Confidentiality

Counselling is confidential.  This means I will not share information about you with a third party unless you consent for me to do so.  I will not tell anyone that you attend counselling, or what you say in our sessions, without your consent.

There are some exceptions to this when I may need to share information about you, even if you do not agree to this happening.  The exceptions are:

·       if there is a serious concern for your or someone else’s safety, particularly if a child is at risk of serious harm;

·       if there is a legal obligation relating to your involvement in, or knowledge of, a serious crime;

·       if there is a court order requesting information about you;

·       if it is essential to prevent a serious and imminent threat to either public health or national security.

Where possible, though, I will always seek your consent before any disclosure.

Supervision

I attend regular supervision which involves discussing my work with an experienced counsellor who supports me and ensures I am working ethically.  If I discuss your sessions during supervision, any information about you will be anonymised.

Online counselling

If you have online counselling with me, I will do so in a room where no one can hear our conversation or see my screen, and these sessions are not recorded. 

While video call platforms offer degrees of security and encryption, it is not possible to guarantee how the companies providing these services will handle data relating to the call. Also, with some platforms, it might mean both the call and your number is logged on my device. I do not store your name in my digital address book but, with a service such as FaceTime, the operating system might recognise your number and link it to emails or texts we have exchanged.

Privacy

Lotus Counselling is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO number: ZB692184) and any information that I keep is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018 and United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation. See Information Commissioner’s Office: https://ico.org.uk

When we begin working together, I will record your name and preferred contact details (for example, telephone number, email address).  I use this information only for essential administrative tasks: contacting you and arranging appointments.  I do not share it with others without your consent unless I am legally or ethically required to do so, as in the confidentiality statement above.

Note taking

I may take brief notes after our sessions, but there are anonymised and kept separately to your contact details, so you cannot be identified.

Data protection

Personal data and any notes taken are kept in a password protected digital folder.  This information will be kept for a maximum of six years, after counselling has ended, then it will securely deleted.

It is your right to see the data I hold about you and request for any corrections or deletions.

Website data

I may use analytics via Google or my website host, Squarespace, to monitor visits to my website, but I do not have access to any personal data within these systems, just anonymised numerical information about the site’s usage.

Last updated September 2024