My Policies
Disclaimer
Dr Andy hereby grants visitors to this website access to these pages conditional upon your agreement to accept the application of the laws of England to govern matters between us in relation to this website and you agree to indemnify us and not hold us liable for the result foreseeable of any actions you may take based on the information contained herein. Whilst every endeavour has been taken to verify the information and links contained in this website, I cannot take any responsibility for what you may find, read or act upon.
Consent to Hold Personal Data
I am committed to ensuring I protect your privacy and will seek explicit consent to hold personal data about you and only for the purposes of providing counselling or supervision to you. I may also use anonymised clinical data you provide me with for the purposes of providing the best possible service to you. When you make contact, you will be asked to provide certain information. You can be assured that this information is held under lock and key and not on any device that can connect to the internet. You have the right to access information I hold about you. If you wish to read your notes you can do in a session, however they remain securely with me. After we have finished counselling or supervision those notes will be securely and completely destroyed after a period of six-years or earlier as agreed in law.
On initial Contact I will collect the following information from you:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Contact information (address, telephone, email etc)
- Other information relevant to you engaging in counselling with me, e.g. the name of your Doctor, medical practice and number.
- Any relevant information about illness, medication and disability which will affect your counselling
- Your next of Kin and telephone number – Please ensure they are aware and in agreement that I have their name and number
- This information is collected on a paper-based record and then held securely locked away until the end of counselling or until there is an amendment such as a change of address.
Initial Consultation.
At the initial consultation you will be asked for informed consent to give me permission to process your data and any contacts you have given me. I will also ask to use any anonymised data to evaluate the counselling and improve the service. You will have the right to decline this.
Your notes are anonymised and your identity is protected. The notes are not shared with anyone unless I am legally required to do so or you ask me to share them with a third party, which I have the right to refuse to do so. You have the right to view your notes during a session. The notes remain my property, not the client’s.
The basis for holding this this data is to ensure good governance and to ensure I hold your best interests central to my work. I will meet any legal obligations placed upon me such as a request by the client for their data or information related to safeguarding children and young people at risk or acts of terrorism.
All notes will be stored securely locked away and destroyed 6-years after becoming an adult (and ending counselling with me) or 6-years after ending counselling.
All online communication whether email or online sessions is preferred through encrypted communication. You will be responsible for ensuring anything that is communicated via yourself is encrypted. I cannot be responsible for information you send to me which you have not sent from encrypted email. Your notes will not be sent via the internet.
Privacy Notice
1. How I use your personal data
I am committed to protecting your personal data and will use your sensitive personal data (that is the data you completed in the form of assessments and questionnaires for the purposes of providing our services to you or if we need to comply with a legal obligation. I will use your non-sensitive personal data to (a) register you as a new client, (b) manage payment, (c) collect and recover monies owed to me (d) to manage my relationship with you, and (e) send you details of my goods and services.
My legal grounds for processing your data are in relation to points (a) to (d) above are for performance of a contract with you and in relation to (c) and (e) above, necessary for my legitimate interest to develop my products/services and grow my business and to recover monies owed.
I will not share your details with third parties for marketing purposes except with your express consent.
2. Disclosure of your personal data
I may have to share your personal data with (a) service providers who provide IT and system administration support, (b) professional advisors including accountants, lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers, HMRC and other regulatory authorities (d) third parties to whom I sell, transfer or merge parts of my business or my assets and/or (e) [to other professionals for the purposes of discussing your treatment]/[to my supervisor].
I require all of these third parties to whom I transfer your data to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. They are only allowed to process your personal data on our instructions.
3. Your rights
You are able to exercise certain rights in relation to your personal data that we process. These are set out in more detail at the ICO home page.
4. Keeping your data up to date
I have a duty to keep your personal data up to date and accurate so from time to time I will contact you to ask you to confirm that your personal data is still accurate and up to date.
If there are any changes to your personal data (such as a change of address) please let me know as soon as possible.
Child Protection Policy
I regard child protection as one of my main priorities. In the interests of the safety and well being of all children and young people, I have developed and operate the following child protection policy.
- I am committed to ensuring that everyone, including myself, employed by me to work with children or young people:
- - have undergone a police check or a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB / DBS) check
- - and are adequately trained and supervised
- Dr Andy
- - recognises that child protection is everyone's responsibility
- - is committed to supporting parents, guardians, carers and families
- - recognises the unique and individual worth of each child
- - is committed to nurturing, protecting and safeguarding children and young people
- - exercises care in the appointment of all those working with children and young people
- - is committed to following statutory and specialist guidelines in working with children and young people
- - seeks to support all those affected by abuse
- - is committed to supporting those who work with children and young people and provide regular supervision
- - will review this child protection policy annually
I support the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
