CHOICES COUNSELLING – PRIVACY POLICY

Data Controller: Choices Counselling, Victoria House, 10 Victoria Crescent, ELGIN, IV30 1RQ

Data Processor: Sian Macdonald

This purpose of this policy is to explain the data processing we do and how we do it. It will also include information on your rights as “data subject”. Whilst this policy will explain these things, our explanations may not be exhaustive and further information is always available at www.ico.org.uk. If you have any queries, please feel free to discuss them with us.

What information we hold: We collect, hold and process information such as your name, date of birth, address, email address and telephone numbers. We may also hold details regarding your reasons for seeking counselling. Once a session has taken place, we hold records of sessions, reports relating to the sessions and may also hold details of any communications.

Why we hold this information: We want to provide the best possible counselling session for each individual case. We have an interest in GDPR terms for all the information that we hold, that is to say, it is all necessary to provide you with the service which you have requested. We do not share this information with third parties unless it is deemed to be in your interests and with your approval.

We do not use your information for marketing purposes.

Where we hold this information: We hold paper records in a locked filing cabinet within locked premises when unattended.

Any devices are password/pin protected and access to programmes containing records are also securely password protected so, a double layer of protection is in place to offer improved security.

Who we share this information with: This information is not shared with any third parties except with prior client approval and where Choices Counselling considers specialist input is in your interest for your well-being. Further information is available from the ICO on their website.

How long the information is held for: Information is held for the duration of your treatment time with us. We are further required by law to retain records for 7 years from the last date of treatment.

In case of sudden death or injury any information held by Choices Counselling will be made available to another counsellor.This counsellor would then inform current clients of the state of play.The same rules of confidentiality and GDPR regulations apply.

PRIVACY POLICY

Data Subject Access Rights:

You have the right to: Request access to your records – (data subject access request) – This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you. There may be a charge for supply of information requested.

Request correction – of the personal data we hold for you. You can request any corrections or updates to be made, although we may need to verify the new data.

Request erasure – of your personal data where there is no good reason to continue processing it. We may not always be able to comply as there are certain professional requirements for retention of certain information. You will be notified if this is the case.

Object to processing – of personal data in certain circumstances where you feel that it impinges on your fundamental rights / freedoms. We may demonstrate an overriding legitimate interest in certain cases which means that we would not comply with your request, but we would have to demonstrate that in our response.

Request the transfer – of your personal data to a third party. We would provide this in a simple to use, accessible format unless prevented by statutory obligations from doing so.

Withdraw consent – where we are relying on your consent to process your personal data. However, doing so may meant that we are not able to continue your effective treatment.

Data Breaches: - we work hard to make sure that your information is as secure as possible and to maintain confidentiality at all times. In the extremely unlikely event that there is a breach which affects you, we will inform you and abide by the protocol laid down by the ICO.

The rights and obligations listed here are by no means exhaustive. A more in-depth explanation can be found on the ICO website www.ico.org.uk. If you have any concerns or queries, please feel free to discuss them with us.

Complaint Policy

We sincerely hope that the occasion will not arise where you will feel dissatisfied with your treatment or your communication with Choices Counselling. In the unfortunate event that there are any issues, however small they may be, we hope that you will come to us first. We will do our utmost to provide a resolution which satisfies your concern. You can contact us by telephone, email, letter or in person.

Cookies in Use on This Site

Cookies and how they Benefit You

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:

Improve the security/speed of the site, Make our website work as you'd expect, Continuously improve our website for you and 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:

Pass data to advertising networks

Collect any personally identifiable information (without your express permission)

Collect any sensitive information (without your express permission)

Pass personally identifiable data to third parties

Pay sales commissions

You can learn more about all the cookies we use below;

Granting us permission to use cookies

If the settings on your software that you are using to view this website (your browser) are adjusted to accept cookies we take this, and your continued use of our website, to mean that you are fine with this. Should you wish to remove or not use cookies from our site you can learn how to do this below, however doing so will likely mean that our site will not work as you would expect.

More about our Cookies

Website Function Cookies

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Allowing you to add comments to our site

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Anonymous Visitor Statistics Cookies

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Turning Cookies Off

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