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Introduction

 

Your privacy is important.  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

  • 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, and

  • Your data protection rights

 

I am happy to talk through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email.

 

‘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 ZA682455.

 

My phone number is: 07595 765 638. My email address is henrysweetingtherapy@gmail.com.

 

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 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 consent initially. I will then retain any counselling records in case of the need to reference them in the future (the official legal basis is to defend against potential legal claims).

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How I use your information

 

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, telephone number and any information you provide in the message section (usually relating to why you are seeking counselling). 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. 

 

Everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if I believe there is a risk of harm to you or someone else. 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 and any text or email contact between us to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely on Google Drive and are not shared with any third party. I will keep written notes of each session, these are kept digitally on Google Drive.

 

Keeping in line with GDPR, I will store your personal information for a period of seven years following the termination of our sessions. However, I may need to store your information longer than this, for instance to comply with my insurance terms and conditions or to defend myself against a claim.

 

Your rights

 

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 henrysweetingtherapy@gmail.com.

 

If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by emailing to the contact details given above.

 

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.

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