As a counsellor I’m required to hold some personal information about you, so that I'm able to carry out the therapeutic process in a safe way. I will only collect information that has a legitimate purpose. I adhere to data protection legislation and will outline my privacy policy below:

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When you get in contact with me, I collect and process your name, email address and telephone number. This information is provided directly by you. I use this information to facilitate communication between us.

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If we start working together, I process your given name(s), surname, address, telephone number, email address, date of birth, and GP details. This information is provided directly by you unless you have given consent to another professional to make a referral to me. I use this information for your safety while working together and to provide appropriate counselling support.

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The few times I need to break confidentiality is if I’m required to by law, if I feel someone is at risk, or if I need to share your details with another practitioner for referral purposes. Your safety is my priority, if I feel during our sessions this is at risk, I may have to contact your GP. Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases I rely on for processing this information are your consent to do so, which you are able to remove your consent at any time by contacting me on shumi.counselling@gmail.com. We also have a contractual obligation to prioritise your safety whilst in therapy and I have a legitimate interest as a counselling professional to process this data.

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All your identifiable information is kept password protected on my phone and laptop which only I have access to. All notes that I keep about our sessions are anonymised and will not contain any identifiable information about you.

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I will retain this information for as long as we are working together. After therapy has finished, I will retain these documents for a further five years which is also a requirement of my indemnity insurance, and in case you decide to return to therapy with me. After this period the documents containing your personal information, along with all of our communications, will be will be permanently deleted from my devices.

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Your data protection rights:

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Your right of access - You have the right to ask me for copies of your personal information.

 

Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask me to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask me to complete information you think is incomplete.

 

Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask me to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

 

Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask me to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

 

Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

 

Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

 

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, I will respond to you in one month.

 

Please contact me at shumi.counselling@gmail.com if you wish to make a request.