Privacy Policy
Your privacy is very important to me, 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 counselling has ended.
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I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office [No. ZB397851].
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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.
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If you have had counselling 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 counselling or if you are in contact with me to consider it, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.
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The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is that it is for provision of health treatment (in this case counselling) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).
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How I Use Your Information
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Initial contact: When you contact me with an enquiry, I may collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry such as your name; contact details; and a brief description of the reason for counselling. If you do not proceed with counselling, I will delete this information.
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While you are accessing counselling: Everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if I have serious concern for your safety or the safety of others. I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are legal and/or safeguarding issues that prevent this.
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I will keep a record of your personal details. These details are kept password protected on my computer or stored in a locked filing cabinet. Your details are not shared with any third party unless my Clinical Will is actioned. A Clinical Will is a plan for if I were to be unexpectedly incapacitated. In this situation, a trusted colleague would access your information to contact you on my behalf. They would then process your information appropriately, in line with this privacy notice.
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I will keep brief written notes of each session, these are kept securely on my computer or locked in a filing cabinet.
For security reasons I do not retain text messages or emails. If there is relevant information contained in a message, I will transfer this to your session notes.
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It is a requirement that I attend regular supervision to discuss my client work, this is kept anonymous and I will not share identifying details about you.
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After counselling has ended: Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for 7 years from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed.
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Third Party Recipients of Personal Data
If agencies such as the police request your information, we will discuss this together and agree how to proceed in your best interests. The only situation in which I am required to share your information is if ordered by a court whiteness summons or subpoena.
Your Rights
You have a right to ask me to delete your personal information, to limit how I use your personal information, or to stop processing your personal information.
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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.
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You can ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you.
To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to corinnerichrads@protonmail.com
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If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data please do get in touch with me as I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures. If you want to make a formal complaint you can contact the ICO, for more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
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Data Security
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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. I use password / pin protected devices, a secure email provider, security and antivirus computer software and locked filing cabinets for any paper documents.
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Visitors to My Website
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I use Wix as my website provider. Wix use Google Analytics to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. I do this to find out the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. I do not make, and do not allow Wix or Google to make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting my website. I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website. You can read the Wix privacy notice at www.wix.com
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