Counselling in Southampton, Hampshire
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & TERMS AND CONDITIONS
What is the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 (GDPR) and how does it affect me?
The GDPR replaces the 1998 Data Protection Act to ensure your personal and sensitive, confidential data is kept private and held securely, being processed in the way that you have agreed to. It is there to protect your rights as a consumer of a service or product that might involve your identifiable data, e.g. your name and address or whether you have a specific condition. It also covers any session records, online sessions, text messages or emails we exchange. For more information you can read the detailed document Information Governance Policies and Procedures accessible from me at any counselling session or via email.
How long will you hold my information for?
Records are kept for 7 years. After this time your records will be destroyed by shredding. I will delete electronic copies of your information and correspondence after one month of us ending counselling.
What if I don’t want my records to be held for that long?
Under the GDPR you can make a request in writing to me, for all your records to be deleted. In this case all your paper records would be shredded and any electronic data such as emails or text messages would be permanently deleted from the devices they are stored on. I would have to save the request for deletion you made but would not save any other data. My insurance company may want to verify the information I process.
Why do you need to record this information?
I collect information about: why you are using the service, a small amount of medical information and a small amount of information about your important others, alongside brief session notes and contact details. This information enables me to provide a high quality service to you, ensuring I am equipped with the knowledge of our previous discussions as well as to support me during clinical supervision. Your contact details will only be used with your explicit consent. I may contact your GP if I believe you are at significant risk of harm and I will endeavor to gain your consent first. Please see Consent Form.
What lengths are taken to ensure my information is held securely?
Hardcopy documents – Are all stored in a locked cabinet behind a locked door.
Text messages – My work phone is secured with a pin code & information is not displayed on the home screen.
Emails – My email account requires a username and password.
Email attachments – Any attachments sent by email to you containing your personal information would be password protected and the password would be sent to you separately.
Online working – I use Zoom for online sessions because it is specifically designed to meet the privacy and quality standards required when working with personal and sensitive information such as in counselling. Information about Zoom’s security features can be found here. Zoom’s own privacy policy can be found here.
Is what we discuss kept confidential?
I value your privacy and the trust you place in me. Everything we talk about during our sessions is strictly confidential between you and me. To ensure I am doing my job effectively and that I have the right support, I may discuss elements of our sessions with my clinical supervisor. During these discussions I do not disclose any details that may identify you to my supervisor, and my supervisor also adheres to the GDPR. Exceptions to confidentiality are in extreme cases and detailed further below.
What if I see you outside of the session?
If we see each other outside of a session I may smile but will not engage in any further conversation to ensure your confidentiality. You are welcome to share with other people about the therapy you are receiving, but I am obligated by GDPR law to ensure your confidentiality is protected. I would request that in order to further protect your privacy that you refrain from discussing your counselling with me outside of your sessions.
What about other Health and Social Care Professionals?
As I adhere to the GDPR, any contact relating to you, with other health care professionals, would only be made with your specific signed consent.
Exceptions:
In order to safeguard you and the people around you, if you were to disclose that you were going to carry out significant harm to yourself or someone else, then under my ‘Duty of Care’ I am obligated by law to inform the relevant authorities. This is also part of my commitment to working ethically as a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. I would always aim to discuss this with you prior to contacting anyone.
If I was issued with a police warrant or court order for your information, or if you were to disclose anything in relation to terrorism or drug trafficking, by law I would also have to provide your information to the relevant authorities.
Furthermore, the BACP requires that I hold a Clinical Will. This document outlines what would happen in the event of my incapacity to work or death. If this were to happen my clinical will executor would contact each of my clients to let them know. This trusted professional is bound by the same confidentiality requirements as myself. They would only have access to your contact details and only in the extreme circumstance of my incapacity to work. They would contact you via your preferred method.
What happens to my personal data as a website visitor?
Website Host
20i.com is a third-party service that hosts the Gemma Evans Counselling website. They log the emails sent via the contact form on my website. These server logs are stored unencrypted for 7 days, and then moved to an encrypted backup which is stored indefinitely and only accessible by 20i.
IP Addresses
The Gemma Evans Counselling website may collect information about visitors’ computers, including where available the IP address, operating system and browser type, for statistical purposes. This is statistical data about clients’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.
Cookies
The Gemma Evans Counselling website uses cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. I use cookies for Google Analytics. This sets cookies to help accurately estimate the number of visitors to my website and what content is most popular. This helps to ensure that my website is responding to your needs and mine in the best way possible.
By using and browsing the Gemma Evans Counselling website, you consent to cookies being used in accordance with this Policy. You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies.