I am committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information with care, respect and confidentiality. This Privacy Notice explains what information I collect, why I collect it, how it is used and stored, and your rights under UK data protection law.

I comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 and am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

When you contact me to enquire about my services, I may collect your name, telephone number, email address, availability and any information you choose to share that is relevant to your enquiry.

If we work together, I will collect and retain information necessary to provide a safe, ethical and professional service. This may include contact details, relevant health and wellbeing information, information you choose to share during our work together, brief process notes, appointment information and payment records.

Your personal information is used to:

• respond to your enquiry;
• arrange appointments and communicate with you;
• provide psychotherapy services;
• maintain appropriate professional records;
• process and account for payments; and
• meet my legal, ethical and professional obligations.

I process your personal information where this is necessary to provide psychotherapy services to you and to meet my legal and professional obligations. My primary lawful basis for processing your personal information is the performance of our contract, or taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.

Psychotherapy may involve information that is classed as special category data under UK GDPR, including information about your health and wellbeing. Where this information is necessary for the provision of psychotherapy, it is processed under the health or social care condition in Article 9(2)(h) of UK GDPR and in accordance with my professional duty of confidentiality.

Some information may also be processed where necessary to comply with a legal obligation, including financial information retained for accounting and tax purposes.

Your personal information is treated as confidential and stored securely. Client process notes are stored separately from identifying information and do not contain clients' full names. Electronic records are password protected and any paper records are stored securely.

I use digital services as part of my practice, including Outlook for email and appointment management, iCloud for electronic storage and Zoom for online sessions. Appointments are recorded using initials only. Zoom is not used to record sessions or store client records. Information submitted through the contact form on my website is forwarded to my email account.

I undertake regular clinical supervision as part of ethical professional practice. Client work is discussed without identifying information wherever possible, and my supervisor is also bound by confidentiality.

Everything discussed during our work together is confidential. There may, however, be circumstances where information needs to be shared, including where there is a serious risk of harm, safeguarding concerns, or where disclosure is required or permitted by law. If you are involved in an ongoing criminal investigation or court proceedings, new allegations or information relevant to the investigation may also need to be shared with the appropriate criminal justice professional.

Wherever possible, I will discuss this with you first. Any disclosure will be limited to information that is relevant and necessary.

I do not routinely share information with GPs or other professionals. If you ask me to prepare information for another person or professional, I will usually provide this directly to you so that you can decide whether to share it.

Payments are made into my business bank account. Financial records may contain identifying information and are retained as required for accounting and tax purposes. Relevant financial records are shared with my accountant for these purposes.

If you do not become a client, your information will only be kept for as long as necessary to manage your enquiry before being securely deleted.

If we work together, your clinical records will be retained securely for seven years after our work ends, in line with my professional insurance requirements, before being confidentially destroyed.

Financial records may be retained separately for the period required by tax and accounting law.

You have the right to request access to the personal information I hold about you and to ask for inaccurate information to be corrected. Depending on the circumstances, you may also have the right to request that your information is erased or restricted, to object to certain processing, or to request a copy of information you have provided.

Some of these rights are not absolute and may be limited where I have a legal or professional obligation to retain or process information.

If you have any questions or concerns about how your information is handled, please contact me.

If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk.