Debbie Quick Counselling

Debbie Quick Counselling & Supervision Privacy Policy

14, August 2024

 

My contact details

Name: Debbie Quick:  BACP & ACC accredited member

Phone Number: 07967 758307

E-mail: debbie.quick@icloud.com

I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ZA129689) and my contact details are given above should you have any questions about my data protection policy.

‘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.

 

Introduction

Your privacy is very important to me and you can be confident that I work carefully to ensure 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.

Such data is collected from you voluntarily and retained for the purposes of our supervision or counselling arrangement.

 

What data is kept?

To fulfil our contractual agreement, I keep:

• handwritten and electronic records of your details, for example, name and contact details, email address, emergency contact person, and background notes of our sessions
• forms and questionnaires that maybe used in providing counselling and maintaining a supervision practice such training logs, reports and accreditation processes
• details of attendance at appointments and payments made
• Copies of emails and text messages sent to me, and notes made from phone calls including those used to make an initial enquiry about receiving counselling or supervision.

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, or for clinical supervision purposes 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 or supervision services, I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry.  This will include full name, email address, contact phone number and initial details about your circumstances that you share.  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 of your behalf. 

If you decide not to proceed I will usually ensure all your personal data is deleted after the lapse of one month from such contact. 

 

While you are accessing counselling or supervision

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential.  That confidentiality will only be broken in accordance with the confidentiality framework indicated in our counselling or supervision agreement made when our work together begins.  I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding or legal issues that prevent this. 

I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling or supervision services run smoothly.  Electronic details including emails and text messages are kept securely on devices that are password protected and I request that these are only used for short messages asking me to contact you or alter an appointment.  Handwritten session notes are kept securely in a locked cabinet. 

 

After counselling or supervision has ended

Once counselling has ended your records will usually be kept for a period of three years except where I agree with you to retain them for longer or where I believe that it is in my best professional interests to do so.  Handwritten notes will be shredded and electronic records will be deleted from all devices.  Hard drives will be securely shredded when no longer used.

 

Your rights

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, 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.

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 to debbie.quick@icloud.com, providing evidence of your identity and proof that your address is the address to which the information requested is to be sent. 

Very rarely, other parties such as solicitors, police and the courts may request access to counselling or supervision records.  I will require specific written consent and proof of identity from you.  Since these records are not appropriate for legal proceedings, I reserve the right to object to legal requests for their submission in court.

If requests for data pertain to couples counselling, then both of the client couple must consent to any data I keep being released.

Any requests to provide a written report by clients will be considered on an individual basis on receipt of written consent by the client to this request.  Any such reports will be restricted to brief details of attendance dates and numbers of sessions attended.

 

Visitors to my website

When someone visits my website, I use a third party service, WebHealer, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns.  I do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site.  This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone.  No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party.  If you fill in a form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me. 

WebHealer staff cannot decrypt or access this whatsoever.

I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website.

I use WebHealer so that I can continually improve my service to you.  You can read WebHealer’s privacy  notice here  https://www.webhealer.net/privacy-policy/

 

How I get the personal information and why I have it

Most of the personal information I process is provided to me directly by you for one of the following reasons:

• For planning, managing and delivering counselling and related services
• For risk management

On very rare occasions, I may be legally or ethically obliged to share this information on a need-to-know basis to prevent risk of harm to clients and for public safety. 

 

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases I rely on for processing this information are:

(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting:  Debbie Quick at debbie.quick@icloud.com

(b) I have a legitimate interest.

 

How to complain

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.

 

If, at any time, changes to this policy become necessary, I will endeavour to inform you as soon as possible and seek your agreement to the new policy.