Data Protection & Privacy Statement (GDPR 2018)

The Data Protection Act (1998) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR 2018) places obligations on organisations who record and use personal information  This policy sets out how Insight  Counselling applies the data protection principles and fulfils the obligations in relation to our collection, storage, processing and distribution of client’s personal information. This policy only applies to data collected by Insight staff and volunteers.  Third party agents, and websites which are linked to ours, are not covered by this policy

Insight Counselling is registered with the Information Commissioner ICO (https://www.ico.org.uk) 

Purpose of data collection

To provide our counselling services professionally it requires us to identify your problems/issues and record what we do to help you alleviate them. It enables us to:

• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of what we do in helping clients.  
• Shape and develop services for the future. 
• Collect anonymised statistical data e.g. age groups, 
• Check on facts in the event that someone has a query e.g. who we have seen, what we have done and when. 

Your information is held on a secure database for which we have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way.

The information we collect is as follows:

• Name
• Contact details including email address
• Date of birth
• Referrer self/third party e.g. GP
• GP Name and contact details
• Medical conditions/prescribed medication
• Occupation/Education
• Nature of the enquiry
• Past experience of mental health services/previous counselling  
• Relationships and family (past and present)
• Problems identified
• Focus for counselling sessions
• Outcomes  – questionnaires completed at the beginning, mid-way and the end of sessions

If you have made a referral to Insight for counselling or are already receiving a service from us, we may need to share your information internally in order to provide counselling services to you.  We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine need to know it. Your identifiable personal information is kept separately from any session notes and other descriptive material

Counselling records contain sensitive information and are private to you and remain confidential, unless:

1. You may be at risk of harm
2. There is a risk of harm to others
3. There is a safeguarding issue of a child/young persona vulnerable adult
4. You disclose criminal activity
5. A health and safety risk to others in the workplace
6. A disclosure is required by law or by a court order

Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality. 

It is important to note the security of your personal data which you transmit to our site by email is done so at your own risk.

Storage of information

Your electronic and paper records are held for a period of 3 years from the date of Insight receiving your referral. This in line with our professional body’s guidance regarding complaints and the time scale for submitting a complaint. All paper records are held securely in locked filing cabinets and at the end of the 3 year period the electronic record is deleted and any paper records are shredded. Records for children/young people are kept for 5 years.

All staff and volunteers receive an induction into the service and training on the procedures to follow whilst dealing with personal data. 

Access to Records

We will ask you at your first appointment for consent to process your information and explain the conditions that apply.  You have the right to withdraw your consent for Insight to keep these records at any time. If you do not want us to process your information, you may withhold your consent from it being shared. In doing so this may affect the service we are able to offer you. You may have access to the records we hold for you and a procedure is in place to enable this.

You may request your record:

• Be amended if you think it incorrect or incomplete. 
• Be erased if you no longer wish for your information to be processed, (unless we are required to comply with a legal obligation or to practice competently within our code of ethics)

Data Portability

You have the right to move and use your personal data across other services, which will be available to you by completing an ‘Access to Records’ form. Please speak with your counsellor or the Clinical Manager regarding this.

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