Foundation Degree in Counselling
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Safeguarding Level 2 (Adults and Children)
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Domestic Abuse Champion for the DAWN Project in Worcester
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Domestic Abuse Ambassador for The Penelope Project in Herefordshire
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As per BACP requirements, I am continually accessing further training and research material to improve my knowledge and skills.​
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Privacy Statement
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Transform Counselling UK takes your right to privacy and confidentiality very seriously. Your personal information will be kept safe, secure and used only for the purpose it was shared. Transform Counselling UK adheres to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
This privacy notice tells you what Transform Counselling UK will do with your personal information from initial point of contact to beyond your therapeutic involvement with us. Please take time to read this and ensure you are happy with the contents as it forms part of your working agreement with Transform Counselling UK.
Transform Counselling UK's lawful basis for holding and using your personal information; the GDPR states that Transform Counselling UK must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which Transform Counselling UK is processing your data. If you have had therapy with Transform Counselling UK and it has now ended, we will use legitimate interest as our lawful basis for holding and using your personal information. If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with Transform Counselling UK to consider therapy, we will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.
The GDPR ensures that we look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to us appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for Transform Counselling UK processing any special categories of personal information is consent initially. Transform Counselling UK will then retain any counselling records in case of the need to reference them in the future (the official legal basis is to defend against potential legal claims).
Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send Transform Counselling UK your details when making a referral. If you decide not to proceed, we will ensure all your personal data is deleted immediately. While you are accessing counselling, rest assured that everything you discuss with your therapist is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if you have the intention to harm yourself, someone else or if any criminal activity is disclosed. We will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.
How Transform Counselling UK uses your information
When you contact Transform Counselling UK with an enquiry about counselling services, we will collect information to help satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name, phone number and email address. If you decide not to proceed Transform Counselling UK will ensure all your personal data is deleted immediately.
When accessing counselling, our sessions remain confidential. Confidentiality will only be broken if you have the intention to harm yourself, someone else or if any criminal activity is disclosed. We will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.
Transform Counselling UK will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely on a fingerprint locked and password secured electronic device which only Transform Counselling UK has access to, additionally your name will be coded so as not to be identifiable.
For security reasons, Transform Counselling UK does not retain text messages. If there is relevant information contained in a text message, we will delete it instantly. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted instantly if it is not important. Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for 5 years, from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed. If you want Transform Counselling UK to delete your information sooner than this, please communicate this.
Your rights: You have a right to ask Transform Counselling UK to delete your personal information, to limit how we use your personal information, or to stop processing your personal information. You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that Transform Counselling UK holds about you and to object to the use of your personal data in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.
Where Transform Counselling UK does hold information about you, we will:
• give you a description of it and where it came from
• tell you why we are holding it, tell you how long we will store your data and how we made this decision
• tell you who it could be disclosed to
• let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form
You can also ask Transform Counselling UK at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information we hold about you.
To make a request for any personal information we may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to transformcounsellinguk@outlook.com.
If you wish to complain about how we handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to put it in writing and email transformcounsellinguk@outlook.com. We would welcome any suggestions for improving our data protection procedures.
If you want to make a formal complaint about the way we have processed your personal information you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with how I have used your data. My ICO reference is ZB873806. The ICO’s address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk