Introduction

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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

• Whether you have to provide it to me

• How long I store it for

• Whether there are other recipients of your personal information

• 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 email at cath@cathwoolfordcounselling.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 (Registration number ZB647642)

 

 

My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information

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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.

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 category personal information is that it is for the 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).

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How I use your information

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Initial contact

When you contact me with an enquiry about counselling services, I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry.  This will include your name, contact details and an overview of what you are seeking counselling to help with.  If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within one month.  If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know. 

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While you are accessing counselling

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential.  That confidentiality is only broken if you or someone else is at risk of serious harm or you inform me of illegal activities (money laundering, acts of terrorism or human/ drug trafficking.) I will always try to speak with you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.

 

I will keep a paper record of your contact details to help the counselling service run smoothly. These are kept in a locked filing cabinet. Your contact number will be on my password protected mobile, using only your first name. I also keep brief anonymised session notes. These are kept securely on an encrypted and password protected computer and are not shared with any third party.

 

I will keep your email address if we are corresponding via email.  My computer is regularly updated for anti-virus and is password protected. 

 

As a requirement of the profession, I discuss client work with my Supervisor to ensure I am working safely and effectively.

 

After counselling has ended

Once counselling ends, your records will be kept for 5 years from the end of our contract with each other, inline with my insurance requirements and are then securely destroyed. 

 

Third party recipients of personal data

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 I do not share personal data with third parties, unless I am obliged by law or there is a safeguarding issue (significant risk of harm to yourself or others). 

 

Your rights

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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. 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 to cath@cathwoolfordcounselling.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.  

 

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 www.ico.uk/make-a-complaint