Privacy and Data Protection Statement

Therapist: Tim Mitchell
UKCP Registration Membership No 2011183664

ICO Registration:  CSN8508681

Your privacy and confidentiality are important to me.  I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and handle personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 together with my professional and ethical obligations as a psychotherapist.  

I am responsible for ensuring that personal information is collected and used lawfully, fairly, and securely and that I only collect information that is relevant and necessary for providing psychotherapy. 

Information I may collect

This may include:

  • Your name and contact details

  • Information you provide when making an enquiry or arranging therapy

  • Relevant information about your health and circumstances that you choose to share as part of therapy

  • Information about your GP or emergency contact where this is appropriate and has been provided

  • Brief clinical notes relating to our sessions 

  • Relevant email or text correspondence

  • Payment and financial information necessary for accounting, tax and insurance purposes

Information concerning your physical or mental health is treated as special category data and is subject to additional protection under data-protection law. 

How I use your information

I use your information only where necessary to:

  • provide safe, effective and ethical psychotherapy

  • maintain appropriate clinical records

  • communicate with you about appointments and other matters relating to your therapy

  • Engage in professional supervision to support safe clinical practice

  • meet my professional, legal insurance and accounting obligations and

  • respond appropriately where there are serious concerns about your safety or the safety of another person

I will only collect and retain information that is relevant and necessary for these purposes. 

Confidentiality and sharing information

The content of our sessions is confidential. I will normally not share information about you with anyone else without your consent.There are, however, circumstances in which  I will need to share information. These may include:

·       where I believe there is a serious and immediate risk of significant harm to you or another person

·       where there are safeguarding concerns involving a child or vulnerable adult

·       where I am legally required to disclose information, for example in response to a court order or

·       where disclosure is necessary to meet another legal or professional obligation

I discuss my clinical work with my supervisor as part of my professional responsibility to practise safely and ethically. Wherever possible, information is discussed without identifying details and this work takes place within a framework of confidentiality.   Where it is necessary to contact another professional or organisation, I will normally discuss this with you and seek your consent wherever it is appropriate and possible to do so.

How your information is stored

I take reasonable and appropriate measures to protect your information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure.  Electronic information is stored using password-protected and encrypted devices and secure digital services. Paper records, where used, are stored securely and are accessible only to me.  I do not routinely record psychotherapy sessions.

Recording of sessions

If I wish to make an audio or video recording of a therapy session for a specific clinical or professional purpose, I will discuss this with you beforehand and will only proceed with your explicit agreement. I will explain the purpose of the recording, how it will be stored, who will have access to it and when it will be deleted. You are free to decline a request to record a session, and declining will not affect your therapy.

Email, text and online communication

Email and text messaging are used primarily for arranging and managing appointments and other practical matters relating to therapy. I ask that sensitive therapeutic information is not routinely sent by email or text.  I will take reasonable steps to protect electronic communications, but no electronic communication system can be guaranteed to be completely secure or confidential.  Where therapy takes place online, I use appropriate privacy and security settings and will discuss these arrangements with you and these are laid out in the Working Online document.

How long I keep your information

I retain clinical and administrative records for 5 years [js1] after therapy ends, taking account of my professional responsibilities, legal obligations and insurance requirements. I will not retain personal information for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.  At the end of the relevant retention period, records will be securely deleted or destroyed.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you have rights under data-protection law including the right to:

  • request access to the personal information I hold about you

  • ask for inaccurate information to be corrected

  • request deletion of information where the law allows this

  • object to or request restriction of certain processing and

  • raise a concern or make a complaint about how your information is handled

These rights are subject to certain legal exceptions. For example, information may need to be retained where there is a legal or professional requirement to do so. The right to erasure is therefore not absolute.  If you have any questions or concerns about how I handle your information, please discuss them with me in the first instance.

You can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): www.ico.org.uk  Telephone: 0303 123 1113.  This statement will be reviewed periodically to ensure that it remains consistent with current data-protection requirements and my professional responsibilities.