1.) Information about you

In order for me to fulfil my responsibilities as a counsellor I will need to record limited personal information about you. This information may include your name, email address and telephone number. I will only use your contact details to arrange or re-arrange appointments and or to respond to messages from you.

I may also take brief notes of such personal, social and family history that you choose to share with me. This information will be retained in password protected files, on a password protected PC which has virus protection software installed.

This personal information will be held for a period of up to seven years after the cessation of our counselling relationship.

Your contact details alone will be shared in exceptional circumstances with my supervisor or other named agent in the event that I am incapacitated so that they can contact you to explain the situation. The details of this arrangement are set out in my professional will.

2.) Information about counselling sessions and our work together

I may record brief factual notes of each therapy session. The notes are held in a password-protected file in my password protected drop box folder.

These notes will be held for a period of up to seven years after the cessation of our counselling relationship.

I may make information from these notes available to legitimate third parties under the following conditions:

• Receipt of a request from you or your representative, and where the release of the notes is not judged by me as likely to cause you significant harm or harm to another person;
• Where there is a specific legal requirement for me to do so;
• Where there is an ethical duty for me to do so, for example to avoid serious harm to yourself or another person, including the safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults.

3.) Records of contact between us

I will hold your name, email address and telephone number on my mobile phone (and my PC) until our counselling relationship ends and then I will delete them from my contact list. However my phone will retain summary records of calls made to or from your number (date and duration) and any recorded messages for a period of time.

If we communicate by text or by email, these records may be kept for the same duration as your counselling notes. My mobile phone is a smart phone and could therefore also have your texts and email and email address available on it. The phone is password protected and details are stored in ‘the cloud’ so they can be restored if my phone is lost or stolen.

4.) Your rights

You have the right to ask to see any information held by me about you. To do this please either ask me or submit a request in writing. You also have the right to ask for information that you believe to be incorrect to be rectified. I will endeavour to provide you with the information requested within four weeks.

If I become aware of a situation where your personal information may have accidently or maliciously been obtained by a third party I will notify you within three days of this coming to my attention.

If you are concerned about the way that your information is being held please discuss this with me. If you are still unhappy you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioners Office.