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In accordance with the new guidelines for Data Protection (GDPR 2018) I only collect information about you that is necessary for the service. Please see ICO for further information https://ico.org.uk/
Personal Information
When you make contact to arrange a counselling/psychotherapy appointment, your personal details, i.e. name and contact details will be stored securely. Please remember in the case of emails, that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure.
If you decide to begin Counselling/Psychotherapy you will be asked to sign a ‘Counselling/Psychotherapy Agreement’ at the close of the first session which contains your personal information (name, address and contact details). This will be held securely in a locked filing cabinet with sole access. Your contact details are kept for the purpose of appointment management and communication between us, and in terms of address, on a legal basis of vital interests.
You will not be contacted at your postal address. Your details will not be shared unless there is a legal duty to do so, or if your counselling sessions are being paid for by a third party. I will keep this information for the duration of our work together, after which time this information will be destroyed and erased.
Sensitive Information
In order to provide safe, ethical and effective counselling and psychotherapy, I will keep some ‘sensitive information’ about you. Importantly, your sensitive information is not stored with your personal information, so that it cannot be linked to you.
I will keep brief notes to serve the ethical and effective provision of counselling and psychotherapy. Notes will be assigned a reference number and your anonymity will be protected. Notes will be stored separately to contact details so they cannot be linked to you and locked in a filing cabinet with sole access.
During the course of therapy I may make a record of your GP’s details (with the additional requirement of your date of birth to identify you with your GP), medical history and emergency contact number. If I need to collect this information it will be clearly explained to you why this is necessary. This information will be held securely, and locked in a separate filing cabinet to your anonymised notes.
If due to legal requirements confidentiality needs to be overridden, I will endeavour to discuss this with you beforehand.
I will keep this information for as long as we are working together, after which time this information will be destroyed.
Reasons for collecting data
To keep a record of the clients/supervisees I’m seeing
To effectively communicate with clients/supervisees by phone and email
To make notes on sessions for delivery of effective services
To invoice and give receipts to clients/supervisees
To send out evaluation forms to assess my practice
Steps taken to secure data
Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area at all times
Passwords are used on all electronic devices
Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area
Any correspondence sent to me by letter, email, text or phone is deleted when no longer needed
Data will be destroyed as soon as it is no longer required. Notes and reference codes will be stored for six years in line with insurance and standards for the record-keeping of counselling and psychotherapy. Your contact details will be destroyed after we have completed our work together.
You are entitled to request access to, or make amendments to, your personal information. If you request that I destroy or delete your personal information, I will take all reasonable steps to do so unless I need to keep it for legal, auditing or internal business purposes.
Therapy Privacy Notice
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