Your personal information and the content of your therapy sessions are confidential in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the National Counselling Society (NCS: https://www.nationalcounsellingsociety.org/about-us/). I am an Accredited Registrant Member of NCS.
I will not share any information about you with other organisations or people, except in the following situations:
1. If you threaten harm to yourself or to another person
2. If I believe a child or protected adult is at risk of harm or abuse
3. If the courts instruct me to give information
4. If you share information about a proposed act of terrorism or other illegal act
If I feel either that you or someone else is in danger or at risk of harm, I would first wish to discuss my decision to break confidentiality with you. I retain the right to break confidentiality without prior consultation with you, if I consider that the urgency of the situation requires me to act immediately to safeguard either you or others.
In certain cases, you might ask me to share information concerning you. In these cases I need written permission from you before I can carry out your request.
All areas of my work are supervised in accordance with the NCS (National Counselling Society). My supervisor is similarly bound by the Code of Ethics of The National Counselling Society.
If you contact me via this website, I will use the information you provide (email or telephone number) to contact you but I do not store your contact details electronically.
On starting therapy, I will collect some basic personal information about you for contact and identification purposes. During our counselling/therapy sessions, I sometimes take notes and I always keep a brief note of our sessions afterwards. These will include personal and sensitive details about your life. The initial assessment session and subsequent session notes are used solely for the purpose of delivering a therapy service to you.
You have rights relating to the information I hold to verify the accuracy or to ask for this information to be supplemented, deleted, updated or corrected. You have the right to request a copy of the information that I hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please email or write to me via the contact details stated on your Therapy Agreement. Information will be provided to you within 30 days.
I want to make sure that your information is accurate and up to date. You may ask me to correct or remove information that you think is inaccurate. You have the right to request the transfer of your data to another individual or company.
Your information is kept only for the time necessary to provide the therapy service requested and is then shredded confidentially.
All the information you provide is stored as securely as possible. All paper forms and correspondence are kept in locked cabinets. I don’t store any of your information electronically. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure. Although I will do my best to protect this information using industry-standard protocols, I cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to me via email, including forms completed on my website which are transmitted by email; any transmission is at your own risk.
This website is hosted by WebHealer who forward any enquiries via email and then delete your contact form information once they are confident it has been successfully delivered to me. No cookies are captured by the contact form, only your name, email address and IP address. Once your information is received, I will use strict procedures to prevent unauthorised access.
Your identifiable personal information is kept separately from any session notes.
The lawful basis for my holding and using your information is in relation to the delivery of a contract to you as a healthcare professional. As a member of the National Counselling Society, I operate under a strict code of confidentiality.