Therapy is strictly confidential and I am bound by the Code of Ethics of UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). The purpose of this page on my website is to explain how I currently collect and use personal data in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) brought into effect on 25th May 2018.

The policy applies to information I collect about

Clients who use my psychotherapy, counselling or psychoanalysis services (Clients). Psychotherapy, counselling and psychoanalysis may also be referred to under a common term of ‘therapy’ or ‘analysis’.

People who contact me:

Contacting me may include emailing me, calling, texting or filling out the contact form on my website. By filling in the contact form or sending me an email with your personal data, you authorise me to use these details for the purpose of contacting you back. If you make an enquiry using the contact form on my website it is deleted from WebHealer system once it has been successfully delivered. 

Personal information that I obtain:

Personal information means any information about an individual.

• Identity and contact information includes your name, email address, telephone numbers
• Brief anonymous notes of our session
• Copies of invoices and communication

How I use your personal information:

I use your personal information for the following purposes:

• For the purposes of conducting my services to you (i.e. psychotherapy, counselling and psychoanalysis) and meeting my own professional obligations to be supervised with respect to my role as your therapist or analyst.
• For the purpose of accounting, bookkeeping and invoicing. I may be using professional accounting cloud-based systems for accounting, bookkeeping, invoicing etc. I will use minimum possible information when using such systems (i.e. your name or initials, email, address, etc.). Please note that I may be using a professional contractual accountant that may have access to this system, but also acts in line with strict privacy guidelines.
• For the purposes of regulatory or legal proceedings.

The reason I use and hold personal information:

I use and hold your personal information for good practise and administration purposes. The relevant bases are:

• To enable me to respond to enquiries from potential clients wishing to book a session or clients seeking advice from me as professionally qualified psychotherapist
• Where it is necessary for me to continue to work with you professionally in providing therapy to you.
• For me to meet my own professional obligations I discuss my overall clinical work with a senior colleague who acts as my supervisor. Please note your identity is kept anonymous at these times.
• Where it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

Who I share personal information with:

Therapy is strictly confidential to allow to feel at ease and safe to speak about yourself and your situation. In all cases I will only share your personal information, where it is necessary for the purposes of conducting my services, with the following:

My supervisor for the purposes of my own professional obligations to be supervised with respect to my professional role as your therapist. As above your identity is anonymised in these circumstances

Bodies or organisations where I may be legally obliged to do so.

Where I believe you or others are at risk of harm, for the purposes of safeguarding you or others against such harm. I may decide to break confidentiality for you to gain emergency help

Approaches by a third party seeking information about you such as GP, Social Services, Insurance companies etc. In these situations, I will try to reach an agreement with you to the course of action to take.

How I protect personal information:

• I will only share your personal information where it is necessary for the purposes above and I am satisfied that the individual or organisation complies with its obligations to keep your personal information secure.
• My supervisor is subject to professional obligations of confidentiality. The information I may share in supervision will be shared in the manner that will attempt to retain your anonymity.
• Data is kept on a laptop computer for my business which is security protected with a password.
• Paper records are kept in a locked filing cabinet dedicated to my business in my consulting room.
• Brief notes that I may make concerning client work are anonymised.
• I have a dedicated mobile phone which is password protected where I keep contact details for my business.
• My email address enquiries@shireennoor.com has been set up especially for client communication and is password protected.

Retention time:

I hold client personal information for a period of seven years after the conclusion of our therapy

Personal data collected for purposes related to the performance of a contract between myself and a Client shall be retained until such contract has been fully performed.

I may be obliged to retain personal data for a longer period whenever required to do so for the performance of a legal obligation or upon order of an authority.

Once the retention period expires, personal data shall be deleted. Therefore, the right to access, the right to erasure, the right to rectification and the right to data portability cannot be enforced after expiration of the retention period.

Contact:

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Full details can be found on the ICO’s website www.ico.org.uk. However, if you have any concerns, I would be grateful for a chance to deal with these before you approach the ICO. If you have any questions or concerns about my use of your personal information, please contact me here

Changes to this privacy notice:

I will continue to revise this policy to reflect changes in law and practise. If you have any concerns or queries about how I keep your data safe please feel free to discuss them with me.