Introduction

Your privacy is very important to me and you can be confident that 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. I also adhere to the ethical guidelines regarding protecting client privacy and confidentiality set by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). 

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email at sarahwinterstherapy@hotmail.com.

‘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. 

I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information

The GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which I am processing your data. I have explained these below.

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/therapy) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a therapy agreement between you and I).

How I use your information

Initial Contact – When you contact me with an enquiry about my therapy services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include (name, phone number, email address). Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a parent/carer may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf. If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all of your personal data is deleted within 1 month. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know. 

I will share the full privacy policy if you decide to go ahead with therapy services.

Visitors to my website

When someone visits my website, I use a third party service (IONOS) 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. I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website. I do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting my website through third party services. The website uses cookies. Almost all websites use cookies which are small files that get put on your computer by websites as you visit them. These cookies can store lots of information which can have privacy implications. For more information see: https://www.ionos.co.uk/cookies.