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 meThis privacy policy sets out your rights and my obligations to you in regards to the collection, recording and storage of your personal information and data.
Any personal data provided by you to myself through any means (verbal, written, in electronic format, or by your of my website), will be held and processed in accordance with the data protection principles set out in the Data Protection Act 1998, and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 for the legitimate interests of my clinical practice and for the services of which you have requested.
I will state what information I need to collect from you before and during your counselling sessions with myself. I will also highlight how I will store your personal information, how long I will store it for, and who I share it with. Finally, I will set out what you are able to request from me and your rights regarding your personal information.
Who I am
‘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.
I am Ish Chuhadry, a fully qualified, insured and Accredited BACP counsellor. My contact details can be found by navigating to the ‘Contact’ section of my website. Any queries regarding the use of your personal data should be addressed to the email address listed there.
My website address is: https://bloomcounselling.co.uk.
What is personal data and what will you collect about me?
Personal data is any personal information includes any information used to identify a living individual (Data Protection Act 1998). This includes name, address, telephone number or email address.
I will collect several types of information about you and in several ways. For example, when you visit www.bloomcounselling.co.uk I will collect the following information: IP address, location, search engine, date, time, web pages visited, operating system, and device.
If you fill in the Contact form on my website, I will collect the following information: name, email address, telephone number, date, time and the information you supply in the Comments section.
Before we meet for an initial session, I will ask you to provide me with the following information: name, telephone number, address, availability, and a brief description of the issues you would like to address.
Once we proceed with the therapy, I will collect further information about you that may include: GP contact details, date of birth, previous therapy, current and past medication, financial and employment circumstances, health and physical issues, alcohol and drug use, family structure, overview of your family and current situation, significant past events, relationship status and your present circumstances.
Why do you need to process my personal information?
I need to do this in order to fulfil my contractual obligations to you as a therapist. For example, to assess whether I am best suited to offer you therapy based on the information you have provided. In addition, as the therapy commences, any personal information you provide me with will aid my clinical decision making. My contractual obligations to you as a counsellor are the lawful basis for my processing your personal information and data.
How will you collect my personal information?
This is done in a number of ways, including through my website (www.bloomcounselling.co.uk), by telephone and in person/online during our sessions.
How will my personal information be stored?
Personal information is stored both electronically and physically. Any information stored electronically is done so on devices that are password/fingerprint protected, and in files that are further protected by password, and only accessible by me. Names and contact details are stored separately from other personal information and anonymised. Any information stored physically using paper records are held securely in locked storage in an anonymised format. These are also only accessible by myself.
Can I request a copy of the personal information you have stored about me?
You have the right to find out what information I have stored about you by requesting a copy. You can do so through the ‘Contact’ section of my website. I usually respond within one month. There may be an administrative charge for this. I may also have the right to refuse to comply with your request, for example in order to comply with my insurance terms and conditions, and to defend myself in a claim situation. I will let you know of my response to your request within one month of receiving it.
Do I have the right to object or complain about the processing of my personal information?
Yes, it is within your right to object or complain about the way your personal information is handled by me. You can do so by contacting me using the Contact form on my website, or contact the Information Commissioner’s Office on 0303 123 1123, or visit https://ico.org.uk/concerns.
Website
When someone visits my website, I use a third party service, [hostgator.com] 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 [hostgator.com] 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.
If applicable
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Contact forms
Cookies
If you leave a comment on my site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
Who we share your data with and how long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.