Amanda Comley Ashton, Counsellor and CoachChanging your world one step at a time
I will not use your personal data to contact you for any other purpose than therapy or coaching, unless you have asked me to do otherwise. I will never share clients’ data to other parties for marketing purposes, or similar.
As a ‘data controller’, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is concerned with the personal information about you that I collect, store, and share, as below:
What I collect (from you)
I record your name and email address when you contact me
When you come for therapy or coaching, I ask you to fill in a registration form. This includes:
Name
Address
Telephone number/s (plus permission to text or not)
Email address
Gender (or preferred identity)
Age
Occupation
Names of key family members
Brief therapy history
Relevant medical conditions
Prescribed medication/s
A note of your current difficulties and therapy objectives
What I store where
Smartphone:
I store your mobile number but under a code rather than your name. This allows me to contact you in emergencies, but your identity code is meaningless to outsiders. Your emails, telephone contact history and texts may also be stored here should we exchange messages in this way. My smartphone is password protected.
Computer:
The registration form you email to me is held on my computer until I print it, when the electronic copy is deleted.
Website:
None of your personal information is stored on my website, other than momentarily if you use the ‘Contact Me’ or Sign up for tips facility.
Computer
I keep copies of the following in a secure environment which is password protected for each client:
Our signed & dated Therapy/coaching Agreement
Your self-completed Registration Form
Session Notes. All identifiable details are anonymised (eg initials of names used only).
What I may share
All your personal information and everything you say is treated in the strictest confidence. I will never share your data or personal information with anyone else or with any other body apart from the following therapy-standard exceptions:
Clinical Supervision
Like all registered psychotherapists in the UK, I am required to have monthly clinical supervision to support best practice, during which time some client material is discussed, on an anonymous and confidential basis.
By Order of Law
If I am ordered by a court of law to share any of the information I hold about you, I will share only the minimum detail required and only after discussion with you wherever possible.
Suicidal Intent
If I believe there is a significant risk of you causing serious harm to yourself or another person, or of taking your own life, I may share your contact information and brief mental health details with your doctor or relevant emergency service. I will attempt to discuss this with you first whenever possible.
Terrorism and Money Laundering
If I have become aware of your intent to commit an act of terrorism, or money laundering, the law may require that I inform an authority without seeking your permission or your knowledge.
Erasing your information
I will securely hold your written information for up to seven years for insurance purposes. After this time has passed, I shred all written information.