Ashcroft Counselling Privacy notice

My contact details
Name: Linda Ashcroft
Phone Number: 07719968898
E-mail: linda@ashcroftcounselling.co.uk
Date: May 2023

In order to provide you with the best service possible I need to hold your personal contact details and records of your therapy sessions. This privacy notice tells you what I will do with your personal information from initial point of contact through to after therapy has ended. Your privacy is very important to me and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose 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. I also adhere to the ethical guidelines regarding protecting client privacy and confidentiality set by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

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 basis depending on the stage at which I am processing your data. 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. Once therapy has ended with me I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information.

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 therapy sessions) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).

How I use your information

I will never use your personal data for any other purposes than the administration of the therapy service that I am providing to you, for example, to arrange, cancel and rearrange appointments. I will only retain your personal information for as long as is necessary. This is in line with guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office.

On the initial contact I will collect some brief information to help me to process your enquiry and to book your first appointment.

This will include your name, and/or email address, phone number. This information is requested so that you can be informed if I was unable to attend an appointment due to unforeseen circumstances. Alternatively, if an organisation such as your employer may send me your details when making a referral or a relative may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf. If an enquiry is made and you decide not to proceed, I will ensure that all of your personal data is deleted within one month. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, please let me know.

Whilst accessing therapy with your written consent, I would only use your email address and telephone number to contact you regarding appointment times unless we have agreed that I will also use your email address to send you information that is relevant to your therapy sessions.

Before your first appointment I will ask you to complete a referral form containing your name, address, date of birth, contact information and also contact information for your GP. The paper form is stored in a locked filing box that can only be accessed by me. If this form is completed electronically I store it on a USB memory stick which is password protected and stored in a locked box which only I have access to.

Please note that in order to fulfil my duty of care towards you while also maintaining your confidentiality I will only contact your GP if it is necessary and should these circumstances arise, I would discuss this with you wherever possible before contacting your GP.

Rest assured that what is said in our sessions will be kept confidential. I am a Registered Member of the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) and I abide by their professional code of ethics. Confidentiality will only be broken if there are legal or ethical obligations to disclose, for example, if you disclose abuse/neglect of a child or vulnerable adult, or say something else that implies serious harm to yourself or others, or if a court of law requires me to disclose information.

In the event that confidentiality must be broken I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.

Counsellors are required to have regular supervision support so I may discuss our work with my supervisor. This would be done without identifying you and my supervisor is a counsellor who also abides by the BACP's code of ethics regarding confidentiality.

I keep brief paper or electronic notes of our therapy sessions for the purpose of assisting our work together. The notes help me to keep track of the issues that we are working on, and they are for my use only. The notes do not include any personal details that could be used to identify you and they are password protected (electronic ones) and stored securely in a locked filing box that only I have access to. Your therapy notes are stored separately to your personal details form.

Once therapy has ended there are reasons why counsellors are required to keep records after therapy has ended. For example, in the case of financial transactions personal information must be retained for as long as legally required in respect of tax or accounting purposes. Please note that I need to keep a record of your name, date of birth and your client reference for seven years after therapy ends. Your therapy notes do not include any personal details that could be used to identify you and continue to be stored securely in a locked filing box that only I have access to. This time frame adheres with current industry guidelines. Seven years after therapy has ended your therapy notes will be confidentially destroyed.

Third party recipients of personal data

I share a limited amount of personal data with third parties in order to provide therapy services to you and to fulfil legal obligations in respect of tax and accounting purposes. For example, an accountant may need access to my invoices. If your appointments are paid for or arranged via a third party, for example, your employer, the only information shared with the third party is your dates of attendance and non-attendance for invoicing and payment purposes. Details about what is discussed in your appointments will remain confidential and can only be shared if you give me your written consent to do so.

Confidentiality and Third-Party Technologies While we prioritize the confidentiality of your information, our services utilize certain third-party technologies to ensure efficient communication and service delivery. This includes Google Meet for online sessions, UK Phone networks for phone consultations. These providers are GDPR-compliant and have their own privacy policies that govern how they collect and process data. We encourage you to review their policies: Google Privacy Policy By engaging in online or phone sessions, you acknowledge and consent to the data handling practices of these third-party providers. Please be aware that these technologies may involve the transmission of personal data, including but not limited to session recordings, chat logs, and contact details. We take all reasonable measures to ensure your data is handled securely and in accordance with UK data protection laws. If you have any concerns about data privacy, please do not hesitate to discuss them with us.

Data security

I take the security of the data that I hold about you very seriously. My email account is password protected and mobile phones and laptops used to respond to your emails are password protected and have anti-virus software. Any email correspondence will be deleted within one month if it is not necessary to keep it. If it is necessary to retain the information, I will print the email and store it securely in a locked filing cabinet that only I have access to.

Website visitors

By accessing my website, you are consenting to the information collection and use practices described in this privacy notice. Should you choose to contact me using the contact form on the website none of the data that you supply will be stored by the website or passed to any third-party data processors. Instead, the data will be collated into an email and sent to me over the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SMTP servers are protected by TLS (sometimes known as SSL) meaning that the email content is encrypted before being sent across the internet. The email content is then decrypted by local computers and devices.

Your data protection rights

Under GDPR, 2018 guidelines you have the following rights: The right to request access to the personal information that I store and process about you. You can ask for corrections to be made to the information held or for your personal information to be deleted. You can also ask me to restrict the processing of your personal information or to object to the processing of it altogether in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters. If you would like to make a request relating to any of the rights above, please send a request in writing by emailing linda@ashcroftcounselling.co.uk Please be aware that in certain situations counsellors may be unable to comply with the above requests. For example, if compelled to retain the records by a court of law. Please also be aware that there may be a charge for complying with a request if it is deemed to be excessive in nature.

Queries

'Data controller' is the term used to describe the person or organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people's personal data. In this instance, the data controller is Linda Ashcroft and I am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office: the registration number for Linda Ashcroft Counselling is ZB541646 If you have any questions about this privacy policy or the way in which I handle your personal information you can contact me via phone on 07719968898 or email:linda@ashcroftcounselling.co.uk

How to complain

If you have any concerns about how I use of your personal information, you can make a complaint by emailing me at linda@counselling.co.uk

You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how I have used your data.

The ICO's address:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 ICO website:https://www.ico.org.uk

Changes to privacy notice.

This privacy notice may be updated from time to time, so please check occasionally for any updates.