PRIVACY & COOKIES POLICY
Privacy Policy
As a counsellor and psychotherapist, I may collect and store a range of information provided by you, either verbally, both in and out of session, and/or electronically, such as: texts, emails, WhatsApp, Facebook messenger (this list is not exhaustive). This information may be stored on email servers, notes on paper, or the specific platform on which we have had contact. I ensure all information is stored securely and in a manner compliant with data protection policy.
Whilst I may delete all data at the end of our work together, or at the end of our discussions if for whatever reason we do not work together, I may also hold onto all data for 8 years. The reason for potentially keeping data for this length of time is for purposes of insurance requirements, court proceedings if complaints are made and tax audits. As a therapist, I do hold a lawful basis for collecting data and sharing data without consent where there is a legal or ethical reason to. This includes: cases such as risk to self, risk to others, certain criminal activities or as evidence for complaints and court proceedings should the need ever arise.
Outside of these specific situations, sharing of data is rare and not done without consent. I may share certain details with other professionals if you request this, however, usually I would share data with clients, for them to then share with whom they desire; unless in an agreement made with a client for a specific purpose.
As a psychotherapist, I do attend supervision regularly with highly qualified and experienced therapists. Information you give may be shared with supervisors at will. Supervisors are bound by the same rules of confidentiality.
Under Uk data protection law, I must have a lawful reason to process your personal data.
For most of my work, the lawful basis is:
- Performance of a contract- I need to process your information to provide counselling and psychotherapy; and
- Legitimate interests- I may keep appropriate records of our work for professional and legal reasons.
Because some of the information I collect in sensitive (“special category” data, such as health or emotional wellbeing), an additional condition applies:
- Provision of health and social care- under Article 9 (2)(h) of the UK GDPR and schedule 1, part 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
Cookies Policy
Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. We use the following cookies:
- Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
- Analytical or performance cookies. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
- Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
- Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests.
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
Cookie Title and Name | Purpose |
|---|---|
_lscache_vary | This cookie is used to optimise the serving of cached pages to users based on their custom preferences or browsing behavior. It helps enhance website performance and load times. |
PHPSESSID | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie stores and identifies a user’s unique session ID to manage user sessions on the website. The cookie is a session cookie and will be deleted when all the browser windows are closed. |
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our website.