Lyn Roberts Counselling

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.  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 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 and you can contact me via email (lynrobertscounselling@gmail.com)

 

‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects, 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 (ZA798996) My telephone number is: 07356 031931.  My email address is: lynrobertscounselling@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 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.

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, including your reason for accessing counselling, alternatively, your GP /other health professional or service provider 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.

 

While you are accessing counselling

Rest assured that everything we discuss in our sessions together is highly confidential, except: For the purpose of supervision and where, in my opinion, there may be danger to you or to others or where information is disclosed eluding to involvement with terrorism, drug trafficking or 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 to help the counselling services run smoothly.  These details are kept securely; electronic devices are password protected and personal information encrypted. Where hard copies are kept these are held securely in a locked filing cabinet and are not shared with any third party.

 

I will keep brief written notes of each session; these are kept in a locked cabinet with no identifiable information attached to the notes.

 

After counselling has ended

At the end of our counselling agreement copies of our exchanges will be stored electronically on a password protected device for a period of 7 years or in the case of a child 7 years after their 18th birthday in accordance with GDPR.Under the General Data Protection Regulations 2018, you have certain rights. These are:

• You are allowed to see your notes. This is facilitated by making a formal request.

• Records are kept for 7 years after termination of therapy and then destroyed.

• Having your records amended (change of name and address)

• In the case of clients under 18, records are kept for 7 years after the child turns 18.

After this time the information will be deleted, and any paper documents will be shredded.                       

Erasure of Data (exclusions)

Under GDPR you can request your data be erased. However, there are exceptions to this. In the case of counselling records, insurance companies and ethical bodies ask for records to be available for the period of time as outlined above.

​

Third party recipients of personal data

In order to provide safe and effective counselling, I may sometimes need to share your personal information with trusted third parties.  This can include professional supervision, service providers who support my practice (such as IT or appointment systems), or other professionals if required by law.

Where I do this, I take care to protect your privacy.  I only share what is necessary, and I choose people or organisations who are also bound by confidential or professional obligations to keep you information safe and use it only for the agreed purpose.

 

Your rights

I try to be as open as I can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information.  You have the 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 may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to lynrobertscounselling@gmail.com

 

Data protection complaints process                                  in accordance with UK data protection laws, I will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 30 days of receipt.  Investigate the matter thoroughly and respond to you without undue delay.  Provide you with a clear outcome and explain any actions taken.  Please note that under current UK regulations, you are required to attempt to resolve any data protection grievances directly with me first.  If we are unable to resolve the issue together, you retain the right to escalate your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk. If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me via the email address above.  I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures.

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. Electronic devices are password protected. Where hard copies are kept these are held securely in a locked filing cabinet.