Privacy Policy
The General Data Protection Regulation This privacy policy governs the manner in which Grey Matters Centre uses, maintains and discloses information collected from clients. This privacy policy applies to the practice; website and services offered by Grey Matters Centre; online, by telephone or within the private practice.
We shall not meet and/or have contact outside of the Counselling/Psychotherapy relationship. We shall not otherwise make contact with you or recognize you in a public place. Our relationship will remain a professional Counselling relationship.
(Clients seeking therapy will be issued with a paper copy of the Privacy Policy at their Initial Assessment which contains the following information and they will be asked to sign that they understand and agree with how information is collected, stored and held before therapy can commence.)
Personal Information collected
Name > Occupation > Address > Preferred contact number/email > Counselling History > Medical conditions relevant to counselling > Medications > Client expectation from counselling
How we store Information
- Hand written notes: pertaining to sessional content and personal details are kept separate in a locked cabinet.
- Smart phone: Our smart phones are locked and are only accessible using a password. We store your contact number but do not save any names to numbers.
- Email/texts: Email addresses and text messages are only assigned to numbers not names.
- Website: No personal information is stored on our website or by our website provider. Third party websites: Clients may find content on this website that link to the sites of other third parties. We do not control these sites which have a link to us and we am not responsible for how they collect, store or use information.
- Facebook: This is used for advertising purposes only. Please make contact with the secure numbers and email addresses.
Documents Held:
- Contract/Agreement form (client is issued with a copy at commencement of counselling and copy held by the counsellor for reference.)
- Privacy statement signed by client. (Client is issued with a copy at commencement of counselling and copy held by the counsellor for reference.)
- Assessment form Client code Client sessional notes, kept for 5 years to comply with Insurance policy terms.
How we may share your personal information:
- Supervision: We attend monthly clinical supervision to ensure our practice remains safe and ethical. Session details and client codes may be shared with our Supervisor.
- Therapeutic Will: Your name and contact details will be shared with our Therapeutic Executor so that in the unlikely event of our sudden death you can be contacted should you still be in therapy with us. Our Therapeutic Executor will sign a confidentiality agreement document.
- Emergencies: If your health is in jeopardy we may share your details with a healthcare service such as your GP or Mental Health Crisis Team.
Erasing your information:
All electronic enquiries are erased after 3 months. All texts and contact numbers are erased 3 months following the cessation of therapy.
We hold your written information for up to 5 years following the cessation of therapy. This is so we have a reference should you decide to return to therapy in the future.
Your Rights:
Right to access: You have the right to ask for a copy of your personal information, free of charge, in an electronic or paper format. You also have the right to ask us to amend or change any incorrect information about you.
Right to be Forgotten: You have the right to ask us to erase information that we hold about you. This includes your personal information that is no longer relevant to original purposes or if you wish to withdraw consent. In all cases and when considering such requests, these rights are obligatory unless its information that we have a legal obligation to retain.
Data Portability: As the client, you have the right to receive your personal information which you previously provided, also you have the right to transfer that information to another party. For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018, the dater “controller” is Louise Fenton (Grey Matters Centre) May 2018