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 initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended, including:
- Why I am able to process your information and what purpose I am processing it for
- Whether you have to provide it to me
- How long I store it for
- Whether there are other recipients of your personal information
- Whether I intend to transfer it to another country
- Whether I do automated decision-making or profiling
- Your data protection rights
I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy, and you can contact me via the Contact form on my website www.stonespsychotherapy.co.uk.
‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects, 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 [Insert registration number].
My postal address is: 35 Bedford Street, Hitchin, SG5 2JG
My phone number is: 07779 162937
My email address is: adrian@stonespsychotherapy.co.uk
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. I have explained these below:
If you have had therapy with me and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as my 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.
The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information you may disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing this is that it is for the provision of health treatment (in this case psychotherapy) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (between me and you).
How I Use Your Information
Initial Contact
When you contact me with an enquiry about my psychotherapy services, I will collect information to help satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name, email address, and telephone number. Alternatively, your GP or another health professional may send me your details when making a referral, or a parent or trusted individual may provide your details when enquiring 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 Psychotherapy
Everything you discuss with me is confidential. Confidentiality will only be broken if you are a risk to yourself or someone else, there are national security concerns, or for the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless safeguarding issues prevent it.
I will keep a record of your personal details to help the psychotherapy services run smoothly. These details are kept securely electronically and are not shared with any third party.
I will keep written notes of each session; these are kept electronically and securely.
For security reasons, I do not retain text messages for more than one month. If there is relevant information in a text message, I will keep it in your notes. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after three months if it is not important. If necessary, I will keep information from emails in your notes.
After Psychotherapy Has Ended
Once psychotherapy has ended, your records will be kept for one year from the end of our contact and then securely destroyed. If you want me to delete your information sooner, please tell me.
Third Party Recipients of Personal Data
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 carefully select partners and ensure contracts specify what they are allowed to do with the data. They are not permitted to use your information beyond the contracted task.
- Design Wellness (website company)
- Your insurance company if you are using your health insurance
Your Rights
I aim to be as open as possible in giving people access to their personal information. You have the right to ask me to delete your personal information, limit how I use it, or stop processing it. You also have the right to request a copy of the information I hold about you and to object to its use in some circumstances. Learn more at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.
If I hold information about you, I will:
- Describe it and explain where it came from
- Tell you why I am holding it, how long I will store it, and how I made this decision
- Tell you who it could be disclosed to
- Provide you with a copy in an intelligible form
You can ask me at any time to correct mistakes in the personal information I hold. To request this, please put your request in writing to adrian@stonespsychotherapy.co.uk.
If you have any complaints about how I handle your data, please get in touch using the contact details above. I welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures.
If you want to make a formal complaint, you can contact the ICO, which oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information, visit ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
Data Security
I take the security of your data very seriously and make every effort to keep it secure. I use encrypted devices with two-factor authentication.
Visitors to My Website
When someone visits my website, I use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. This helps me understand things like the number of visitors to various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. Neither I nor Design Wellness Ltd attempt to identify visitors.
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 Google Analytics to continually improve my service. You can read Google Analytics’ privacy notice here: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.
Like most websites, we use cookies to help the site work more efficiently — find out more about our use of cookies: https://www.cookieyes.com/privacy-policy/.
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.
