Privacy Policy

As counsellors, processing and retaining personal information of clients is necessary to fulfil professional responsibilities and duties. For example, a duty of care to the client; legal obligation to break confidentiality and compliance with professional bodies regulatory processes.

Consent

By supplying your personal information on enquiry or request of counsellor’s services and/or client registration, you are agreeing to Jo Evans Counselling holding confidential data about you, for the purposes of establishing a professional counselling relationship.  Client notes and other documentation such as assessment details, emails or texts are destroyed 3 years after the end of counselling.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, GDPR 2018, You have the right to ask us to provide a copy of the information held by us in our records. A small fee is payable. You also have the right to require us to correct any inaccuracies in your information. If you would like to do this, please contact Jo Evans Counselling.

You may withdraw your consent for us to hold and process your data at any time.  However, if you do this while actively receiving counselling from Jo Evans Counselling, your counselling would have to end.

The information we collect from you in a counselling setting may include:

  • Contact details: name, address, phone/mobile number, email address
  • Medical details including G.P. practice
  • Assessment details including presenting issues, aspects of life history and family, work, social and faith contexts.
  • Session records/logs: time, place, attendance, summary note of what happened in the session.
  • Text message/email exchanges—notices of availability/cancellation and/or notes from the clients about their current thoughts or feelings.
  • Letters and other paper correspondence.

How we use your personal information

Your personal information (including the contact form on this site) is never used for any marketing purposes, nor provided to any third party for use for marketing purposes. It is used only for Jo Evans Counselling to make appointments, arrange payment, client registration and/or follow up information, and, only for the purposes of our therapeutic work together. 

In accordance with BACP and ACC ethical framework, your case will be discussed in professional supervision to ensure that we are working to a high ethical standard and always in your best interests.  No information which could identify you will be shared with the supervisor.

We may share your personal information with professional carers or others whom you have requested or agreed we should contact.

We may share your personal information with the relevant authorities if we have reason to believe that this may prevent serious harm being caused to you or another person, or, if we are required to by law or by the regulations and other rules to which we are subject to.

How we store your personal information

We are committed to ensuring that your personal information is secured. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, client information is secured with suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard the information; e.g. in a locked cabinet. All electronic records are stored securely on a cloud server using the latest firewalls and data security protocols, and all access is by password-protected authentication.

While we will endeavour to do our very best to protect your personal information using industry-standard protocols and encryption, we cannot guarantee the security of data including forms completed on our website transmitted to us via email; any transmission is at your own risk. The transmission of information via the internet can never be completely secure.

Any email, mobile, phone or internet (Skype/Zoom/Facetime/WhatsApp etc.) that you may choose to use to communicate with Jo Evans Counselling is subject to the limits of confidentiality from providers.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic and lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer.

Our website should not contain links to other websites of interest except links to Professional Standards Authority such as BACP and ACC. However, should you leave our site, please note that we do not have any control over other websites. We cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. Please exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website you visit.

Your privacy

This privacy policy sets out how we use and protect any information you give us when you use this website. We are committed to ensuring your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, you can be assured it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. We may change this policy any time by updating this page. 

Data Protection registration – ZA305009