privacy

Regenerate Counselling Privacy Policy  

Introduction

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. 

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
  • How long I store it for
  • Whether there are other recipients of your personal information, and
  • 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 kathryn@regeneratecounselling.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 Commissioner’s Office, number A8451358.

Grounds for data collection 

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).

How I use your information

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 full name, telephone number and email address. 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 one month of the original enquiry. 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 I believe you may cause harm to yourself or another person.
  • if I am required to do so by the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, or a court of law.
  • if information comes to light regarding acts of terrorism, drug trafficking, child protection issues, or other matters where I have a legal obligation to report this to the appropriate authorities.
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 services run smoothly. These details are kept securely either on paper or on my pin-protected smartphone, and are not shared with any third party.

I will keep handwritten notes of each session. As with any other information held on paper, these are kept in a locked filing cabinet to which only I have the key.

For security reasons I do not retain text messages for more than three months. If there is relevant information contained in a text message I will transfer the information to a note in your paper file. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after three months if it is not important. If necessary, I will print out any important emails for filing.

After counselling has ended

Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for six months 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.

    Your rights

    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 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 it, 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 any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to kathryn@regeneratecounselling.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.

    Data security

    I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I make every effort to make sure it is kept secure. Anything on paper is held in a locked filing cabinet to which only I have the key. Personal contact details held on my smartphone are protected by pin numbers for both the SIM card and login. I also access my email on a desktop computer that requires a password to log in.

    Cookies

    Like most websites I use cookies to help the site work more efficiently. A "cookie" is a small piece of information that a website assigns to your device while you are viewing a website. Cookies are very helpful and can be used for various different purposes. These purposes include allowing you to navigate between pages efficiently, enable automatic activation of certain features, remembering your preferences and making the interaction between you and our services quicker and easier. Cookies are also used to help ensure that the advertisements you see are relevant to you and your interests and to compile statistical data on your use of our services. 

    My website uses the following types of cookies:

    a. 'session cookies' which are stored only temporarily during a browsing session in order to allow normal use of the system and are deleted from your device when the browser is closed; 

    b. 'persistent cookies ' which are read only by the site, saved on your computer for a fixed period and are not deleted when the browser is closed. Such cookies are used where we need to know who you are for repeat visits, for example to allow us to store your preferences for the next sign-in; 

    c. 'third party cookies' which are set by other online services who run content on the page you are viewing, for example by third party analytics companies who monitor and analyze our web access.

    Cookies do not contain any information that personally identifies you. You may remove the cookies by following the instructions of your device preferences; however, if you choose to disable cookies, some features of the site may not operate properly and your online experience may be limited.

    No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party. If you fill in a form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host (123reg.com) before being sent to me. When you use the site, you consent to the collection, storage, use, disclosure and other uses of your personal information as described in this privacy policy.
    Last Modified 16 April 2019
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