Privacy Policy

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.

Watermill Counselling is committed to complying with the terms of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and to the responsible and secure use of your data. Watermill Counselling has a legitimate interest in processing personal data to provide counselling services.

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.

The purpose of this statement is to let you know what personal information Watermill Counselling collects and holds from initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended, why we collect this data, how long it is stored for and your rights over your personal data.

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy, and you can contact me via email on contact@watermillcounselling.co.uk.

Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/ organisation that collects and 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 [Registration number ZB582137].

1. Information about you

1.1 We collect personal information from you when you enquire about our counselling services or to set up an initial appointment. This information includes contact details, your availability and other relevant personal information. Once a client finishes Counselling, all data regarding their Counselling is stored securely for 7 years and then destroyed.

1.2 When you enquire about Counselling, we ask for contact details and relevant personal information from you that is needed to answer your enquiries and to keep you informed.

2. Our use of this information

2.1 Your data will be used only to provide you with our services and to give you information relating to our services.

We will not share your details with any other person or organisation without your knowledge and permission unless there is a legal requirement as stated in the counselling contract or (exceptions you may have).

A breach of confidentiality is when a person shares information with another in circumstances where it is reasonable to expect that the information will be kept confidential.

3. Security

3.1 We will take all reasonable precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of information you give us.

3.2 Communications in connection with this service will be sent by email. For ease of use and compatibility, communications will not be sent in an encrypted form unless you require it and give us permission to communicate with you in that way. Email, unless encrypted, is not a fully secure means of communication. Whilst we endeavour to keep our systems and communications protected against viruses and other harmful effects, we cannot bear responsibility for all communications being virus-free.

4. Your rights over your personal data

4.1 If you would like to see the information we hold about you, or would like to correct, update or delete any records, please email us at contact@watermillcounselling.co.uk.

If you have any concerns about our use of your data, please contact us directly at contact@watermillcounselling.co.uk. We will do our utmost to resolve any concerns you have. If for any reason we cannot resolve the issues you may choose to contact the ICO directly.

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

How I use your information

Initial contact:

When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services, I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name, telephone number and email address. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a parent 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 60 days. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.

While you are accessing counselling:

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken under certain circumstances (outlined within your counselling contract). I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.

I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely on my PC and are not shared with any third party. I will keep written notes of each session, these are kept electronically and on paper. Any email correspondence will be deleted after 7 days if it is not important.

After counselling has ended:

Once counselling has ended, your records will be kept for 7 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.

Your rights

I try to be as open as possible 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.

If I do hold information about you I will:

• 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.

You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you. To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to contact@watermillcounselling.co.uk.

If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by writing or emailing to the contact details given above. I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures. If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information you can contact the 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

Data Security

I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to make sure it is kept secure by using password protected devices and a locked filing cabinet for paper notes.