Farnham Counselling
Privacy Policy
Your privacy is important to me. This page explains how I handle your personal data in full compliance with UK data protection law.
On this page
This notice explains what I do with your personal information — from first contact through to after therapy has ended — covering the legal basis I rely on, how long I keep data, who else may receive it, and your rights.
How I use your information
When you contact me about counselling services, I collect information to help me respond to your enquiry and provide appropriate care. This includes:
- Full name & date of birth
- Contact address
- Phone numbers
- Email address
- Current medications & allergies
- Mental health history
- GP name & contact details
- Next of kin details
Alternatively, your GP, another health professional, or a parent or trusted individual may provide your details when making a referral or enquiry on your behalf.
If you decide not to proceed with therapy, all your personal data will be securely destroyed after 6 months. If you would prefer this to happen sooner, just let me know.
While you are accessing counselling
Everything you share with me is confidential. That confidentiality would only be broken if I believed you were at risk of harming yourself or another person, or if required by a court of law.
I keep a record of your personal details and brief handwritten session notes to help the counselling run smoothly. All records are stored securely in a locked filing cabinet and are never shared with any unauthorised third party.
For security reasons, text messages are not retained beyond 6 weeks after the conclusion of our work. Any relevant content from texts or emails is transferred to your handwritten case notes before deletion.
After counselling has ended
Once counselling ends, your records are retained for 7 years from the date our contact concludes, after which they are securely destroyed. If you wish me to delete your information sooner, please let me know.
My lawful basis for holding your data after therapy ends is legitimate interest. While you are actively in therapy, I process your data as necessary for the performance of our contract.
Third party recipients
Occasionally I share personal data with carefully selected third parties to carry out specific tasks. Each third party is bound by a contract specifying exactly what they may do with your data — nothing more.
-
1
Clinical Supervisor (Jenny)
Receives your first name and relevant case detail to provide monitoring, regulatory, and professional development support. We have a confidentiality agreement in place. -
2
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Consulted for data protection guidance as and when required.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- ✓ Request a copy of the personal information I hold about you
- ✓ Ask me to correct any inaccuracies in that information
- ✓ Ask me to delete your personal information
- ✓ Limit how I use your personal information
- ✓ Object to certain uses of your personal data
- ✓ Ask me to stop processing your personal information
Where I do hold information about you, I will describe what it is, where it came from, why I hold it, how long I will keep it, how I made that decision, and who it could be disclosed to — and provide a legible copy on request.
You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.
Data security
I take the security of your data seriously. Case notes are handwritten and stored in a locked filing cabinet. Relevant content from text messages is transcribed by hand; important emails are printed and added to your file before the original is deleted.
No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party through my website. If you complete a contact form, that data is temporarily held by my web host before being forwarded to me.