IN-PERSON COUNSELLING AND ONLINE COUNSELLING, UK
Privacy Notice
Your Journey Counselling is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), reference: ZB809986.
This privacy notice lets you know what personal information Your Journey Counselling collects and processes for the
purpose of its services. Your Journey Counselling is committed to complying with the terms of GDPR and to the responsible and secure use of service users’ data. This privacy notice informs individuals of what Your Journey counselling will do with personal information from the initial point of contact to the end of therapy.
Your Journey Counselling has a legitimate interest in processing personal data to provide its therapy services. To ensure individuals are provided with the best possible service, Your Journey Counselling must hold personal contact details and records of sessions. As Individual’s privacy is important to Your Journey Counselling, anyone using the services of Your Journey Counselling can be confident that Your Journey counselling will do everything in the company’s power to keep personal information safe and secure. Any personal data and information held will only be used for the purpose it was given to Your Journey Counselling.
Your Journey Counselling adheres to the current data protection legislation, including GDPR, 2018, The Data Protection Act, 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations, 2003. Your Journey Counselling also
ensures adherence to the ethical guidelines regarding protecting service users’ privacy and confidentiality set by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Information about service users: When an enquiry is made to Your Journey Counselling, individuals are asked for contact details and relevant personal information that are needed to answer an enquiry and to set up an initial appointment. Individuals are also asked further details to progress with counselling with Your Journey Counselling ensuring personal protection, care, and service.
· Your Journey Counselling asks for a service users name, contact details, availability and other relevant personal
information – these are known as ‘Personal. Data’.
· Other Personal Data’ such as age, gender identity, occupation, marital status, date of birth and ‘special category data’
such as race, ethnic origin, religion, health and sexual orientation may also be collected.
· Your Journey Counselling also holds health information for safeguarding and public protection reasons, such as emergency contact information, information about care and health.
· Service users’ personal data is securely stored on my computer, backed up on OneDrive. Files are encrypted with
passwords so they are safe and secure. You can see the privacy statement/policies here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacy/privacystatement ; https://www.adobe.com/uk/privacy/policy.html.
· Please note that no AI is used with any software by Your Journey Counselling, and no AI is used when processing your data.
· Your Journey Counselling records brief, factual notes about what has been discussed during a therapy session. Any notes are also recorded and stored on passworded Microsoft files, backed up by OneDrive.
Files are encrypted with passwords, so they are safe and secure. You can see the privacy statement/policies here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacy/privacystatement ; https://www.adobe.com/uk/privacy/policy.html.
· From the last date of counselling sessions,all data relating to service users’ appointments are stored securely for 5 years. After 5 years, any data relating to the service users’ data will be destroyed in a confidential manner.
Use of information: Data will only be used to provideservice users with information in relation to the services of Your Journey Counselling. Your Journey Counselling will only share data in line with ethical and legal obligations. The areas on exceptions around confidentiality are as follows:
· If Your Journey Counselling receives a Court Order or request from a Coroner for the release of notes.
· If a disclosure is made regarding information about any act of terrorism; proposed, planned or known.
· If a disclosure is made regarding information about a serious crime, money laundering and/or drug trafficking.
· If a disclosure is made regarding information about involvement in child abuse or knowledge of it taking place.
· If a disclosure is made in relation to a service user or other individual being at risk of some form of serious harm.
· Regarding supervision, Bethanie Taylor’s supervisors are bound to the same confidentiality agreement as the service user, and Your Journey Counselling, and no personally identifiable information is disclosed in the sessions.
Your Journey Counselling will not share Bank Records unless it is a legal requirement, for accounting purposes, and if
required, in the event of business mortgage application for Your Journey Counselling or for a personal mortgage application for Bethanie Taylor. In these instances, Your Journey Counselling will do everything in the company’s
power to redact service users’ details.
I, Bethanie Taylor of Your Journey Counselling, have a therapeutic will in place outlining how your care would be
managed in the event of my incapacity or death. In such circumstances, my will Executor (also a member of the BACP) will reach out to you to ensure you receive appropriate support and referrals for ongoing care. They will also then ensure your records are kept confidentially. A copy of my therapeutic will is kept in a securely locked box in case of emergency, so that it can be passed over without being viewed by any unauthorised parties.
Your Journey Counselling will not share service users’ details with any other person or organisation outside of the information given above without consent.
A breach of confidentiality is when a when a person shares information with another in circumstances where it is reasonable to expect that the information will be kept confidential.
Security: Your Journey Counselling will take all reasonable precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of any information given to the company.
Your Journey Counselling communications will be via email. Your Journey Counselling uses a
Roundcube Webmail: https://emailmg.ipage.com/roundcube/ through outlook: https://www.outlook.com/mail/u/0/, as well as Gmail: https://mail.google.com/mail?hl=en-GB. Their privacy policies/statements/ more information can be viewed here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacy/privacystatement; https://roundcube.net/about/ ; https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10434152?hl=en.
Your Journey Counselling uses the video platform Google Meet: https://meet.google.com. Google Meet’s Privacy Notice can be viewed here: https://support.google.com/meet/answer/9852160?hl=en .
Your Journey Counselling will not disclose the Network Provider used for the business for security reasons. If or once an individual becomes an engaged service user in Your Journey Counselling, they are welcome to request this information
from Bethanie Taylor who will share this alongside the Network Providers Privacy Notice.
Although Your Journey Counselling always endeavours to keep its systems and communications protected against viruses and other harmful effects, Your Journey Counselling cannot bear responsibility for all communications being virus-free.
Service user’s rights over their personal data: If a service user would like to see the
information Your Journey Counselling holds about them, or would like to
correct, update, or delete any records, they can email admin@yourjourney-counselling.com.
If there are any concerns about the use of service users’ data, please contact Bethanie Taylor directly at admin@yourjourney-counselling.com. Your Journey Counselling will do the utmost to resolve any concerns a service user has. However, if for any reason Your Journey Counselling cannot resolve the issue or a service user would prefer,
they may choose to contact the ICO directly: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.