Introduction

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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 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 therapy has ended.

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me at info@redwood-therapy.com ‘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 me. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office [ registration number: ZB617482]. My email address is: info@redwood-therapy.com

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My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information

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I work independently in private practice offering therapy to adults, young people and children.

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. I have explained these below: If you have had therapy 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 therapy or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract. 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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Which personal information I store

 

• Your personal details – name, postal/email address and phone number. I collect these details in order to contact you regarding arranging sessions and to send you information in advance of our sessions for you to read in your own time.

• Details of your General Practitioner –in case I need to contact them because I am concerned for your safety or wellbeing (see therapy agreement).

• Emergency contact – this is a number of someone I may need to contact on your behalf if you become unwell during a session.

• Therapy session notes – In accordance with the requirements of my professional body (the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy - BACP) and my insurance company, I will keep brief notes of our sessions.

• CYP data: when working with children and young people under 18 years of age, I also require additional information such as school, class, details of other statutory services involved in the child/young person’s life, parents name and contact details and other relevant information.

 

How I use your personal information

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When you use this website

 

When someone visits my website, I use Wix to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. I do this to find out things such as 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 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. 
Like most websites we use cookies to help the site work more efficiently these do not identify you as an individual. No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party. If you fill in a form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me.

 

Initial contact

 

When you contact me with an enquiry about my services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. 
This will include your name and the contact details you provide such as email address and phone number. You might also have included details about why you wish to access therapy. I store personal data in email form and on my password protected mobile telephone in the form of emails, text messages, voicemails and call logs 
If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within one month. You may let me know If you would like me to delete this information sooner.

 

In therapy

 

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. I will not disclose information about you to a third party without your agreement, except in situations where there is a significant concern about harm to you or someone else or in the event you disclose information relating

to terrorism, treason, money laundering or drug dealing. I may need to contact the relevant authorities which may include your GP and

the police. This would normally be discussed with you beforehand. Unless the requesting party has a basis in law for demanding disclosure, my duty of confidentiality and your rights as the data subject may outweigh the reason behind the disclosure request.
 
I will keep a record of your personal details to help the sessions run smoothly. These details are kept securely on my computer and are not shared with any third party.
 
I keep brief session notes describing the content of what we discussed and in particular any risk issues or changes in circumstances that you disclose to me. These are stored in a secure file on my computer.

 

I also have an ethical requirement to discuss my therapy work with my

clinical supervisor, but this will not involve revealing your personal information.

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Corresponding during therapy

 

Texts, emails and voicemail messages for the purposes of

communicating with you regarding session appointments will be stored

on a password-protected mobile phone. Your phone number may also be stored on this phone.

 

Paying fees

 

I usually ask clients to pay by BACS. This means your name will appear on my bank statement as it appears on your bank account. If you would like to avoid this, there is the option to pay with cash (in person therapy only).

 

After therapy ended

 

In accordance with the requirements of my insurance company and my

professional body the British Association of Counselling and

Psychotherapy, once therapy has ended your records will be kept for 5 years from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed.

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Who do I share your personal information with

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Marketing

 

I will not share information with, or sell your data to, any third parties for the purposes of direct marketing.

 

Third party data processors

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In providing you with therapy, I use third party service providers (Gmail and Zoom) which are GDPR compliant. Although it is highly unlikely that any data-breaches will occur, I am unable to guarantee the complete absence of any data breaches through the use of these providers. In addition, if you request to use a service provider other than

those listed above, this may be possible, but it will be at your own risk as I may be unable to ensure they are GDPR compliant. Please satisfy yourself that you are happy with Google privacy statement of that service and Zoom’s privacy statement.

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Under some circumstances I am legally obliged to share information (eg a court order). I will always satisfy myself that I have a lawful basis on which to share the information, and document my decision-making.

 

Professional executors

 

In line with standard therapeutic practice and ethical requirements, I share patient names and contact information with two colleagues known as ‘professional executors’ in the event of an emergency. I provide these colleagues with access to a password-protected spreadsheet which contains your name, contact number/email and the date on which you commenced treatment.

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Your rights

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The GDPR gives you certain rights in relation to the data I hold about you. You can exercise these rights by contacting me at info@redwood-therapy.com
 
 Under the GDPR you can:

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• Find out what information I hold about you

• Access a copy of the information I hold about you 

• Rectify any inaccurate or incomplete personal data 

• Have the right to object to my processing of your personal information 

• Ask me to delete or restrict how I use your personal information, but this right is determined by applicable law 

• Have your contact information sent to another provider 

• Have the right to appropriate decision making (I do not use automated profiling or decision making) 

• Complain to a regulator if you think I have not complied with data protection laws. You can lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.

 

Data security

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.

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Review of this policy

I keep this policy under regular review. This policy was last updated in October 2023.