Professional membership
I am a senior accredited member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), and practice according to their codes and ethical framework.
Confidentiality
If you come to me for therapy I don’t disclose to other people what you say to me and what we discuss. Also, I don’t reveal to anyone that you are (or are not) coming to see me: I don’t tell anyone at all, including employers, GP, partners and/or family members. But there are exceptions to this…
- If it seems that there is a risk that you may do harm to yourself or others I may not promise to keep that confidential. If I were to get close to taking this information elsewhere I’d hope to discuss this with you beforehand.
- If I am required by law to reveal something about our discussions I may feel I have no option but to comply with the law. I’d try to protect the work we are or were doing together.
- All therapists in my professional body regularly have consultations with another professional therapist in a confidential setting to discuss their work, and to help us all do the very best job for our clients that we can. This practice is called supervision, and I follow this practice. All references to you are anonymised.
Privacy and Data Protection
1. Electronic storage of your data
Phone
I keep your phone number on my mobile telephone and nowhere else.
I keep text messages on my phone as long as they seem relevant to me. They are then deleted.
In any case they are deleted by a maximum of one year after we cease meeting.
The phone has a passcode, so that were it to be lost no one could access the data on it.
The phone is accessible only to me.
I keep this phone physically as safe as possible.
Laptop PC
I keep copies of invoices to you on my laptop PC.
These remain on my laptop PC as long as I have to do so as required by the tax authorities. They are then deleted.
I keep emails from you and to you on my laptop PC and on the servers of the email service providers like outlook.com and easily.uk as long as they seem relevant to me.
They are then deleted.
In any case they are deleted by a maximum of one year after we cease meeting.
The laptop PC has a passcode, so that were it to be lost no one could access the data on it.
The laptop PC is accessible only to me.
I keep this laptop PC physically as safe as possible. It’s either on my person, or in my office whilst I am there, or in my locked office if I am out for a short while, or at home in a room and accessible only to me, or hidden in a locked room in my house with the burglar alarm on.
2. Written records
I keep brief written notes of your meetings with me. These notes contain some (but not all) things you have told me and I have said to you. Some things that were said are not recorded.
You may see these notes on request.
These notes are accessible only to me.
These notes are kept in a folder. The notes and the folder do not have your name on. They are identifiable to me by a code.
The folder is routinely stored in my home in a locked filing cabinet, which is in a room that is locked when the house is unattended. When the house is unattended a burglar alarm is set.
At other times the folder and notes are either:
a. On my person when I travel to my office, or
b. In my office when I am in the office. If I am out of the office for a short while they may remain inside the office, which will be locked, and have no other people in it.
If a court of law requires me to show them my notes I have to do so. I’d hope to make you aware of that.
3. Paper appointment diary
The diary contains your name, entered into my diary at the time of our first meeting. After that your initials appear at appointment times.
This diary is subject to the same physical security as in the above paragraph.
General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
• I hold all your data in compliance with GDPR.
• Its sole purpose is to enable me to deliver services that you buy from me.
• I share your data with no one, unless you ask me to do so, or required to so by law.
• I will erase any data referred to above, if you request me to do so. Please bear in mind that this may limit the way in which I may best deliver to you the service that you buy from me.
• I routinely check that your data remains safe, either daily or weekly. If there is a breach in the safety of your data I will inform you within 72 hours of my finding out.