Your privacy is very important to me and you can be confident that, in accordance with current data protection legislation,* your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose for which it was given to me. 

I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (ICO registered number ZA586181).

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.
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 agreement.
If you have had therapy with me and it has ended, I will use ‘legitimate interest’ as my lawful basis for holding your personal information.
The GDPR also requires 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, an agreement between me and you).

How I use your information
When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services, I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include your contact details, information about your reasons for seeking therapy, and what you hope to gain from the process. If you decide not to proceed, I will not retain any of your personal information.
If you do decide to proceed, while your counselling is in process, I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling service run smoothly. In order to support you in a safe and ethical way, I may seek further details, for example, about any relevant contact with other health services.  These details are kept securely and are not shared with any third party. I keep brief factual notes related to each session; these are anonymised and kept securely. You may request to see a copy of session notes at any time.

Once counselling has ended, your records will be kept for one year from the end of our contact with each other, and will then be securely destroyed. If you wish me to delete your information sooner than this, please let me know.

You can read more about your rights regarding the use of your personal information at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.