In order for me to provide therapeutic services, I need to record personal information about you. This information includes your name, address, date of birth, age and contact details.

Your records will be protected and you will be assigned a unique identifying code. Under this code, clinical notes, your assessment information, your GP details and relevant medical information will be held. Information on aspects of your presenting difficulties, personal, professional, social and family history that you choose to share with me, along with a brief overview of your requirements from counselling may be recorded. This information will be retained in separate locations (keeping your name and contact details apart from the assessment notes.) All electronic storage is password protected.

Your contact details will only be used to contact you. Other personal data such as your name, address and date of birth will be used to verify your identity if there is a need to contact your GP, or a request for access to personal data from yourself, or legitimate legal instrument such as a court order. This personal information will be held securely for a period of 3 years from the date of your final attended counselling session. Where it is necessary to retain this personal information for a longer period, due to any issues arising out of the work, it will be held for 7 years from the date of your final attended counselling session.

Under normal circumstances all counsellors have Clinical Supervision once a month and only your first name and age will be used. All supervisors used by me are ICO Registered and GDPR Compliant. Your contact details alone will be shared, in exceptional circumstances, with my Supervisor so that if I am incapacitated you can be contacted to explain the situation.  

Information about counselling sessions and our work together
Notes may be kept about each therapy session under your unique identifying code. These notes will be brief and a factual record of the session. This set of notes will include any agreements made with you e.g. cancelled sessions, holidays, changes to appointment times or location, appointments with other professionals e.g. your GP or hospital. If there is a need to speak and write to your GP this will also be noted and dated on these notes. These notes may be shared with a supervisor or Counselling professional body.  Information from these notes may be made available to legitimate third parties under the following conditions:

• Receipt of a request from you and where the release of the notes is not judged by the counsellor as likely to cause you significant harm or harm to another person, or to breach the other person’s right to anonymity

• Where there is a specific legal requirement for me to do so

• Where there is an ethical duty for me to do so e.g. to avoid serious harm to yourself or another person, including the safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults

Record of contact between us
Your contact details may be held on my work mobile phone until the counselling relationship ends at which point it will be deleted from the contact list. Texts are held only whilst they are relevant e.g. in connection with your appointments.

 
Your rights
You have the right to ask to see information held by me about you. To do this please contact me or submit a request in writing. You also have the right to ask that information which you believe to be incorrect is rectified. You will be provided with the information requested within 4 weeks. If your personal information may have accidentally or maliciously been obtained by a third-party I will notify you within three working days, if this is feasible. If you are concerned about the way that your information is being held please discuss it with me. If you are still unhappy you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office www.ico.org.uk

I confirm that I am registered with the ICO.