I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s office and I am required to share the following information:

As your counsellor I will store any personal information given to me digitally, securely within a password protected device in accordance to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Paper copies will be kept and stored securely within these regulations.

Email correspondence will be through a secure mail server to prevent your mails being intercepted and read by a third party.

Once your counselling has begun, this information will include your name, address, date of birth, Gp details, email address, and any session notes taken.

You have the right to see any information held about you, and the right to request information to be deleted that is held about you. 

This information provided will be shared only with the GP if you have given me consent to do so during the contracting stage. This is a standard letter informing your GP that you are attending counselling. In the event of an emergency, the basic information may be shared with the relevant services where necessary, only if I am concerned for your immediate safety.  I would always discuss this with you first, where possible. Other than this your personal data is confidential at all times and not shared with any other organisation.

Once our sessions have come to an end, any personal details will be deleted digitally and anonymised session notes or contracts stored securely for 5 years.

It is important to maintain security whilst working online, therefore please look into installing antivirus software that will protect you against viruses, depending on what device you are using.

If you are using a shared device, then it is important that you also password protect this to ensure added security for any information that you are storing.

Please also consider that you have a private and safe space to be able to attend your sessions, so that you are not disturbed or interrupted. This can be discussed during our initial session.

I do not keep client notes, other than a formal client record that contains session dates, number of sessions and brief session topics and themes.