Confidentiality

Counselling is confidential. This means I will not share information about you with a third party unless you consent to that disclosure. So I will not tell anyone that you attend counselling, or what you say in our sessions, without your permission to do so.

Exceptions to confidentiality

There are circumstances when I might have no choice but to share information about you, even if you do not agree to this happening. These are:

  • if there is a serious concern for your or someone else’s safety, particularly if a child is at risk of serious harm;

  • if there is a legal obligation relating to your involvement in, or knowledge of, a serious crime;

  • if there is a court order requesting information about you;

  • if it is essential to prevent a serious and imminent threat to either public health or national security.

Where possible, though, I will always seek your consent before any disclosure.

Supervision

I talk regularly to another experienced counsellor about my work. In the counselling and psychotherapy professions this is called ‘supervision’ and is a form of confidential consultative support, not line management. If I discuss your sessions with my supervisor, then I will not use your name or otherwise knowingly identify you.

Online counselling

During video call sessions, I will be in a room where you can not be overheard or seen on my screen by anyone else. (For your own safety and privacy, I recommend you do the same.) I do not record the sessions.

While video call platforms offer degrees of security and encryption, it is not possible to guarantee how the companies providing these services will handle data relating to the call. Also, with some platforms, it might mean both the call and your number is logged on my device. I do not store your name in my digital address book but, with a service such as FaceTime, the operating system might recognise your number and link it to emails or texts we have exchanged.

Social Media

I use some social media for my work but I will not search for you or ‘follow’ you on any platforms. If you follow me and things you read raise questions for you, do please feel free to ask me about them in our sessions. If you comment on any of my social media posts I will not reply there but we can always talk about it when we next meet.

Privacy

Your personal information/data 

I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO number: ZB245914) and any information that I keep is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 18) and United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation. See Information Commissioner’s Office: https://ico.org.uk

To begin working together, I will record your name and preferred contact details (for example, telephone number, email address). I use this information only for essential administrative tasks: contacting you and arranging appointments. I do not share it with others without your consent unless I am legally or ethically required to do so, as in the confidentiality statement above.

In the event of my death or incapacity through ill-health, a colleague will have access to your contact details so that you can be informed.

During our work, you might verbally share a range of sensitive personal information, but I do not routinely record it. I might sometimes make brief notes about our sessions but these are kept separately from your contact details and are anonymised, so they do not identify you. 

Storing and deleting your information 

Any personal data I have recorded or that is contained in documents given to me by you or by third parties in the course of our work will be stored securely, either in a locked filing cabinet or in a password protected digital folder, and kept for a maximum of 6 years after the counselling ends, then deleted. 

Your consent and rights 

When we start working together, I will ask if you consent to me using your personal data as described in this statement. It is your right to see the data I hold about you and to request that it be corrected (if you believe there are inaccuracies) or deleted. If you would like this to happen or have any other questions about privacy or confidentiality, then please contact me and I will attempt to resolve your query as soon as possible. 

Website data 

My website host (Squarespace) uses various processes to monitor when and how the site is visited, and I also do this via Google analytics. I do not have access to any of your personal data within these systems, which only show me anonymised numerical information about the site’s usage.

This statement was last updated 12/08/2023.