Privacy Notice

As I store identifiable information about you, I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration no ZA840993). To comply with 2018 rules under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I must inform you about how I collect, store and dispose of the personal data you share with me and obtain your consent to do so. I do not use personal data to contact you for any purpose other than counselling unless you have asked me to do so and I have your written consent. I never share your data to other parties for marketing or similar purposes.
What information I collect: If you fill in the Contact Me form on my website, I collect your name, phone number and email address. At the start of counselling, you fill in a Registration Form. This includes your: Name, DoB, Address, Phone number/s (plus permission to leave a voicemail or not), Email address, Gender (or preferred identity), History of prior psychological help, Medical conditions and prescribed medication and a note of your Current Difficulties.
How your information is stored:
On smartphone: I store your phone number using an identity code not your name. This allows me to contact you if necessary while protecting your anonymity. Emails, phone contact history and texts may also be stored here should we exchange messages in this way. My smartphone is password protected.
On laptop: The Registration Form you email to me may be held on my computer until I print it. The electronic copy is then deleted. I also hold an electronic record of invoices sent until printed. My laptop is password protected.
On my website: No personal information is stored on my website, other than temporarily if you use the Contact Me form.
On paper: I keep paper copies of the following in a locked, secure filing cabinet: our signed and dated Counselling Agreement, your Registration Form, brief handwritten session notes (identifiable details are anonymised using your client code), copies of invoices and fees paid, an anonymised attendance record.
Confidentiality and Limits of confidentiality: All your personal information and everything you say is treated in the strictest confidence. I never share your data or personal information with anyone, except for:
Clinical Supervision: My professional body, BACP (British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists) requires me as part of its code of ethics to have clinical supervision with another qualified therapist to support best practice. Should I take aspects of my work with you to supervision I will refer to you by first name only. My supervisor is also bound by the BACP ethical framework.
Legal: If ordered by a Court of Law to share any of the information I hold about you, I will share only the minimum detail required and only after discussion with you wherever possible. If I have become aware of your intent to commit an act of terrorism, or money laundering, legally I may be required to inform an authority without your permission or your knowledge.
Risk: If there is a significant concern you may cause serious harm to yourself or another person, including ending your own life, I am ethically obliged to discuss the possibility of sharing this with your GP or relevant professional. This was agreed by you in our Counselling Agreement. I will always endeavour to speak with you first before any such disclosures.
Clinical will: To work within BACP guidelines, I shall give your name and contact details to the executor of my ‘living will’ so you can be informed if I am unavailable for appointments in the event of my inability to inform you myself. The executor is a fellow trusted therapist bound by the BACP code of ethics and will only access your contact details if strictly necessary.
Your rights and data breaches: Should sensitive personal data be stolen or lost, I shall inform all relevant persons and authorities including the ICO. If you believe that the information I hold about you is incorrect or out of date, or you have concerns about how I am handling your personal data, please inform me and I will attempt to resolve this accordingly. Your consent for me to keep information on you can be withdrawn at any time. If you wish to have your personal information deleted, you can let me know and I will take all reasonable steps to do so, unless I am obliged to keep it for legal and/or auditing reasons.
Deleting your data: Once your counselling has ended, all personal information kept digitally or on my phone will be deleted. I will hold a written summary recording our work together for up to seven years for insurance purposes and in case you wish to return at any point in this time or you ask me to provide information about your counselling to a third party. This is stored in a secure manner. After this time, all records are destroyed.