Privacy Notice

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. 

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I take careful steps to protect your personal data by working with:

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• transparency – about what personal information I collect and process

• simplicity – by using easy-to-understand language to describe our privacy practices to help you make informed choices

• security -   by taking every effort to make sure your personal data is kept secure, using encrypted devices, encrypted email and databases, and locked filing cabinets.

 

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, and

• Your data protection rights.

 

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy.

 

‘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 ZB823907

 

My email address is: cathgilescounsellor@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 will process your information under one of the following legal bases:

 

• 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 or your initial enquiry and to deliver the conditions of the agreement.

• 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 visit the counselling space at Shipton St, I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for capturing external CCTV images of the driveway and front door for the protection of the property and safeguarding of staff and visitors. All CCTV files are deleted within 60 days.

 

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).

 

How I use your information

 

Initial contact:

 

When a counselling enquiry is made, I will collect some information to help me fulfil the enquiry. This will include whatever personal details you offer at this stage, (usually contact details and what kind of therapy you are looking for/issues you need support with).

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If we do work together, I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly.

You may give me information about you by filling in forms on my website enquiry page, phone, email, text.  I may also receive information about you through a third party (like The Counselling Directory) that you have used to contact me.

 

Where your initial contact is made via a website or a directory, I may receive some technical information, for example an IP (internet protocol) address.

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During an initial appointment I would invite you to say a little about what you are looking for and what has brought you to look for counselling, and what your availability is, so that together we can decide if we’re a good match.

 

If you decide not to proceed, I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within 1 month. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know

 

During our work:

 

Most of the information I obtain about you will be obtained verbally through our conversations.  Other information may come from you via a text message, an email or a telephone call.

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It is an ethical requirement for me to keep appropriate records about our work, so I will keep brief factual notes of each session, which are securely stored. My records are usually written by hand and all information is locked/protected with data security measures.

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After counselling has ended:

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• Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for 7 years from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely deleted. If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.

• Should you have any questions in relation to the way I protect your information, please do not hesitate to ask. 

 

How I use the information that I receive about you:

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I will only use the information provided to me to carry out my work with you:

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• To make initial contact with you

• To maintain contact with you during our work together

• To carry out our work together. This could include re-arrangement an appointments and the handling payments.

• To allow me to conduct my work in an ethical manner (e.g. in work with my Supervisor).  This is discussed in detail in our initial meeting as part of our contracting.

• In the event of a safeguarding issue.  This is discussed in detail in our initial meeting as part of our contracting.

• To seek feedback from you on your experience of counselling. This helps to improve my service and ensure that it is provided in the most effective manner for you and for us.

 

Sharing your personal information:

 

• Consent – If you have requested that I arrange contact on your behalf, I may share your information with other professional carers or other organisations.

• Serious harm – I may share your information with the relevant authorities if we have reason to believe that you or another person are in immediate danger.

• Compliance with law – I may share your information where we are required to by law or by the regulations and other rules to which we are subject.

• I will not share your information with any third parties for the purposes of direct marketing.

 

Confidentiality:

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• Everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if: 

• You request that I speak to someone else. 

• Where information is shared that suggests there may be safety issues for you or someone else. 

• If there are child protection issues, or if disclosure of information is required by law. 

• If you have divulged information about an act of terrorism, whether or not I believe it to be true.

 

The only other time I may be required to share information that you provide me with would be to contact the emergency services in the event of an accident or incident or in the event of my work being subpoenaed by the Courts. I would always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding or legal issues that prevent this.

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Data security:

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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.

 

All paperwork is kept in a locked filing cabinet. All electronic records are stored securely on a cloud server using the latest firewalls and data security protocols, and all access is by password-protected authentication, or by my IT service provider using secure cloud technology.

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Information is coded for confidentiality and your identifiable personal information is kept separately from any session notes and other descriptive material. I will keep a record of the dates which you attended a meeting with me. Client notes and other documentation are destroyed 3 years after the end of counselling. Personal contact details are destroyed/deleted after 7 years of no contact or updates.

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My phone is password protected and for security reasons, any work text messages are kept just for one month. My emails are accessed through a password protected device and deleted after six months.

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If I am unable to work through illness, accident or death, I have a trusted therapist colleague, who has been given permission to access only the very basic contact details of my current clients on so that they can inform clients of my current situation.

 

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 may withdraw your consent for me to hold and process your data at any time. However, if you do this while actively receiving counselling, your counselling would have to come to an end. You can withdraw your consent by emailing me at cathgilescounsellor@gmail.com

 

You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that I hold about you, ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information 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. To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please email: cathgilescounsellor@gmail.com 

 

Please allow 28 days for me to collate this information for you. 

 

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 and let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

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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.

 

Cookies:

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I do not use cookies to collect any personal information on my website, or to share your browsing behaviour with any third party.

 

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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Making a Complaint:

 

If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by emailing cathgilescounsellor@gmail.com. I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures.

 

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.

 

Changes To This Privacy Policy

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I may edit this policy from time to time. If there are any substantial changes, I will let you know by posting an announcement on my website.

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This policy was last reviewed on 22nd January 2025.

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