Privacy Policy
I take your privacy and the processing of your data seriously. In this privacy notice, I will outline how and why I collect and process your data for the purposes of your therapy. Under GDPR law, I must have a valid lawful basis under which I can process your data. When contacting AK Counselling, I provide a service to my clients on the lawful basis of a “contract” according to GDPR.
Use of your personal data
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It is necessary for me to collect and process your data for administrative purposes in order to answer any questions you may have about potential counselling with me and arranging initial consultation and subsequent appointments
It is also necessary to keep minimal notes/records on your therapy in order to ensure good practice and reflection. These records are kept safely and confidentially according to my professional and ethical body, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, www.bacp.co.uk.
Type of data I collect
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I collect and process necessary information such as your name, email address, phone number in order to make the initial appointment.
Following that, I collect and process information about your individual circumstances including personal and sensitive information which are necessary for your counselling and for me to understand and explore your situation and difficulties. I may also ask you for your GP name and address and will only ever contact them if I believe that you may be at risk of harm to yourself. Even then, I will tell you that I will be contacting them before I do so.
Finally, I may collect financial information in order to complete electronic payments for your therapy.
Consent to process your personal data
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When you make initial contact with me, you consent for me to process your data to get in touch to answer any queries and arrange an initial appointment.
Website information
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I use Google Analytics and cookies in order to analyse the use of my website and to make sure my website performs effectively. By using this website, you agree in allowing Google Analytics to collect data about your navigation on my website.
Storage of your personal data
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According to my professional body, data that could personally identify you must be kept separately from any personal and sensitive information about your circumstances. They are kept on my personal computer which has a password. Your notes and records are kept in a locked file cabinet or stored electronically with a protected password. These will be destroyed 6 years after you cease therapy with me and this is a requirement by my insurance body for legal reasons.
Third party
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I will not share your data with any third party.
The only exceptions are:
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if there is reasonable cause to believe that there is significant harm likely to be caused to yourself or another. I will discuss this with you in advance and as part of your therapy with me.
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where there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is involvement with terrorism or money-laundering.
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if I am ordered to do so by a Court of Law.
Your individual rights
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Under GDPR law, you have the below individual rights. Please note that exercising any of the below, may impact on whether or not, you will be able to continue to be in therapy with me. I will consider your request and take into account the GDPR, the BACP code of conduct and my insurance requirements and will inform you of my decision within 30 days of your request.
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Right to be informed – this privacy notice fulfills your right to be informed. It is important that you read it carefully as it outlines how I collect and use your personal data. This is the key transparency requirement under the GDPR.
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Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the information that I hold about you.
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Right of rectification – you have a right to correct data that I hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete. You can make this request verbally or in writing.
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Right to be forgotten – in certain circumstances you can ask for the data I hold about you to be erased from our records.
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Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply you have a right to restrict the processing of your data but I will still be able to store it.
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Right of portability – you have the right to have the data I hold about you transferred to another organisation.
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Right to object – you have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing.
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Right to object to automated processing, including profiling – you also have the right not to be subject to the legal effects of automated processing or profiling.
Data breaches
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Should a data breach become apparent, you and the ICO will be notified within 72 days in accordance with their stipulations. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.
Cookies
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Our website uses cookies, as almost all websites do, to help provide you with the best experience we can. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile phone when you browse websites.
Our cookies help us:
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Make our website work as you’d expect.
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Improve the speed/security of the site.
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Allow you to share pages with social networks like Facebook.
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Continuously improve our website for you.
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Make our marketing more efficient (ultimately helping us to offer the service we do at the price we do).
We do not use cookies to:
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Collect any personally identifiable information (without your express permission).
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Collect any sensitive information (without your express permission).
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Pass data to advertising networks.
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Pass personally identifiable data to third parties.
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Pay sales commissions.
Turning cookies off
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You can usually switch cookies off by adjusting your browser settings to stop it from accepting cookies (Learn how here). Doing so however will likely limit the functionality of our’s and a large proportion of the world’s websites as cookies are a standard part of most modern websites.
Contact details
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Alison Knight
Alison Knight Counselling
Address:
Email: akcounselling@aol.com
It is very important that the information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. Please let us know if at any time your personal information changes by emailing us at akcounselling@aol.com
Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy should be addressed to akcounselling@aol.com