PRIVACY POLICY

I comply with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and I am registered with I.C.O (Registration Number ZA789613). It is common practice as a psychotherapist to keep brief notes on our sessions, destroying all documents at the end of the therapy process.  The personal contact details are kept separately from brief clinical notes (which contain only initials) and are held in a secure environment. Paper work and emails are not shared with anyone else.

This private policy outlines your rights and my obligations to you, with regard to the recording and storage of your personal information. In this private policy I will let you know what information I need to collect from you before we begin psychotherapy, and what information I need to collect from you during psychotherapy. I will also set out how I will look after your personal information, for how long I will store it, and who I shall share it with.

The Data Protection Act 1998 defines personal information as any information that can be used to identify a living individual. Individuals can be identified by various means including their name, address, telephone number or email address.

I need to process your personal information in order to fulfil my contracted obligations to you as a counsellor and psychotherapist. For example, to assess whether I am able to offer you therapy in the first place and then to deliver effective counselling and psychotherapy if the therapy commences. Your personal information helps guide my assessment process, and my clinical decision making during psychotherapy.  My contractual obligations to you as a counsellor and psychotherapist are the lawful basis for any processing of your personal information.

The DPA and the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) require that all organisations that store personal information about people may only do so provided that the information is: processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner; collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes; adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary; accurate and, where necessary kept up to date; kept in a form that permits identification of information subjects for no longer than necessary for the purposes for which the personal information are processed; and processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal information.

I will collect your personal information in the following ways: via my website www.jmpsychotherapy.com, over the telephone, in writing, and in person during our meetings.

I will store your personal information both electronically and physically. Personal information is stored electronically on devices that are password protected and only accessible by me. Names and contact details are stored separately to other personal information (anonymised format) Information is stored physically using paper records held securely in locked storage in an anonymised format. These records are only accessible by me.

According to GDPR, your personal information should be stored for no longer than is necessary. My retention period for storing your personal information is three years, following the ending of therapy. After which I will destroy your written case notes and any files on the computer.

I will collect the following personal information from you if we decide to work together, because, as a registered healthcare practitioner, I would be reasonably expected to have this in case of emergency.

Personal Information

• Your name and contact details

• Who should be contacted in case of an emergency (e.g. next of kin)

• GP address

If health insurance is funding your sessions I also need your name, DOB, address, plus your membership and authorisation codes to pass security checks with your health insurance company.

Once we have agreed that psychotherapy with me is right for you, and your therapy commences, I will collect further information from you that may include: goals for therapy, GP contact details, current medication, network of support, financial and employment circumstances, health and physical issues, alcohol and drug use, appetite and sleep, family structure, overview of family situation and early memories of caregivers.

Some of your personal information may be shared with your GP, or other healthcare professional, under certain exceptional circumstances. These include the requirements of a court of law, the threat of serious physical harm to you or to others, or during regular consultations with my professional clinical supervisor. Some of your personal information such as website visits, telephone call data is shred with the website provider. These providers operate under their own privacy policies, and these can be provided upon request.

The DPA gives you the right to find out what information that I store about you by requesting a copy of it. You can write to me and ask for a copy of the information I hold about you. Address your letter to Joanne Morgan, Braham Therapy, 47, Cheap Street, Newbury RG14 5BX. I may charge a fee for providing this information based on the administrative costs involved.

You can request for your personal information to be deleted either verbally or in writing. You can address this request to me at:  Joanne Morgan, Bramham Therapy, 47, Cheap Street, Newbury RG1 5BX. There may be an administrative charge for this. I may also have the right to refuse to comply with your request, for example in order to defend myself in a claim situation, or to comply with my insurance terms and conditions, and I will let you know my response to your request within one month of receiving it.

Whilst I hope that the policy outlined above will be sufficient to reassure you of the security of your personal information, should you wish to object or complain about the way that your personal information is being handled by me, then please do feel free to communicate this to me at the earliest possible opportunity. I will do my best to address your concerns and take steps to try and resolve whatever issues you may raise. You can write to me at: Joanne Morgan, Bramham Therapy, 47, Cheap Street, Newbury RG14 5BX. Should you wish to take the matter further, please contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1123 or visit https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ for more information.