Terms & Conditions

This Privacy Notice is designed to help you understand what kind of information I collect from you and how I will process and use this information. You have a right to know what data is held about you. This privacy notice will tell you what I do with that information.

My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information

The Data Protection Act 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: 

If you have had therapy with me and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information. 

If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract. The Data Protection Act 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) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).

What information do I record?

The information I request from you may include personal or sensitive information, such as:

Personal information

- first name or given name

- family name or surname

- address

- telephone numbers

- email address

- date of birth

- Dr’s name and address

Sensitive personal information

- gender, ethnicity and marital status

- physical or mental health or condition

- sexuality

What do I use your data for?

I may also use some of the information you provide me for other reasons, such as to:

- maintain records

- respond to any enquiries you make

- ensure the accuracy of my records

- protect you and other people

- information security

I recognise that the information you provide may be sensitive and I will respect your confidentiality. I will keep the information you provide confidential. This means I will store it securely and control who has access to it. I will not share any information where we are not legally required to do so or without your consent.

Initial contact

When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services, I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include 

- first name or given name

- family name or surname

- address

- telephone numbers

- email address

- date of birth

Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a parent or trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf. If you decide not to proceed, I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within 60 days. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know. 

While you are accessing counselling

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if there is mention of harming self or others, trafficking, terrorism, or money laundering or if I am required to do so by any court or law. I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this. 

I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely on encrypted/password protected files and are not shared with any third party. I will keep notes of each session, these are kept on a secure digital service, and for hard copies in a locked storage box. 

After counselling has ended.

Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for 7 years from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed. If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.

Your rights

You have a right to ask me to delete your personal information, to limit how I use your personal information, or to stop processing your personal information. You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that I hold about you and to object to the use of your personal data in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters. If I do hold information about you I will:

• give you a description of it and where it came from;

• tell you why I am holding its, tell you how long I will store your data and how I made this decision;

• tell you who it could be disclosed to;

• let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you. To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to hello@counsellingwithjemma.co.uk.

If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by writing or emailing to the contact details given above. I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures. If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information you can contact the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Data controller

I, Jemma Newman, am the data controller. I am responsible for collecting and processing your personal information. Processing includes the organisation, retrieval, consultation, use and deletion or destruction of information and its disclosure to other agencies.

The information you provide will be processed mainly in connection with the administration of my counselling services. A full list of what information I control and process and for what purposes is set out in my notification with the Information Commissioner’s Register of Data Controllers. My registration number is ZB389858. You can view my registration at the Information Commissioner’s website.

If you have difficulty understanding this information or want to ask more questions, please contact me.

When someone visits my website, I use a third party service, Go Daddy 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 do not make, and do not allow Go Daddy to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting my website. I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website. 

Visits to my website

Like most websites I use cookies to help the site work more efficiently. No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party. If you fill in a form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me.