Privacy Notice

I collect, store and process information about you to enable me to run my counselling and psychotherapy practice and to provide an ethical service to you. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (reference ZA538074). All data is stored under the conditions stated in the GDPR, as it applies in the UK. The following information provides a brief outline of what data I process, why and for how long.

Personal information I collect

I collect the following information in order to help me provide psychological therapy to you, receive clinical supervision and consultation, and to maintain my accounts. I am able to collect this information upon the legal basis of “Legitimate Interests” for the purposes of healthcare, as described in the GDPR regulations. 

Personal details:

Name, gender, date of birth, relationships, parents, siblings, children, occupation, address, telephone numbers, email address, counselling /therapy history, medical conditions, prescribed medication, emotional & psychological issues, employment, education, and social life details. Fees and location of your sessions are processed for the purposes of communicating by text, email, or telephone in order to fulfill this contract, and for processing payments.

Sensitive information:

Physical and mental health details, sexual life, racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs, offences, and alleged offences.

How I may Process/Share your personal information

Your information is stored anonymously, physical/soft copy is stored under lock and key, and/or password protected. I will keep this information for up to 7 years, at which point it will be deleted. I may use this information to track the progress of our work together or in discussion with my supervisor for reflection and guidance. They are also bound by the same rules of confidentiality, code of ethics, and rules of GDPR. Your contact information may also be passed on to my appointed Therapeutic Executor so that you are informed should anything happen to me that prevents me from attending a session and from communicating with you directly – such as serious illness.

Business records will be stored for a minimum of 6 years in line with HMRC requirements. Anonymised details about the date, length and location of every session will be stored indefinitely for statistical purposes and to meet the informational needs of accrediting bodies.

Case notes

Correspondence, brief factual notes of what was discussed and/or agreed in each session, and any relevant documentation will be stored electronically. These records are only accessible by me, bar the confidentiality exceptions detailed above. Case notes, correspondence and documents will be stored for 7 years from the end of our last session and then deleted unless there is a justifiable cause for keeping the case notes for a longer period.

I ask for your permission to record sessions for supervision purposes. There would be a separate no-obligation agreement for this stating the terms and your rights.

Your rights

You have the following rights: to be informed about what information I hold; to have information about you deleted; to have inaccuracies corrected; to access information about you free of charge within 1 month of your request; to not receive any unsolicited marketing; to determine how information about you is processed; to complain if you are unhappy about any of the above by contacting the Information Commissioners Office here: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.