In this document, ‘You’ and ‘your’ refers to an adult client seeking counselling, or a young person who has chosen to access counselling with or without parental consent (in accordance with Gillick competencies).
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:
I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email at carlyguppycounselling@gmail.com
‘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 [ZA766415]
My telephone number is 07375 889811. My email address is carlyguppycounselling@gmail.com.
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/your child).
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, gender, date of birth and contact details. 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 30 days. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.
Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if there is imminent risk to the safety of a child or young person, or to others. I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this. I in this way work in accordance with the DfE 2018 guidance Working together to safeguard children, which means that I operate within recommended safeguarding practice, and have a duty to disclose information where I have a serious concern about the welfare or safety of a child or young person. Further details are available in the information booklet I send out as part of informed consent.
I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely, in a PIN protected device and are not shared with any third party.
I will keep electronic written notes of each session. These contain no identifiable details and are kept separate from your personal details.
For security reasons, I do not keep text messages for more than 48 hours. If there is relevant information contained in a text message, I will record this electronically and keep it on my password protected laptop. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after the therapy has ended if it is not important. If necessary I will store this electronically and keep it on my PIN protected electronic device. If you contact me via mobile telephone, your details will be saved in the telephone under a coded name – this is PIN protected and separate from my personal mobile device.
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. Any personal details will be deleted from my mobile phone within 30 days. Please let me know if you wish these to be deleted any sooner.
When I am required to share personal information with other people, I will ensure that I seek your consent. I will not pass your personal information to your friends, relatives or carers without your explicit consent. If you are unable to consent for any reason, I will only share information where it is clearly in your best interests to do so or it is required by law.
I will sometimes need to share the personal information I process with other organisations. When I do this I am required to comply with all aspects of the General Data Protection Regulation. Where necessary I also have data sharing agreements in place with organisations which will state the specific ways in which the shared data can be used.
The organisations I share information with can include:
The reasons why I would share your information could include:
The organisations I share information with can include:
The reasons why I would share your information could include:
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, 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:
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 carlyguppycounselling@gmail.com
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.
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. Your data is stored in my ReMarkable 2 device, which is GDPR compliant with encryption software installed. All notes are kept in a locked filing cabinet. Online counselling takes place over an end-to-end encrypted service.
My website is hosted by Wordpress.
When you visit our website or see my Google Business Profile, I collect some basic information.
Google Business Profile: When you view our profile on Google Search or Maps, Google collects information on how you interact with it (for example, if you click on our phone number).
Cookies: We use cookies, which are small text files, to help our website work correctly, analyse traffic, and personalize your experience.
Google has its own privacy policy and handles information collected through its services. When you use a Google service to interact with us, Google may:
Show you personalised ads.
Improve its own services.
Provide us with reports on how people find our business online.
What we do with your information
We use the information we collect to:
Improve your experience: We use analytics to make our website better and more user-friendly.
Cookies: You can control or refuse cookies through your browser settings. Be aware that this might affect how our website works for you.
Google settings: You can manage how Google uses your data and what ads you see by visiting your Google Account settings.
Google Reviews: Please note that if you choose to leave a Google Review, or a review on any other public forum, I will not respond, as my primary ethical consideration is to maintain your confidentiality. Any information you provide on public platforms is outside of my control and not considered confidential client data.
Our website might have links to other websites. We are not responsible for their privacy practices, so please read their privacy policies separately.
If you fill in a contact form on my website, your details are sent straight to my password protected email address that only I have access to.
I use third party data sub-processor Calendly to schedule my 10-minute discovery calls. When you book a discovery call, you provide your name, email address and telephone number through the Calendly platform in order to facilitate the call. This information is processed by Calendly on my behalf for the sole purpose of scheduling your appointment.
Please be aware that Calendly is a US based company and data may be transferred to and stored in the United States. For EU and UK users, Calendly adheres to the EU-UK Data privacy framework, including the UK extension, to provide appropriate safeguards for this data transfer.
For more information on Calendly’s own privacy practices, you can review their privacy notice at https://calendly.com/legal/privacy-notice
We may update this policy from time to time. We will post any changes on this page.
If you have questions about your privacy or this policy, please contact us at carlyguppycounselling@gmail.com