Any personal data provided by you to Emma Nelson Psychotherapy through any means (verbal, written, in electronic form) will be held and processed in accordance with the data protection principles set out in the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation for the purposes for which you have given consent, to provide the service you have requested from me.
Introduction
Emma Nelson Psychotherapy, the ‘data controller’, referred to below as “Emma Nelson”, is committed to protecting your privacy.
This statement only applies to data collected by Emma Nelson. When you request psychotherapy with Emma Nelson and provide your personal details to me, you will be asked to consent to my processing of your data under the terms of this statement.
What information do I collect?
- Initial Inquiries– Inquiring with me to request access to my psychotherapy service can be done online, on paper or in person. This process can involve providing me with your name, address, telephone numbers and email address. Information on your availability, therapeutic issues, and other details may also be part of this request.
- Initial Assessment Meetings– At an initial meeting I may ask about your current personal, social, medical and financial circumstances. I may also ask about your background and family history, as well as the issues which are affecting you now. I require this information so that we can decide about my offer of psychotherapy to you and managing the service I provide you.
- On Going Sessions– During our work together, I will ask about the issues which are affecting you now, your past life events and experiences in order to inform our psychotherapeutic work. I make process notes to track the progress of our work together or to receive reflection and guidance from my supervisor.
What do I use your information for?
I use information held about you in the following ways:
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To provide clients with the professional psychotherapeutic services requested from me.
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To offer appointments.
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To notify you about changes to your appointments and other changes to my services.
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To administer my service, including the arrangement of appointments, financial control and the handling of payments.
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To improve my service to ensure that it is provided in the most effective manner for you and for me.
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To fulfil my administrative, legal and contractual obligations in line with my professional bodies.
What information do I share?
I will not share any information about you with other organisations or people, except in the following situations:
- Consent – I may share your information with professional carers or others whom you have requested or agreed I should contact.
- Serious harm – I may share your information with the relevant authorities if I have reason to believe that this may prevent serious harm being caused to you or to another person.
- Compliance with law – I may share your information where I am required to by law or by the regulations and other rules to which I am subject.
- Professional Executor – Should anything happen to me that prevents me from attending a session and from communicating with you directly – such as illness or death – then I have appointed a Therapeutic Executor who would be able to access your contact details to inform you should this situation arise.
How do I keep your information safe?
All information you provide to me is stored as securely as possible. All paper forms and correspondence are kept in locked filing cabinet in my home. All electronic records are stored on my own electronic devices, all access to which requires password-protected authentication.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure. Although I will do my best to protect your information using industry-standard protocols and encryption, I cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to me via email; any transmission is at your own risk. Once I have received your information, I will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.
Your identifiable personal information is kept separately from any session notes and other descriptive material. Client notes and other documentation are destroyed 6 years after the end of counselling, which is a requirement of my professional insurance company.
Your rights
You have the right to ask me to provide a copy of the information held by me in my records. You also have the right to require me to correct any inaccuracies in your information. If you would like to do this, please contact me via the email below.
You may withdraw your consent for me to hold and process your data at any time. However, if you do this while actively receiving psychotherapeutic services from me, these services would have to end. You can withdraw your consent by contacting me via the email below.
Changes to this statement
I may edit this statement from time to time.
Contact me
Please contact me if you have any questions about this privacy statement or information I hold about you:
Emma Nelson
07814 918020
Update September 2019