Privacy Notice

I am committed to protecting your personal data, the privacy notice below details how what information I will collect as part of our support together and how it will be used.

Contact details
 I am a registered MBACP Psychotherapist registered with the British association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists. I am registered with the Information Commissioners office who are the UK regulator for data protection. 

Email: enquiries@amybindertherapy.co.uk

What information I collect, use, and why

As a psychotherapist, I am required to keep records of the work I do. I will only collect and store data about you which is relevant to our work together and for the purpose of your care. I am required to keep this information by law. I collect/ use the following information to provide my psychotherapy sessions, I hold this information to ensure I can enhance your care, it is also used as I have a duty of care to yourself and the public. I am asked to collect and keep this information by law. 

• Name, address and contact details 

• Gender

• Pronouns

• Date of birth

• Emergency contact details

• Transaction details including details about payments made to me for our sessions.

• Health information (including medical conditions, allergies, medical requirements and medical history)

• Information about care needs (including disabilities, home conditions, medication and general care provisions)

• Brief records of session notes 

You may also disclose Special Categories data to me during the course of our support together which I will collect to support me in providing a service to you or to help safeguard you/ the public.This information is subject to additional protection due to its sensitive nature:

• Racial or ethnic origin

• Religious or philosophical beliefs

• Health information

• Sexual orientation information

How is your data stored?

At the start of our support together I will ask you to complete an information form with your contact details on it including your full name, contact information, emergency contact details and reason for referral. This is the only document that will have your full information on it. 

All subsequent documents on yourself will only feature your initials and unique ID number that I will generate to help ensure privacy of your data. 

All personal information and session notes are stored securely on my laptop. All documents and folders with client information are password protected. 

Any hand written paper notes created in session or shortly after will not feature any identifiable information and will be kept to a minimum. 

To contact you, I have a separate mobile phone for my private client work. I will only use your initials and unique ID number to store your contact details in this phone rather than your full name. 

How long I keep information for

Your information will be held for a period of 7 years after the end of our therapy together. 

For clients who are under the age of 25 your data will be held until you reach 25 or for 7 years, whichever is longer. For clients who are deceased your data will also be held for 7 years from the date of death.

Lawful bases and data protection rights

Which lawful basis I rely on may affect your data protection rights which are set out in brief below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO’s website:

• Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. Read more about the right of access.

• Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. Read more about the right to rectification.

• Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. Read more about the right to erasure.

• Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask me to limit how I can use your personal information. Read more about the right to restriction of processing.

• Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. Read more about the right to object to processing.

• Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that I transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you. Read more about the right to data portability.

• Your right to withdraw consent – you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Read more about the right to withdraw consent.

To make a data protection rights request, please contact me by email at equiries@amybindertherapy.co.uk. On receipt of your request, I will respond within the max time period of one month.

The lawful bases for the collection and use of your data

• Consent - we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

• Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.

• Vital interests – collecting or using the information is needed when someone’s physical or mental health or wellbeing is at urgent or serious risk. This includes an urgent need for life sustaining food, water, clothing or shelter. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object and the right to portability.

How I use your data 

I use the data I hold about you to contact you about our sessions and to take brief notes of what we have discussed in sessions. It is essential for continuity of care and to ensure I can provide you with a better service.  I will treat your information as confidential. I will only share your data when I have consent to from yourself. Or if it is essential when I have senior concerns about harm to yourself. Or if It is in the interests of protecting public safety e.g preventing harm to other people. 

If these scenarios were to occur, I will endeavor to discuss this with you first. The information I share will be on a need to know basis and could include sharing information with your emergency contact or emergency services/ social care the police or other health care professionals as is appropriate for the purpose of protecting you and or the general public. 

Supervision

As a psychotherapist I engage in regular supervision which involved discussion of my clinical work with clients. This is to ensure I am practicing to the best of my abilities and in accordance with my professional guidelines. My supervisor is also a registered member of a professional body and therefore is required by law to adhere to the same rules of confidentiality. My supervisor will not see my notes and all communication about you will be done without using your personal information to protect your identity.  

Data security

If for any reason, there is a breach in this privacy notice and the way your information is stored or shared. I am required to take immediate corrective action and to inform the ICO of this breach within 72 hours of notice that it has taken place. I will also inform you at my earliest opportunity of this data breach, how it occurred, what information was mistakenly shared and what steps I am taking to rectify this. If you believe I have breached data security at any point during our support together, please notify me immediately. enquiries@amybindertherapy.co.uk

During our support we may communicate over email. I will aim to request you send me an email first so that i ensure I have the correct email address and can respond to this directly to prevent any mis typing of addresses. 

If there is an instance of an email being sent to the wrong address I will take the following actions: 

• Email the recipient as soon as possible and ask them to delete it.

• Contact the ICO to inform them of this and follow their guidance.

• Notify you as soon as possible and within 72 hours. 

Complaints 

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a data protection complaint to us: Email:enquiries@amybindertherapy.co.uk

If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO. 

Information Commissioner’s Office
 Wycliffe House
 Water Lane
 Wilmslow
 Cheshire
 SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 
 Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint