IN Hersham, Walton on Thames AND online

Introduction

Your privacy is very important to me, 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.

‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects, stores, and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is Sallie Edwards. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

My phone number is: 07438 482548. My email address is: sallieedwardscounselling@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 retain session notes for 6 years in case I the need to reference them in the future. This is the legal basis is to defend against potential legal claims.

How I use your information

Initial contact

When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services, I will collect information directly from you to help me deal with your enquiry. This will include name, telephone number and email. 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 1 month after our last contact. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.

While you are accessing counselling

If you choose to access counselling with me, I will collect personal information from you which may include name, gender, date of birth, address,

telephone number, email and GP details. I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly and to make/maintain contact regarding counselling appointments. These details are kept securely on my computer and are not shared with any third party. I keep anonymised, brief notes of each session, these are kept securely, separate from your personal details, they are either saved securely on my computer or for hand written notes locked in a drawer at home, that no one else has access to. For security reasons I only retain text messages and emails for one week. If there is relevant information contained in the messages I will save securely on my computer. What we discuss during our sessions remains confidential. That

confidentiality will only be broken if I am concerned about serious harm to yourself or others, if you disclose illegal activities around money laundering or acts of terrorism, if I am concerned about the safety of a child or vulnerable adult or if I am ordered to do so by a court of law. I will always aim to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this or if it is an emergency. I receive regular, professional clinical supervision to ensure I am working safely and ethically. I may discuss client issues with my supervisor to enhance my work with you, but I will not disclose identifying

details except in an emergency.

After counselling has ended

Once counselling has ended your personal details will be kept for 3 months from our last contact with each other and are then securely destroyed. If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please let me know. The anonymised session notes are kept for 6 years, as required by my insurance company.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.

Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us

to complete information you think is incomplete.

Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. To make a request for any personal information I hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to sallieedwardscounselling@gmail.com

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at sallieedwardscounselling@gmail.com

You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we 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