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GDPR AND DATA PROTECTION PRIVACY POLICY

 

In order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), effective from 25th May 2018, your permission is needed for me to record and retain personal contact details, and also other personal information such as notes I keep as a record of our sessions together. 

 

 

The information I keep is as follows:

 

• The basic details I ask for at the start of our work in my ‘Initial Client Contact form.’

 

• Notes of our sessions to help my personal understanding of your situation.

 

How I keep your information safe:

 

• Personal contact details are held on password protected sites on my laptop and mobile phone, to which no other person has access.

 

• Session notes are kept in a locked filing cabinet in a locked cupboard within my locked counselling room, in which no other person has access. Notes will be kept for seven years for insurance purposes. After that they will be destroyed fully. I keep these notes exclusively for my own use to support our work together and they are held in paper form in a locked filing cabinet as noted above.

 

What happens after our work together finishes:

 

• When our work together ends, I will destroy all but the following details: Your name, when we met, and any concerns I had along the way, which I keep for seven years for insurance purposes. 

 

Confidentiality and its limits:

 

• In extreme circumstances, as detailed under ‘Confidentiality and its limits’ in our contract agreement (e.g. Substantial danger to self/others), it may be necessary for me to share the details I have with the appropriate authorities. Where the law allows, I will always consult you first.

Your data your rights:

 

• Under Data Protection law, you have the right to:

 

• access a copy and explanation of your personal data 

• request correction or erasure, in certain circumstances 

• request limiting or ceasing data processing, where applicable 

• compensation for substantial damage or distress caused by data processing, where applicable.

 

If you would like to know any more about any aspect of data storage and protection please do ask me and I will be happy to answer any questions you have.