was given to me.
I adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
This privacy notice tells you what I will do with your personal information from initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended.
If you have queries about my data protection policy, feel free to email me or use the website contact form.
‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects, stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is me.
I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (reference ZC003123), the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. See ico.org.uk.
My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information
The GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which I am processing your data.
If you have had therapy with me and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information.
If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.
The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is that it is for provision of health treatment (in this case counselling) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).
How I use your information
Initial contact
When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services, I will collect information to help me answer your enquiry. This will include your name so that I can book the appointment, and also a contact method, for example your email address or phone number. This information is requested so that you can be informed if I am unable to attend an appointment.
Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral, or a trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf.
If you decide not to proceed, I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within one month. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.
While you are accessing counselling
I will keep a record of your personal details, and these will be kept securely on my password protected computer. This is so that I, or a trusted colleague, can contact you if I am unable to attend a session.
Brief handwritten notes of each session will be kept in a locked filing cabinet. Any information stored electronically will be kept securely on my password protected computer.
Email correspondence will be deleted after 6 months if it is not important. If necessary, I will print out emails and keep them with my notes in the locked filing cabinet.
I do not keep text messages for more than 3 months. If there is relevant information contained in a text message, I will make a record of it and keep it with my notes.
After counselling has ended
Once counselling has ended, your records will be kept for 7 years from the end of our contact with each other, and will then be securely destroyed. If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.
Confidentiality
As a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, I am bound by its ethical framework to protect a client’s confidentiality. Therefore, everything that we discuss is confidential except in certain circumstances, such as.
- Harm to self or others: I reserve the right to break confidentiality if I think that you have become a risk to yourself or other people. I will aim to discuss this with you and my supervisor first, but this may not always be possible.
- For legal and ethical reasons: I am not bound by confidentiality if, in good faith, I feel that I can assist in the prevention or detection of a serious crime. This includes safeguarding issues regarding children or vulnerable adults, crimes regarding substantial financial gains and losses, and acts of terrorism. I am also not bound by confidentiality if I am ordered by a court to disclose certain information I hold about you.
If I have concerns and feel that I may need to break confidentiality, I will always try to speak to you first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.
Your rights
I try to be as open as I can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. You have a right to ask me to delete your personal information, to limit how I use it, or to stop processing your personal information.
You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that I hold about you, and to object to the use of your personal data in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk.
You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you.
To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please email me.
If you have any complaints about how I handle your personal data, please let me know as I welcome suggestions for improving my procedures.
If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information, contact the ICO.
Visitors to my website
When someone visits my website, I use a third-party service, Siteground, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. I do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. I do not make, and do not allow Siteground to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting my website.
I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website.
I use Siteground so that I can continually improve my service to you. You can read the Siteground privacy notice here.
I use WordPress as the content management system for our website – find out about WordPress and data protection.
Like most websites we use cookies to help the site work more efficiently – find out about our use of cookies.
No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party. If you fill in a form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me.
