Privacy policy

PRIVACY NOTICE

 

1. 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 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
2. 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
• Your data rights
3. 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 Lucy Meade
4. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office
5. Lucy Meade North Birmingham Counselling Service (NBCS) 42A High Street, Sutton Coldfield, B72 1UJ email [email protected]
6. The GDPR states that there must be a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which you data is being processed which are explained below
7. If you have therapy with one of the counsellors at NBCS and it has now ended, the counsellor will use legitimate interest as a lawful basis for holding and using your personal information.
8. If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with one of the counsellors at NBCS to consider therapy, your personal data will be processed where it is necessary for the performance of contact.
9. The GDPR makes sure that the individual will look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to the counsellors, appropriately. This type of information is called special category information. The lawful basis for processing any special categories of personal information is that it is on the provision of health treatment (in this case counselling) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case a contract between yourself and a counsellor at NBCS)
10. When you contact a counsellor at NBCS with an enquiry for counselling services, your information will be collected to satisfy the enquiry. This will include
• Name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Age and DOB
• Other information about health that may be relevant.
11. While accessing counselling, everything you discuss will be confidential as per the agreement made between counsellor and client, with the exception of lawful exclusions.
12. Your details will be retained by NBCS and the individual counsellor to ensure the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely and not shared with any third party.
13. Text messages will be retained for the duration of the work together. Emails will be retained for no longer than three years after which they will be destroyed securely.
14. We also use Zoom for online counselling sessions. These conference calls are end-to-end encrypted by Zoom and are not recorded.
15. We use email to contact clients at times also. These emails are deleted after three years of our last contact via this medium.
16. If you are contacted or use our services using a cellular or WiFi call, these are also not recorded in anyway or stored. Your number may be stored to help improve the quality or speed of our service, but always in a safe and confidential way.
17. We also use Whatsapp messaging and calls to communicate with clients and also provide our counselling services. These communications are end-to-end encrypted. Video and voice calls on the Whatsapp platform are not recorded, the call logs and messages will be retained until up to three years after our last contact using this platform.
18. Paper copies
Brief notes are retained by our counsellors and are anonymous as well as your initial assessment forms. These are stored in locked cabinets.

19. Once counselling has ended your records will be retained for three years from the date of the end of the contract and then destroyed securely.
20. Information regarding your rights can be found on ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.