The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is concerned with the personal information about you that I collect, store, and share. This page details my GDPR policy.
Written notes (described below) kept in a locked filing cabinet, in either a locked office or my home address.
I use a smartphone (protected with passcode and biometric security) and will delete all correspondence once our time together has terminated. I regularly delete SMS, call logs and voice mails.
Address and correspondence will be stored in my email account (provided by Zoho) by nature of you contacting me or vice versa with your permission to use your email address to remind you of any appointment times and to send invoices if necessary. I will use Zoho's email service when responding to website enquiries. Zoho encrypts messages in transit using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This means that emails cannot be read by a third party in transit. Zoho servers are based in the Europe and are covered by Zoho's privacy policy.
Telephone number may be stored in my SMS or WhatsApp app should we exchange messages in this way. Electronic correspondence will also be held by the corresponding app (Zoho, phones SMS, WhatsApp)
None of your personal information is stored on my website which is hosted by Amazon and served through Cloudflare. Other than to momentarily collect and send it to my email account (hosted with Zoho) for the purposes of our initial contact. Electronic correspondence will also be held by the corresponding APP (Mail and phone SMS) as stated above all correspondence will be deleted after our time together. Google, Amazon and Cloudflare analytics collect non-personal data without your identity attached such as traffic and the number of page visits to assist in the evaluation of my website.
I use Google Forms to collect contact information from you before we commence counselling and also from time to time depending on the nature of our sessions.
I will delete this information from Google Forms once our time together has concluded. You can view Google's terms of service and their privacy policy.
I use the Microsoft Teams online video conferencing platform to provide online counselling sessions. Microsoft Teams encrypts all communication between us using SSL and other technologies. See Microsoft Teams's privacy terms for more details.
Within Microsoft Teams your email contact address is used in order to send you an invitation to our sessions. Our sessions are by invite only and protected with a randomly generated meeting ID and password.
Please be aware that if you choose to pay for your therapy session by the means of card payment SUM UP and my banking provider will record this transaction.
I attend regular consultations with a qualified supervisor and psychotherapist. The reason for this is to maintain the quality and efficacy of my private practice. In order to protect your privacy, my supervisor will not know you personally or professionally. I will refer to you by a different name and I may mention vague, non-identifying details about you. This is so our work together is effective, professional and kept to a high standard so we can develop in your allocated time slot and to meet the standards of the BACP ethical framework.
If I feel that you are at risk of harming yourself and/or your health is in danger, I may share your contact information with:
If I feel or become aware that you have the intention of causing harm to others through violence (organised or single acts), terrorism or sexual abuse. The law may require that I contact the relevant organisation without your permission.
After we have finished working together, I will erase any electronically stored information and correspondence within one month.
I will hold onto your clinical information (assessment, summary notes) and any paper documentation for up to seven years in accordance with my insurer. This is so that I have a reference of our time together should you return to therapy at a later date. After this time period I will shred as confidential waste.