Privacy Policy

The GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.  Lawful bases I rely on to process your information are: your consent, legitimate interest, contract. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which I am processing your data:

If you have had therapy and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as our lawful basis for holding and using your personal information; 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.

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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/psychotherapy) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).

Initial contact

When you contact me with an enquiry about counselling/psychotherapy/consulting services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include name, telephone number, email. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral 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 14 days. If you would like us to delete this information sooner, just let me know.

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While you are accessing services 

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if I am obliged by law or if you or someone else is in danger or at risk of serious harm. I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding or other legal issues that prevent this.

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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, unless with your explicit consent, for example contacting your GP or other healthcare professional.

For security reasons I do not retain text messages for more than 12 months. If there is relevant information contained in a text message I will make a note of this in my written notes. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after 12 months if it is not important. If necessary I will keep these in a secure digital folder that is password protected.

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After service provision has ended

Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for three years from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed. If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.

I sometimes share personal data with third parties, for example, where I have contracted with a supplier to carry out specific tasks. In such cases I have carefully selected which partners I work with. I take great care to ensure that I have a contract with the third party that states what they are allowed to do with the data I share with them. I ensure that they do not use your information in any way other than the task for which they have been contracted.

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IT Services:

Wix.com, Inc. (Web services)

Apple Inc.  (Phone, email, cloud services)

Google  (Web services, email hosting)

Zoom (Video conferencing service)

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Professional Services:

HMRC

Information Commissioner's Office

BACP

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.

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If I do hold information about you I will:

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• give you a description of it and where it came from;

• tell you why I am holding it, tell you how long I will store your data and how I made this decision;

• tell you who it could be disclosed to;

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

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You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you.

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To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to james@jamesquirkcounselling.co.uk 

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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.

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If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (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.

You can also get more information on professional and ethical practice for counselling and psychotherapy professions at British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP): 

bacp.co.uk/about-therapy/get-help-with-counselling-concerns-service/

I take the security of the data we hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to make sure it is kept secure. I use encrypted devices/software, password protection and trusted third party providers. Physical security measures protecting your data include locked cabinets behind two further locked doors. Personal information and sensitive personal information is anonymised where possible. Anti-virus software is used and regular software security updates are made.

When someone visits my website, I use a third party service, wix.com, Inc. 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.com, Inc. 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.

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I use Google web analytics so that I can continually improve my service to you, you can read Google privacy notice here policies.google.com/privacy.

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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. I would advise that you do not put any personal sensitive information on the web form or in email when contacting me.