Privacy Policy

​

Your privacy is very important to me and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose it was given to me.

​

I adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

 

This privacy notice tells you what I will do with your personal information from the initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended, including:

 

• Why I hold your information and how I use it

• How long I store it for

• Whether I share your personal information

• What your data protection rights are

• My data protection security

 

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email. 'Data controller' is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data.

 

In this instance, the data controller is me. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office Registration number: ZA557244. My phone number is: 07838082491. My email address is: Deborah.Saunders@protonmail.com.

 

My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information

The GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which I am processing your data which I will explain below:

• If you have had therapy with me and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding your personal information for a period of 3 years until at which point they will be safely disposed of by myself.

• If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.

​​

The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is that it is for provision of health treatment (in this case counselling) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you)

​

How I use your information

​

Initial contact.

When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name, contact number and email address. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a parent or trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf. If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within 3 months. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.

 

While you are accessing counselling.

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if anything you share gives me cause to believe that either you or someone else is at risk of harm. I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.

 

I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely and are not shared with any third party. I will keep written notes of each session, these are kept both in written form and electronically on a secure device which is password protected.Only I hold the password. For security reasons I do not retain text messages for more than 3 months. If there is relevant information contained in a text message I will print this and keep it within your written file. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after 3 months if it is not important. If necessary I will keep this in an email folder. My email account is encrypted and password protected.

 

After counselling has ended.

Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for 3 years from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed.

 

Your Rights

I try to be as open as I can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information.

You have a right to ask me to delete your personal information, to limit how I use your personal information, or to stop processing your personal information. You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that I hold about you and to object to the use of your personal data in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.

 

If I do hold information about you I will:

• tell you why I am holding it, tell you how long I will store your data

• tell you who it could be disclosed to

• let you have a copy of the information in an understandable form.

 

To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to Deborah.saunders@protonmail.com.

 

If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by emailing to the contact details given above. I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures. If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information you can contact the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

​

Data Security

I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to make sure it is kept secure and confidential.I do not use your name but numeric code to identify your record. I use encrypted devices (Phone, laptop and table) and store paper records in a locked filing cabinet and electronic records are stored on a secure cloud which only I have the password for.All records are anonymised by a client code.Client names are never used on any records created or kept.

 

Visitors to my website

When someone visits my website, I use a third party service, Wix to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. I do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. I do not make, and do not allow Wix to make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting my website. I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website. I use Wix web analytics so that I can continually improve my service to you. You can read Wix privacy notice here https://support.wix.com/en/about-wix/privacy.

 

When you conduct a transaction on my website, as part of the process, I collect personal information you give such as your name, address and email address. Your personal information will be used for the specific reasons stated only.

 

All direct payment gateways offered by Wix.com and used by Deborah Saunders Therapy adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of credit card information.

 

Like most websites I use cookies to help the site work more efficiently. No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party. If you fill in a form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me.You have.

 

Cookies are used on this website to:

 

• To analyse how you use the site, what pages you visit and how long you stay

• To monitor and analyze the performance, operation and effectiveness of the website

• To ensure our platform is secure and safe to use. 

 

I reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If I make material changes to this policy, I will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information I collect, how I use it, and under what circumstances, if any, I use and/or disclose it. 

 

​