Privacy policy
If you sign up to therapy with me, this page explains how I handle your personal information. Confidentiality is central to therapy, so I am setting out here what this means in my practice and how I work to ensure it.
There are exceptions to the code of confidentiality in therapy. If you disclose to me that you or someone close to you is harming a child or vulnerable adult, or committing a terrorist offence, a duty of care overrides the therapy.
I work according to the safeguarding and associated codes of the UKCP which include a guide to how to proceed.
I will always seek for you to take responsibility for the issue and take action yourself, but if that is not possible and anyone is at risk, I have a duty to disclose this to relevant authorities, as a last resort.
I also have a page explaining how I handle digital communications with you, such as email.
I ask clients to please email or text me to tell me whether you agree or not to these policies. I will comply with your wishes about your personal information.
Keeping your data confidential
I make every effort to comply with UK Data Protection law (General Data Protection Regulations) as set out by the Information Commissioner. This means I keep your information confidential to the best of my ability, within the framework I describe below.
It means too that you can opt out of any of these arrangements and request that I handle your data differently, which I will always do if legally allowed.
The data I keep about you
I record your:
- name
- address
- date of birth
- phone numbers
- email address
I get this information from the form you give me when we first meet.
For reasons of security and confidentiality I do not keep detailed written process records of our sessions linked to your personal data. Any notes I may write down sometimes are reflective and are to help me work usefully with you. These notes are never stored linked to your name and personal information and are not session records.
How I store your data
I store your details in hard copy and electronically in secure environments inaccessible to anyone else whilst I am alive and well. I keep your details purely to communication with you while we are working together.
I store the information you give me as part of our initial exploration of whether we will continue working together in a secure locked environment which is not accessed by others unsupervised. I keep this information to help me provide a useful and relevant service to you.
Deleting your data
I securely delete your personal contact information after we finish our work together. This is at the point where I judge I no longer need this information for any ongoing work with you.
Sharing anonymous data with my supervisor
My work is supervised. This is to support me providing the best service I can to you.
I anonymise any information I share with my supervisor. This means I do not share your name and personal details with my supervisor.
Sharing anonymous data with other professionals
I do not share any personal information about you with any person or organisation unless I am required by law to do so. This could be either via a subpoena/police instruction or because the law otherwise requires.
From time to time I may write or talk about my work for training or educational purposes with other psychotherapists and professionals. If this ever involves talking about work with you or other individuals, no personal information which could identify you is ever disclosed.
If I’m no longer able to offer my services to you
I store only your basic contact information electronically in such a way that it can be accessed by a named responsible person (my clinical executor). This is in case I am incapacitated and unable to contact you myself.
The clinical executor would use this information to contact you to tell you of my incapacity. They would then dispose of your contact information securely if I was unable to continue to work with you.
Miranda Seymour-Smith 2018 (with thanks to Aaron Balick for the model).
