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 adhere to UKCP guidelines and the current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email at cbygravetherapy@gmail.com

How I use your information

• Initial contact

When you contact me with an enquiry about my psychotherapy services I will store information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name, contact details and any additional information that you include in your introductory message or email.  If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within six months. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.

• While you are accessing psychotherapy

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if I believe you or someone else is at risk of serious harm or where I am required by law to do so. 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 contact details and payment information to help with the administrative aspect of providing your psychotherapy service. I may also ask for additional information such as GP address or an emergency contact.  These details are kept securely in a password protected document.  I manage my practice myself as an independent sole trader, meaning your data will not be shared with any third party.  My phone, laptop and email account are password protected and accessible only to myself. During our work together, I will record brief written notes of each session, which are anonymised and kept in a notebook that I store securely at my home address.

Regarding online sessions, I use the platform Google Meet, which is securely encrypted.

• After psychotherapy has ended

Once our sessions have ended your records will be kept for five years from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed. This will include any communication via text message or email. If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.

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 also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you.  You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.

To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to cbygravetherapy@gmail.com

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.

Disclosure of your personal information

In the event of my incapacity or death your personal contact information will be disclosed to the clinical executor of my Professional Will so that they can notify you.  They only hold your first name and a contact number.

Visitors to my website 

When someone visits my website, I allow wordpress 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.

Changes to this privacy notice

I will notify you of any changes that are made to this privacy notice in the future.

Updated 2024