Privacy Policy

Introduction

As your treating clinician and therefore custodian of personal information relating to your mental health, I must only use that information in accordance with all applicable law and guidance. This privacy notice provides you with a detailed overview of how I will manage your data from the point at which it is gathered and onwards. I will use you personal information for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, providing you with care and treatment, sharing it with other professionals if necessary.

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.

Data Gathered

• Name
• Gender (or preferred identity)
• Age
• Date of Birth
• Relationships & Progeny
• Occupation
• Address
• Telephone/SMS number (plus permission to send SMS & leave voice message)
• Email address
• Counselling History
• Medical conditions relevant to counselling
• Prescribed medication
• Difficulties

Storage of Data

I will use the following methods to store your information:

• Paper: written notes (described below).
• Smartphone: I will store your contact information on my phone that is backed up on iCloud. This allows me to contact you in case of emergencies. I might also during the process of therapy take photos of work that we have done (on a white board for instance) and this will be stored on my phone.
• Email: I will use email from my laptop only to a address you have provided. If any emails contain sensitive information, the email will be encrypted using the Egress encryption service.
• SMS/WhatsApp: Your telephone number may be stored in my SMS or WhatsApp app should we exchange messages this way. Electronic correspondence will also be held by the corresponding app (SMS, WhatsApp).
• Website: none of your personal information is stored on my website, other than to momentarily collect & send to my Mail account for the purposes of our initial contact. If you complete any of the surveys on my website, the information is not stored or shared with me.

Documents

I will hold the following documents:

Paper

• Contact Sheet including Next of Kin and GP details.
• Contract/Agreement
• Assessment Records
• Brief Session Notes
• GDPR Agreement

Electronic

• Contact name, telephone, email address
• DOB
• Diary of appointments
• Email/SMS/WhatsApp
• Photos of session work that is done on whiteboards/paper
• Session notes

The electronic information is kept on a laptop that is password protected and the information is stored, where possible, or a sparse drive that is not visible on the laptop and encrypted. The laptop is never left in public and always locked away when not in my personal use.

Any of these electronic records can also be printed and stored in paper format for the purposes of managing the practice.

Process/Share Personal Information

Supervision Requirements

According to my professional guidance, my work is supervised by other therapists qualified in this process. This consultation process is good ethical practice ensuring that my clients are protected (rather than seeking instruction on working with you). In order to protect your privacy, my supervisors will not know you personally nor professionally. I will refer to you by your first name, and I may refer to you information verbally when it's helpful to my professional processes. Your full identity is never disclosed. This is in line with BACP/BPS/BABCP and National Counselling Society regulations.

Emergencies

If your health is in jeopardy (provided I have your consent) I may share your contact information and mental health issues with an emergency healthcare service (e.g. Mental Health Crisis Team/GP).

If I have become aware of your intent to cause harm to another person/organisation or yourself (e.g. terrorism), the law may require that I inform an authority without seeking your permission. In such a situation, the law may require that I share your personal information without your knowledge (known as: whistle-blowing).

Information Retention

When we have finished working together, I will retain your records for at least seven years past the end of our working together. This is so that I have a reference of our work in situations such as you returning to counselling in the future or for any other legal purposes. After this time has passed, I may dispose of your information.

Your Rights

You have the following rights:

• To be informed what information I hold (i.e. this document).
• To see the information I hold about you (free of charge for the initial request)
• If I cannot comply to your request to exercise your rights, I will tell you why
• If you make a large number of requests, or it is not reasonable to comply, I may make a charge
• To rectify any inaccurate or incomplete personal information
• To withdraw consent to me using your personal information
• To request your personal information be erased (though I can decline whilst the information is needed for me to practice lawfully & competently)
• The right not to be subject to automatic decision making (where a decision about you is made by a computer alone)
• To request your notes be transferred to another professional
• The right to complain to the Information Commissioner if you feel that I have dealt with your information inappropriately https://ico.org.uk

I may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to ensure it remains accurate and the most up to date version will be available from my website www.taniablom.co.uk.

This notice was written on the 22 May 2018