Your privacy is very important to me, and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe, secure, and used only for the purpose it was provided. I adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. This privacy notice explains what I will do with your personal information from the initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended, including:

• Why I am able to process your information and the purpose of processing it.
• Whether you are required to provide the information to me.
• How long I store your information.
• Whether there are other recipients of your personal information.
• Whether I intend to transfer your information to another country.
• Whether I do automated decision-making or profiling.
• Your data protection rights.
I am happy to discuss any questions you have about my data protection policy. You can contact me via email at dan@danhildrewcounselling.co.uk.

Data Controller
The term ‘data controller’ describes the person or organization that collects, stores, and is responsible for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is me. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, my registration reference is ZB619322.

Contact Information
Phone Number: 07396 800288
Email Address: dan@danhildrewcounselling.co.uk

My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information

According to the GDPR, I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. The lawful bases depend on the stage at which I am processing your data. These are explained below:

• If therapy with me has ended, I use legitimate interest as the lawful basis for holding and using your personal information.
• If you are currently in therapy or considering therapy, I process your personal data based on the necessity for the performance of our contract.

The GDPR ensures that I handle any sensitive personal information you disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for processing any special categories of personal information is initially consent. I retain counselling records to defend against potential legal claims.

How I Use Your Information

Initial Contact: When you contact me regarding my counselling services, I collect information to help satisfy your enquiry. This includes name, telephone number and email address. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details for a referral, or a parent/trusted individual may provide your details on your behalf. If you decide not to proceed, I will delete all your personal data within one month. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, please let me know.

During Counselling: Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. Confidentiality is only broken if you disclose any of the following:

• You disclose involvement in, or knowledge of, an act of terrorism, money laundering or drugs trafficking
• You report instances of serious harm to self or to others
• I have to report harm or abuse to a minor or vulnerable adult
• I am legally obliged to provide information at the request of a court of law

I will always attempt to discuss this with you first, except in cases where safeguarding issues prevent this.

I keep a record of your personal details securely on a PC and do not share them with any third party. I keep written notes of each session that are kept in a password protected and anonymised document. For security reasons, I do not retain text messages for more than a week. Relevant information from text messages is kept in the aforementioned client notes document. Similarly, email correspondence is deleted after one week if deemed unimportant.

After Counselling: Once counselling ends, your records are kept for 7 years from the end of our contact and then securely destroyed. If you wish for me to delete your information sooner, please inform me.

Third Party Recipients of Personal Data

I sometimes share personal data with third parties, such as contracted suppliers for specific tasks. In these cases, I carefully select partners and have contracts stating how they may use the data shared with them. They are not permitted to use your information for any purpose other than the contracted task.

Your Rights

I strive to be transparent in providing access to your personal information. You have the right to request the deletion, limitation, or cessation of processing of your personal information. You also have the right to request a copy of any information I hold about you and to object to the use of your personal data in certain circumstances. Read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.

If I hold information about you, I will:
• Provide a description and origin of the information.
• Explain why I am holding it, how long it will be stored, and how this decision was made.
• Identify potential recipients of the information.
• Provide a readable copy of the information upon request.

You may also request corrections to any personal information I hold about you in writing to dan@danhildrewcounselling.co.uk.

If you have any complaints about how I handle your personal data, please contact me via the above contact details. I welcome suggestions for improving my data protection procedures. If you wish to make a formal complaint about how I processed your personal information, contact the ICO at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Data Security

I take the security of your data seriously and make every effort to ensure its safety, anything written is stored in a locked filing cabinet within a locked room. Any electronic records are stored securely on a password protected PC within a locked room.

Visitors to my website

When visitors access my website, I use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour patterns. This data helps me understand site traffic but does not identify individuals. I do not attempt, nor do I allow Google Analytics, to identify visitors to my website. I use legitimate interests as the lawful basis for holding and using your personal information when you visit my website. Learn more about Google Analytics privacy notice here:
https://policies.google.com/privacy

Like most websites, I use cookies to improve site efficiency. Learn more about our use of cookies visit https://danhildrewcounselling.co.uk/cookie-policy/ for more information. No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party. If you complete a form on my website, the data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me