Accepting Self

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:

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• 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

• Your data protection rights.

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I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email to therapy@catrinalafferty.com

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‘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:

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I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office:  ICO:00013284725

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My postal address is: 33 Priory Avenue, Hastings TN34 1UH

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My phone number is: 07703 000779   My email address is: therapy@catrinalafferty.com

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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 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).

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Information I Collect​

I collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when you:

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• Book a counselling session

• Contact me via the website, email, or phone

• Fill out forms or questionnaires on my website

• Use my services

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The Types of Personal Information I Collect Include:​

• Personal Identification Data: Name, email address, phone number, address, date of birth

• Health Information: Information related to your mental and physical health relevant to the counselling services I provide

• Payment Data: Payment details for booking and paying for sessions

• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, and website usage data through cookies (if applicable)

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I do not collect more information than necessary to provide my services, and I ensure that all sensitive data is handled with the utmost care.

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How I Use Your Information​

Initial Contact.​

When you contact me to book your first appointment or to enquire about my counselling services I will collect collect some brief information to help me process your enquiry. This will include your name so that I can book the appointment into my diary and also a contact method, for example an email address or phone number. This information is requested so that you can be informed if I am ever unable to attend an appointment due to unforeseen circumstances.  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.

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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.​

At the beginning of your first appointment I will ask you to complete a personal details form containing your name, address, date of birth, contact information and also contact information for your GP. The form is stored in a locked filing cabinet that can only be accessed by me or reception staff. Please be aware that I will not routinely contact your GP to inform your GP of your attendance as your attendance is confidential. To fulfil my duty of care towards you while also maintaining your confidentiality I will only contact your GP if it is necessary and should these circumstances arise I would discuss this with you wherever possible before contacting your GP. Rest assured that what is said in our sessions will be kept confidential. I am an Accredited Member of the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) and I abide by their professional code of ethics.

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Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if there are legal or ethical obligations to disclose.  For example, if you disclose abuse/neglect of a child or vulnerable adult, or say something else that implies serious harm to yourself or others, or if a court of law requires me to disclose information.  I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.

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I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely in a locked filing cabinet which I only have access to.  I keep brief notes of our therapy sessions for the purpose of assisting our work together. The notes help me to keep track of the issues that we are working on and they are for my use only. The notes do not include any personal details that could be used to identify you and they are stored securely so that only I have access to them.   Your email address and telephone number will only be used to contact you regarding appointment times unless we have agreed that I will also use your email address to email you information that is relevant to your therapy sessions. 

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Counsellors are required to have regular supervision support so I may discuss our work with my supervisor. This would be done without identifying you and my supervisor is a counsellor who also abides by the BACP’s code of ethics regarding confidentiality.
 

After Counselling Has Ended.​

Counsellors are legally required to keep records after therapy has ended. For example, in the case of financial transactions personal information must be retained for as long as is legally required in respect of tax or accounting purposes. Retaining your therapy notes ensures that I can continue to offer you an efficient service if you make contact after therapy has ended. Your therapy notes do not include any personal details that could be used to identify you and continue to be stored securely in a locked filing cabinet that only I have access to for seven years after therapy has ended. This time frame adheres with current industry guidelines. Seven years after therapy has ended your therapy notes will be confidentially destroyed.

Your personal details form is confidentially destroyed on ending your therapy sessions. Please note that I need to keep a record of your name, date of birth and your client reference number for seven years after therapy ends. Your client reference number corresponds with a client reference number on your therapy notes and therefore enables me to identify your therapy notes if necessary.

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Third Party Recipients of Personal Data​

I sometimes share personal data with third parties, for example, where I have contracted with a supplier to carry out specific tasks. In such cases I have carefully selected which partners I work with. I take great care to ensure that I have a contract with the third party that states what they are allowed to do with the data I share with them. I ensure that they do not use your information in any way other than the task for which they have been contracted.

 

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.

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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 its, 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.

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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 therapy@catrinalafferty.com

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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.

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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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Data Security​

I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to make sure it is kept secure. My email account is password protected and mobile phones and laptops used to respond to your emails are password protected and have anti-virus software. For security reasons I do not retain text messages or emails for more than one month if it is not necessary.   If it is necessary to retain any relevant information any texts or emails will be stored securely and I will be the only person with access. 

 

Visitors to My Website​

When someone visits my website, I use a third party service, Wix, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. I do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. I do not make, and do not allow Wix to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting my website. I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website. I use Wix so that I can continually improve my service to you. You can read Wix privacy notice here: About Privacy | WIX. I also use Wix as the content management system for my website. Like most websites we use cookies to help the site work more efficiently - find out about our use of cookies here: Cookie Policy | WIX. 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 before being sent to me.

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Changes to Privacy Notice
This privacy notice may be updated from time to time, so please check occasionally for any updates.