Counselling service in Fremington, North Devon

Your privacy is very important to me and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure during our counselling process and will only be used for the purpose it was given to me.  I adhere to current date 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, including:

- Why I am able to process your information and what purpose I am processing it for.

- Whether you have to provide it to me

- How long I store it for

- Whether there are other recipients of your personal information

- Whether I intend to transfer it to another country

- Whether I do automated decision-making or profiling

- Your data protection rights

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via my email enquiries@beechtreetherapy.co.uk.

‘Data Controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data.  In this instance, the data controller is me. 

I am registered with the Information Commissions Office, my registration number is ZB439210.

My postal address is 3 Company Road, Fremington, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 3FZ and my email address is enquiries@beechtreetherapy.co.uk.          

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.  I have explained these below:

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).

Initial contact

When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry.  This will include your name, email address and contact telephone number.  Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a parent or 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 3 working days.  If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.

While you are accessing counselling

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential.  That confidentiality will only be broken if:

-  you give your explicit permission

- Where I (your counsellor) is compelled to do so by the law, for example, Terrorism Act 

   2000, Drug Trafficking Act 1994, Proceeds of Crime Act 2003, Money Laundering 

   Regulations 2007 and the Road Trafficking Act 1991.

- If there is serious risk of harm to you, the client, or another person

- Where there is a child protection issue from the Children’s Act 1989

- Hate Crime

- Domestic Abuse

- Domestic Violence and Abuse

- If a Judge or Coroner legally order the release of session notes

- Female Genital mutilation

- Modern Slavery

- Criminal Exploitation

I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.

I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling service run smoothly.  These details are kept securely on my personal and private computer which is password protected and not shared with any third party.

I keep written records of each session, these are kept in a locked cabinet and/or on a password protected file on my computer.  These notes do not include your name, instead I use a unique reference for each client for added security.

For security reasons I do not retain text messages for more than 7 days.  If there is relevant information contained in a text message I will transfer the information to your secure file.  Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after 7 days if it is not important.  If necessary I will transfer the information to your secure file.

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 are then securely destroyed.  If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.

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 your personal information, 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 www.ico.org.uk/your-data-matters

If I do hold information about you I will:

- Give you a description of it and where it came from

- Tell you why I am holding this, tell you how long I will store your data and how I made 

   this decision.

- Tell you who it could be disclosed to

- Let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

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 personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to me at enquiries@beechtreetherapy.co.uk.

If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by writing or emailing to the contact details given above.  I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures.

If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information you can contact the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK.  For more information, go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to make sure it is kept secure.  I keep any written records in a locked filing cabinet (away from my therapy room) or on my personal computer which is password protected and not used by any third parties.  These are in line with my insurance provider - Holistic Insurance.