Privacy Policy
'Codependency counselling' is a private practice where I offer the services of counselling and psychotherapy with a focus on the issue of co-dependency. I regard the privacy of my users as very important. I am committed to protecting your personal data and I recognise the importance of being clear about how I intend to use it. I follow the BACP's Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions which states that clients must feel able to 'trust their practitioner with their wellbeing and sensitive personal information.'
This policy explains what personal data I collect from you, how I use it, the conditions under which I may disclose it to others and how I keep it secure.
By using this website, you are agreeing to be bound by this Policy.
What personal information do I collect and how?
I may collect and use the following information:
Your name and contact information (including email address and phone number) and any other contact details you provide to us when you submit a request or enquiry via this website.
Correspondence from you in the form of email and telephone enquiries.
During the course of any counselling and psychotherapy sessions we have together, I will collect any personal information you provide to me during those sessions that is necessary and helpful for our work together.
What information does my email contact form capture?
The email contact form on my website only captures an enquirer's name and email address along with the IP address of the computer used to make the request. No cookies are captured.
What will I do with your personal information? How will it be used?
I will use your personal information ie. contact details to reply to any correspondence you have sent me.
I will use any personal information you provide to me during our sessions to inform our work together and I will keep notes on our work together. I follow the BACP's Ethical Framework which states that 'we will keep accurate records that are appropriate to the service being provided.' The records I keep support our work together and enables me to deliver this to a reasonable standard of care.
On what lawful bases am I collecting and processing your personal information?
The lawful basis upon which I am collecting and processing your personal data is on the basis of the contract we will enter into together to enable me to provide the service of counselling and psychotherapy to you. I will provide you with a written contract specifying the conditions of the service I will be offering and I will ask you to sign this contract to confirm you are happy with those conditions before we start our work together.
The email contact form on this website asks you to tick a box confirming you have read and accepted the Privacy Notice. Therefore, by ticking this box you are providing your informed consent to me collecting the personal information you provide on this form to enable us to correspond with each other about the service I am providing.
How do I protect your personal information?
I make every effort to ensure that your personal information is held securely and to safeguard unauthorised access to your personal information.
This website is protected by an SSL certificate. This allows secure connections from a web server to a browser. You can check this by the presence of the padlock and the https address in the browser widow.
How do I process and store the enquiries sent via my contact form?
Enquiries submitted through the contact form are sent directly to me by email from my website hosting company Webhealer and then deleted from their systems. They are retained only until they are confident they have been successfully delivered.
When I receive email enquiries and correspondence from you I only keep them for as long as it takes me to respond to the correspondence and then they are deleted.
I offer counselling and psychotherapy sessions via face-to-face and audio/visual capture. The audio/visual platform I use is VSee. This is a secure platform which uses open industry standard, FIPS 140-2 compliant 256-bit AES encryption on all control and media traffic. All data is always encrypted end-to-end.
As discussed above, I keep notes of our work together and these records are kept in written form in a manual filing system which is kept in a locked and secure filing cabinet which I have sole access to.
Will my personal data be shared with other organisations?
From time to time, it may become necessary to share your personal data with others. With certain exceptions listed below, everything that is discussed within our sessions will be treated as confidential. I will not talk about our sessions except when I am required to attend supervision and discuss my work with my supervisor. In addition, if during the course of our work together I consider that your safety or the safety of another person is at risk, I retain the right to inform an outside authority such as your GP or the police. If this should happen, I will discuss this with both my supervisor and yourself first.
The only other time I would share information with a third party is if I was ordered to by a court of law, or where you provided your written consent. The circumstances in which I may share your personal information is one of the conditions of the written contract I would provide to you and I would ask you to sign this contract to confirm you are happy with this condition before we start work together.
How long will you keep my personal data?
I will hold your personal information for as long as necessary and for the length of time set out in the written contract we have together. After this time, your personal data will be disposed of securely.
Access to your personal data
You have the right to be provided with a copy of the personal data I hold about you. This information will be provided to you within one month of receiving your request and it will be provided to you free of charge. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal data, please contact me via phone or email.
Cookies
Like most websites, this one uses 'cookies'. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. This website does not require cookies in order to function properly. Please refer to the Website Cookies link at the bottom of this page which explains what cookies this website uses and why.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying the settings in your browser, however you may not be able to use all the interactive features of my site if cookies are disabled. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org.
By using this website, you are giving consent to our use of cookies.
Other websites
Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.
Changes to my privacy policy
I may change this privacy policy from time to time to ensure it is compliant with current regulations. It is therefore advisable to consult this privacy statement on a regular basis in case of any changes. This privacy policy was last updated on 24 May 2018.
How to contact me
If you have any questions about my privacy policy or information I hold about you or you are concerned about how your information is used please contact me:-
- by phone - 07769 610711
- or by email at sascha@codependencycounselling.co.uk
Alternatively, you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
