GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the most significant piece of privacy and data protection in twenty years. It takes effect on 25th May 2018 and from that date we are required to ensure that we gain a new data protection and privacy consent from all clients. In it (amongst other things) we confirm what information we hold about you and how we are permitted to use it.
As your counsellor I collect and hold sensitive data about you. In order to ensure full compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) I would like to clarify the following;
I am a registered Data Controller and Data Processor with the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office I am fully compliant with ICO policy for data processing and storage and the procedures in this document comply with current GDPR (General Data Privacy Regulations).
The information collected via the ‘Booking form’ is necessary information for our working relationship. This data is stored securely and only accessible to me as your counsellor.
I maintain and store brief notes relating to your sessions which are also stored securely and only accessible to me unless required by a court of law or to assist the BACP in resolving a complaint or safeguarding concern.
At any point you are within your rights to have full access to this data, if requested these will be provided to you within 30 days in electronic format. If at any point you believe that information I hold about you is inaccurate please contact me as soon as possible and I will correct whatever is required.
I will never share your data with any external agencies for any purpose or pass on your personal information without your permission.
If you have made contact for counselling and decide not to proceed, any forms completed, or
notes will be deleted together with all contact details and electronic communications we have
shared.
All electronic session notes and personal data will be deleted after a period of 7 years following the date of completion of any period of counselling.
You have the right to ask me to erase any information that I hold about you. This includes your personal information that is no longer relevant to original purposes, or if you wish to withdraw consent. In all cases and when considering such requests, these rights are obligatory unless it is information that I have a legal obligation to retain.
By signing the counselling contract indicates that you are agreeing to the contents stated above and are giving your consent for me to maintain these records under the conditions described above
