Confidentiality Statement

Everything you bring into our sessions is confidential. I will not share information about you with a third party unless you give your consent and I will not tell anyone that you attend counselling or what you say in our sessions without your permission.

Exceptions to Confidentiality

There are, however a number of situations where I may have to break confidentiality and share information about you and what you bring into our sessions, even if you do not agree. For example:

If there is a serious concern for your or someone else’s safety, especially if a child or vulnerable adult is at risk of serious harm.
If there is a legal obligation relating to your involvement in or knowledge of a serious crime being committed.
If I recieve a court order requesting information about you.

Where I am able to I will always try to gain your consent before confidentiality is broken.

Online counselling

During video calls and telephone sessions, I will be located in a room where you cannot be seen or overheard or seen by anyone else. For your own privacy and safety I recommend you do the same. Our sessions are not recorded.

Video call platforms offer a measure of encryption and security, however it is not possible to guarantee how the companies that provide these services will handle data relating to the calls that are made using their platforms and with some platforms, this could mean your call, your number or email details could be logged on my device. I will not store your name in my digital address book but, with some services, the operating system might recognise your number or and link it to emails or texts we have exchanged.

Supervision

As part of my commitment to the BACP ethical framework, I talk regularly to another experienced counsellor called a supervisor about the work I do. In counselling this is known as supervision and is a form of confidential consultative support. If I discuss our sessions with my supervisor I will not identify you and you will remain anonymised during this process.

Social Media

I use Facebook & Instagram social media feeds but I will not follow you or search for you on any platforms and I will not reply to any comments. When someone visits our Facebook or Instagram feeds we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to our social media feeds. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our Facebook or Instagram social media feeds and we will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source.

Privacy Policy

Your personal information/data

I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO number: ZC135589) and any information that I keep is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 18) and United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). See Information Commissioner’s Office: https://ico.org.uk

To enable us to start working together, I will record your name and preferred contact details (for example, telephone number, email address). I may also ask to take your nominated emergency contact details and your GP contact details. I only use this information for essential administrative tasks and for contacting you and arranging appointments or if there is an emergency. I do not share it with anyone without your consent unless I am legally or ethically required to do so (see confidentiality statement).

During our sessions, you may disclose personal and sensitive information. However, I do not routinely make a record of this. I will make brief notes about our sessions but these are factual. They are kept separately from your contact details and they are anonymised so they do not identify you.

Storing and deleting your information

I will delete your contact details when counselling ends and once all fees are paid. Any other personal data, which I have recorded or is contained in documents given to me by you or third parties during the course of our work will be stored securely on my laptop, which is encrypted and any documents e.g. case notes are password protected. Any hard copy paperbased notes will be kept secure in a locked cabinet. Digital case notes will be deleted and paper based notes will be securely destroyed after 7 years have elapsed.

Your consent and rights

When we start working together I will ask if you consent to me using your personal data as described in this statement. It is your right to see the data I hold about you and to request that it be corrected (if you believe there are inaccuracies) or to have it deleted. If you would like this to happen or have any other questions about privacy or confidentiality, then please contact me and I will attempt to resolve your query as soon as possible.

Website data

My website host (Wix) uses various processes to monitor when and how the site is visited. I do not have access to any of your personal data within these systems and they only show me anonymised numerical information about the site’s usage.

Website Privacy Policy

How we use your information

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when we collect information on our website.

Visitors to this website

When someone visits the website we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source.

Enquiry form submission
When an enquiry form is submitted from this website this asks you to submit your name, email address, subject and a brief note as to the nature of your enquiry. This sends an email to yccma-counselling@outlook.com and the enquiry is then deleted after it has been responded too.

Use of cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. These cookies do not contain any personally identifiable information.