Privacy Policy and Personal Data

Lou Sloan Counselling processes personal data relating to clients and is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), reference number ZA730924. This is for counselling purposes to assist in the effective administration of counselling sessions and the quality of the client treatment. This includes booking, rescheduling, and communicating with you regarding sessions. Without this I cannot provide services to you. This personal data includes identifiers such as names, contact details, counselling contracts, assessment information, letters, and counselling notes. Because therapy involves discussing sensitive, personal information regarding your health and wellbeing, I am required to meet stricter data protection rules. I process this information to provide you with safe, professional and ethical care and to keep accurate clinical records. Some personal data is also held on my email account and saved to One Drive, not including clinical notes. These accounts are password protected and emails deleted where possible.

To work with you, I must comply with the UK GDPR. Under article 6, I hold your contact information for the performance of our contract (managing our appointments). Under Article 9, I hold clinical notes and health-related information because it is necessary for health and care provision. Your information is kept securely, and I do not share it unless required to for legal obligations e.g., safeguarding or in the vital interest of yourself or others. In this situation other appropriate parties may be contacted e.g., GP, police, social services etc. Whenever possible the decision to break with confidentiality will be made only after consultation with the client and a supervisor as per the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). The purpose of notes is to keep a brief factual record of what the counsellor considers, from memory, to be the important aspects of the session. Client notes are kept on paper in locked facilities in accordance with current data protection law. The Client has the right to request a copy of the notes by providing a written request to the Counsellor. At the end of counselling, client notes continue to be kept in locked facilities in possession of the counsellor.

In accordance with my Professional Indemnity Insurance requirements, data is archived at the end of counselling and kept for up to seven years and then destroyed or deleted. You have the right to request access to the data Lou Sloan Counselling holds.

In the unlikely event that your counsellor becomes incapacitated or unable to continue working, they have a clinical will in place. This means that a trusted professional colleague will be able to access only the minimal necessary contact information to notify you and, if appropriate, offer guidance for next steps or referrals. Counselling notes will then be destroyed.

Complaints

If you have a concern or complaint about how I handle your personal data, you can raise this with me directly at lousloan.counselling@gmail.com. I’ll acknowledge your concern within thirty days and respond as soon as I am able. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commission at ico.org.uk

If you require more information about how we store and use your personal data, please discuss this with Lou