Privacy Policy
Paulina Counselling & Therapy customer privacy notice
Your privacy is very important to me and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose it was given to me. I am registered with the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) which means I need to tell you what data I am collecting from you and what I intent to do with it.
This privacy notice tells you what I will do with your personal information from initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended, including:
• Why I am able to process your information and what purpose I am processing it for
• Whether you have to provide it to me
• How long I store it for
• Whether there are other recipients of your personal information
• Whether I intend to transfer it to another country,
• Whether I do automated decision-making or profiling, and
• Your data protection rights. I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email paulinacounselling@yahoo.com.
‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/ organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is me. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
My phone number is: 07719721282
My email address is: paulinacounselling@yahoo.com
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My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information
The GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which I am processing your data.
I have explained these below: If you have had therapy with me and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information. If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract. The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is that it is for provision of health treatment (in this case counselling) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).
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How I use your information
Initial contact.
​When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry.
This will include you name, surname, email address and/or phone number. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a parent or trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf. If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted as soon as possible. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.
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While you are accessing counselling.
​Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if:
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I think you are at risk of giving or receiving serious harm from yourself or others.
If I think is required to do so by a UK court of law (drug trafficking, terrorism).
I receive clinical supervision on all my counselling work; the supervision itself is kept confidential.
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I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.
I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely on my laptop which is password protected and are not shared with any third party. I will keep written notes of each session, these are kept for 5 years.
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After counselling has ended.
​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 me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.
How long we keep information
I will keep your session notes, your name and your unique code for 5 years which is the time frame my insurance company requests.
Third party recipients of personal data
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I sometimes might need to share personal data with third parties, for example, where I have contracted with a supplier to carry out specific tasks. In such cases I have carefully selected which partners I work with. I take great care to ensure that I have a contract with the third party that states what they are allowed to do with the data I share with them. I ensure that they do not use your information in any way other than the task for which they have been contracted.
Your rights
I try to be as open as I can be in terms of giving people access
to their personal information. You have a right to ask me to
delete your personal information, to limit how I 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 I hold 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.
If I do hold information about you I will:
• give you a description of it and where it came from;
• tell you why I am holding its, tell you how long I will store
your data and how I 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 me at any time to correct any mistakes there
may be in the personal information I hold about you.
To make a request for any personal information I may hold
about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to
If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal
data please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by writing
or emailing to the contact details given above. I would welcome
any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures.
If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have
processed your personal information you can contact the ICO
which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in
the UK. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
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Data security
I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to make sure it is kept secure.
Your personal details are kept securely on my computer in the folder that is password protected. My laptop is also password protected and only I have access to it.
Notes are kept of each session. These are anonymised & are stored securely in a password protected file within the Kiku system. These notes are for my use only & help me to keep a track of everything that is being discussed. In line with my insurance requirements, these notes must be kept securely for up to 5 years after your therapy comes to an end, after which they will be confidentially destroyed.
You have the right to view these notes at any time. To make this request please contact me directly.
All confidential information is held in accordance with the GDPR, 2018 using the secure & encrypted Kiku system (please see their Privacy Policy for more information at https://www.wearekiku.com/privacy-notices).
I use unique code for each person.
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Visitors to my website
Visitors to my website When someone visits my website, I use a third party service,Google Analytics and Wix to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. I do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. I do not make, and do not allow Wix to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting my website. I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website.
No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party. If you fill in a form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me
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Last updated
1 September 2024