Data Protection & Privacy Policy

In order to work effectively with you, I collect personal and sensitive information and I will not use this for any other purpose. I will only share it with third parties in particular, limited circumstances (see below), and I will keep it securely and only for as long as is necessary in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.

Please be mindful that information sent by email, text or phone, may not be secure.

Topics

Introduction

Under the terms of the General Data Protection Regulation, I am acting as the Data Controller and Data Processor of your information. Please read the following in order to learn more about my privacy policy and my information collection and use practices.

When you request psychotherapeutic services with me, you will be asked to consent to my processing of your data under the terms of this policy.

What information do I collect?

Initial enquiry Making an enquiry for an introductory appointment can be done by email or by phone. This process involves providing me with your name, preferred telephone numbers and email address. I may also request information on your availability, therapeutic issues, and other details which help me process your request. If we do not proceed to work together, I will destroy your contact information and any notes one month after our last communication.

Initial Appointments If we decide to work together, I ask you to complete a paper form with your name, date of birth, address, email address and telephone number, to allow me to communicate with you, and optionally, for details of someone I could contact in an emergency. I also ask for your GP details and those of any other relevant health professional, to allow me to contact them if necessary.

I will ask about your current personal, social and medical circumstances, your background and family history, as well as the issues which are affecting you now. I require this information so that I can gauge whether I am able to help you and to provide the context for our psychotherapeutic work.

On-going Appointments Over time, I will ask about the issues which are affecting you now, you past life events and experiences in order to inform our psychotherapeutic work. I keep anonymised paper notes as an aide-memoire to help me work with you effectively. I may also invite you to complete standard, therapeutic questionnaires, e.g. including but not restricted to CORE 10, HADS and PHQ-7.

Online sessions I use VSee for online sessions because of it’s secure encryption of data between users online. Access to VSee is password protected and I will hold your email address in the ‘New Contacts’ section for the duration of our work together after which I will delete your details.

Professional website www.mindfulchange.co.uk I use analytics provided by 1-and-1 Internet Limited to collect anonymous data relating to web traffic statistics. The collection and use of this data by 1-and-1 Internet Limited is subject to their own Privacy Policies.

What do I use your information for?

I use information held about you in the following ways:

  • To provide clients with the professional psychotherapeutic services requested from me.
  • To offer appointments.
  • To notify you about changes to your appointments and other changes to my services.
  • To administer my service, including the arrangement of appointments, financial control and the handling of payments.
  • To improve my service to ensure that it is provided in the most effective manner for you and for me.
  • To fulfil my administrative, legal and contractual obligations in line with my professional bodies.

What information do I share?

I will not share any information about you with other organisations or people, except in the following situations:

Consent I may share your information with professional carers or others whom you have requested or agreed I should contact.

Serious harm I may share your information with the relevant authorities if I have reason to believe that this may prevent serious harm being caused to you or to another person.

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

Professional Executor If I am incapacitated and/or unable to contact you, I have appointed a psychotherapist who, only under these circumstances would contact you to discuss your needs and what course of action you may want to take.

How do I keep your information safe?

All information you provide to me is stored as securely as possible. All paper forms and correspondence are kept in locked filing cabinet in my home. All electronic records are stored on my own electronic devices, all access to which requires password-protected authentication, or by reputable service providers using secure internet cloud technology.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure. Although I will do my best to protect your information using industry-standard protocols and encryption, I cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to me via email; any transmission is at your own risk. Once I have received your information, I will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Your identifiable personal information is kept separately from any session notes and other descriptive material. Client notes and other documentation are destroyed 7 years after the end of counselling, which is a requirement of my professional insurance company.

Notwithstanding the above, all client records will be destroyed securely, by me (or in circumstances where I am unable to do this personally, by my Professional Executor) within three years of my ceasing to practice.

Access to you information and correction

You have the right to ask me to provide a copy of the information held by me in my records. You also have the right to require me to correct any inaccuracies in your information. If you would like to do this, please contact me via the email below.

You may withdraw your consent for me to hold and process your data at any time. However, if you do this while actively receiving psychotherapeutic services from me, these services would have to end. You can withdraw your consent by contacting me via the email below.

Changes to my privacy policy

I may edit this policy from time to time. If I make any substantial changes I will notify you by posting a prominent announcement on my website.

How to contact me

Please contact me if you have any questions about your privacy policy or information I hold about you: Wendy Nightingale
wendy@mindfulchange.co.uk
mb 07811 073 255

Last updated May 2018