Data Protection & Privacy Policy

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. I adhere to current data protection legislation, including General Data Protection Regulation (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 need 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 ruth@shorestepstherapy.co.uk

‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person that collects and stores and has responsibility for the personal data of counselling clients. In this instance, the data controller is Ruth Allen.

My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information

GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.

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 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 you and me).

How I use your information

Initial contact

When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services, I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include name, email address, phone number. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral, or a trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf. Where possible, I ask that you contact me directly.

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

While you are having counselling

Everything we discuss is confidential. The exceptions to this are if I feel that you or someone else may be at risk of serious harm, or if you disclose that you are involved with acts of terrorism or drug money laundering. I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.

I will keep a record of your personal details during our work together, as well as notes of our sessions. These details are kept securely and are not shared with any third party.

After counselling has ended

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

Your rights

You have a right to ask me to delete your personal information, to limit how I use your personal information, or to stop me 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.

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;

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

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 ruth@shorestepstherapy.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 emailing the address 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 ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.