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:

• 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

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via heather.rymer@proton.me.

 ‘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. My ICO reference number is ZB793443.

My phone number is: 07817894331. 

My email address is: heather.rymer@proton.me 

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). 

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 your name, email and telephone number. 

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. If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within 14 days. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know. 

While you are accessing counselling 

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if I have a concern about yours or someone else’s safety. 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 to help the counselling service run smoothly. These details are kept securely in a locked cabinet and no other party has access to this. I will keep written notes of each session, these are kept in a digital file on my laptop which is protected by fingerprint access and a document password. For security reasons I do not retain text messages for more than 28 days. If there is relevant information contained in a text message I will add this to the session notes document. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after 28 days if it is not important. Again, if necessary I will record the information on the session notes document. A\

After counselling has ended

Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for 5 years 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 

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. 

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 heather.rymer@proton.me 

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. 

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. 

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. Your Client Details form is kept in a locked filing cabinet which only I have access to. Session notes are secured digitally with access only by using my fingerprint and the document accessible with a password.