At Webb Counselling we take your right to privacy and confidentiality very seriously. We will endeavour that your personal information will be kept safe, secure and used only for the purpose it was shared. Webb Counselling adheres to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
This privacy notice informs you what Webb Counselling will do with your personal information from initial point of contact to beyond your therapeutic involvement with us. Please take time to read this and ensure you are happy with the contents as it forms part of your working agreement with Webb Counselling.
Webb Counselling's lawful basis for holding and using your personal information;
The GDPR states that Webb Counselling must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which Webb Counselling is processing your data. If you have had therapy with Webb Counselling and it has now ended, we 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 Webb Counselling to consider therapy, we will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.
The GDPR ensures that we look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to us appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for Webb Counselling processing any special categories of personal information is consent initially. Webb Counselling will then retain any counselling records in case of the need to reference them in the future (the official legal basis is to defend against potential legal claims).
Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send Webb Counselling your details when making a referral. If you decide not to proceed we will ensure all your personal data is deleted immediately. While you are accessing counselling, rest assured that everything you discuss with your therapist is confidential.
How Webb Counselling uses your information
When you contact Webb Counselling with an enquiry about counselling services, we will collect information to help satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name, phone number and email address. If you decide not to proceed Webb Counselling will ensure all your personal data is deleted immediately.
Confidentiality:
We will at all times comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and keep your information confidential unless you have given us your consent to share with specific people. Please bear in mind that we would need to pass on information in the following circumstances:
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where you, a child or someone else is at risk of harm
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when Webb Counselling is required to share information about you when summoned by court or is witness to an incident
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if you disclose information about certain criminal offences, such as money laundering, drug trafficking or potential acts of terrorism.
Webb Counselling will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. We store and access your personal information securely in order to provide you the service you need. These details are kept securely on a password secured electronic device which only Webb Counselling has access to, additionally your name will be coded so as not to be identifiable.
For security reasons, Webb Counselling does not retain text messages. If there is relevant information contained in a text message we will delete it instantly. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted instantly if it is not important. Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for 5 years, from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed. If you want Webb Counselling to delete your information sooner than this, please communicate this.
Your rights: You have a right to ask Webb Counselling to delete your personal information, to limit how we use your personal information, or to stop processing your personal information. If at any point you wish to access your records you can request this from the service. To make a request for any personal information we may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to webbcounselling@gmail.com.
Where Webb Counselling does hold information about you we will:
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give you a description of it and where it came from
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tell you why we are holding it
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tell you how long we will store your data and how we made this decision
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tell you who it could be disclosed to
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let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form
You can also ask Webb Counselling at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information we hold about you.
If you wish to complain about how we handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to put it in writing and email webbcounselling@gmail.com.
If you want to make a formal complaint about the way we have processed your personal information you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with how we have used your data. My ICO reference is C1678343. The ICO’s address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk