Confidentiality

Therapy is a private and confidential form of help. I hold information about each of my clients and the therapy they receive in the strictest confidence. These records are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation [May, 2018.] Some anonymised information may be discussed in clinical supervision. Confidentiality will be broken if I have concerns that my client or anyone else is at risk. If this happens, it will be discussed with my client and recommendations will be made, unless I think that doing so could increase the level of risk. There may be times where a client’s information needs to be shared with 3rd parties. I will explicitly ask my client’s consent before doing so, and the data will be sent to 3rd parties securely. As a fully accredited member of the HCPC and BPS, I adhere to their ethical framework and guidelines to ensure that my clients receive a professional and quality service.

Information I collect about my clients and how it is used

Upon initial contact, I will collect some basic personal information for contact and identification reasons. Further to this, I will collect information about my client’s psychological health during the initial assessment. Following this, brief notes will be taken during/after therapy sessions to summarise the content of sessions. These notes will include personal and sensitive details about my client’s life. The assessment and session notes are used solely for the delivery of the therapy service. Additional notes included in my client’s file will be supervision notes, correspondence received/sent to my client, and our therapeutic contract and information form. To ensure confidentiality and security, electronic records will be kept on a password protected personal computer within a password protected file. All personal information is held securely to ensure confidentially in line with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) legislation and the Information Commissioning Office (ICO).

Your rights

My clients have rights relating to the information I hold about them to verify their accuracy or to ask for them to be supplemented, deleted, updated or corrected. My clients have the right to request a copy of the information that I hold about them. My clients have the right to request the transfer of their data to another individual or company. If at any time my client wishes to exercise their right under the Act, a request can be put to me in writing, and I will respond to this within 30 days.

Data retention

My clients’ information is kept for the time necessary to provide the therapy service requested, however outside of this I will hold their details and session notes for a period of 7 years following the end of treatment to comply with legal obligations that are placed upon me by my insurers. In the case of a child under 13 then records will be kept 7 years after they reach the age of 18. After this date, all data will be securely deleted.

Lawful basis for processing your information

The lawful basis for my holding and using my client’s information is in relation to the delivery of a contract to my client as a Health Care Professional. As an accredited Psychologist and member of the HCPC, I operate under a strict code of confidentiality.

Communication

If you wish to correspond with me via email, it is important to note that I cannot guarantee the security of information held outside of my email provider’s server. If you are concerned about sharing sensitive information via email, please ensure you encrypt it in an email attachment. If you proceed to email me after reading this, I will take this as confirmation that you have considered the risks and consent to share information by email. Alternatively, please do feel free to contact me by phone.