Our therapy sessions

Everything that you discuss with me [Lucy Smith Therapy] is confidential. Confidentiality will only be broken if there is concern about your safety or the safety of someone else or Lucy Smith Therapy is instructed to do so by a Court of Law. Lucy Smith Therapy will always endeavour to speak to you about this first.

During remote working I [Lucy Smith Therapy] will ensure that I am conducting online and telephone sessions in a quiet, private and confidential setting. Lucy Smith Therapy have selected video calling platforms that offer end to end encryption to ensure maximum privacy. However, please note that Lucy Smith Therapy cannot be held responsible for any breaches that occur due to failures in this technology.

I [Lucy Smith Therapy] discuss my clinical work with a supervisor. This is to ensure that I [Lucy Smith Therapy] offer you the best service possible. These conversations are bound by confidentiality and you will only be referred to by your first name.

I [Lucy Smith Therapy] may keep brief notes from sessions and / or images of creative work produced in session. These are anonymised and are stored securely in a locked filing cabinet or within a password protected file. These notes are for my use only and help to keep a track of everything that is being discussed. In line with industry guidelines, these notes will be kept securely for up to seven years after your therapy comes to an end. After this time, they will be confidentially destroyed.

If your sessions are paid for or arranged via a third party, (e.g. your employer, a friend, or a family member), other than payment requests, invoices or receipts your counselling information will not be shared. Details about what is discussed in your sessions will remain confidential between us. Any other information can only be shared if you provide your written consent.

Your personal information – How we store your details

Lucy Smith Therapy securely stores and encrypts your personal data. At the point of booking your initial consultation with Lucy Smith Therapy, you will be asked for your personal contact information, for example your name, address, email address and telephone number and you may also choose to share details of the issues you are looking for help with.

Your contact information is stored securely and can only be accessed by Lucy Smith Therapy.

In order to be able to fulfil a duty of care to you, in your initial consultation or first treatment session, I, your therapist will ask you for contact information for your GP and elected Emergency Contact person. These details will be stored securely and will only be accessible to Lucy Smith Therapy.

This personal information will be held for the duration of your therapy, and will be kept no longer than necessary and destroyed confidentially.

Please note that Lucy Smith Therapy will need to keep a record of your name and client reference number for seven years after the end of your therapy, so that we can respond effectively to any potential requests regarding your clinical notes and treatment.

Lucy Smith Therapy will never pass on your contact details to any third party organisations for the purposes of sales, marketing or research and will never use your personal data for any purposes other than the administration of the psychotherapy service we are providing to you, i.e. to arrange, cancel and rearrange appointments and collect payment for sessions.

As a UK therapist, I [Lucy Smith Therapy] am required to work within the ethical requirements of a relevant Accrediting Body (BACP etc.) and to hold relevant Professional or Public Liability Insurance. For international clients, all therapy and counselling services are undertaken in accordance with the laws of the practitioner’s own country and any disputes will be subject to that country’s law.

Session Bookings

When you make a booking via [cal.com] a booking notification will be sent to Lucy Smith Therapy.

Anonymised payment details are recorded in Lucy Smith Therapy’s financial income reports. These reports will only hold your first name, last name initial and unique client reference number. HMRC requires that we retain this information for 5 years after the end of the financial year.

Lucy Smith Therapy website uses cookies. You can find out more details within the section: Cookies Policy [link to section]

cal.com

Lucy Smith Therapy uses cal.com as our “Complimentary 20 min Introductory Session” booking system. We have endeavoured to make sure that cal.com is UK GDPR compliant. cal.com is a third party Data Processor. Please see their Privacy Policy - cal.com. [linked]

Google Drives

Lucy Smith Therapy uses google docs and other cloud based google products for day to day document storage. Google is a third party Data Processor. Please see their Privacy Policy - Google.

Your payment details

Lucy Smith Therapy website does not process nor hold your payment information.

Your communications with us

All of our email accounts use the secure GSuite server and are double password protected. If you send an email to your Lucy Smith Therapy’s email address, only Lucy Smith Therapy will have access to it.

All phones, tablets and laptops used to respond to your emails are encrypted, fully protected with anti-virus software and password protected.

Consent

When you book your first session with Lucy Smith Therapy via cal.com, you will be asked to verify your email. Once verified, your first booking will be confirmed. By verifying your email you consent to the storage and processing of your personal data for the purposes of providing therapeutic services.

You are entitled to withdraw this consent at any time and can do so by emailing Lucy Smith Therapy at info@lucysmiththerapy.com

Data Usage

Lucy Smith Therapy will only use your email address and telephone number to contact you about your appointments or in order to share information with you that is pertinent to your therapeutic process.

Your phone number may also be used to issue appointment reminders via text message. You can request to opt in or out of text updates by emailing info@lucysmiththerapy.com

How we manage your data

Where we [Lucy Smith Therapy] manage personal data, we identify as a Data Controller and recognise and act on our obligations under data protection law applicable in the UK. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), registration: ZB748545.

Any personal data (contact details, appointment logs etc.) retained by Lucy Smith Therapy is kept in accordance with GDPR, 2018. And held during the service of Lucy Smith Therapy and thereafter retained for a period of no more than seven years

You can request to view the information that Lucy Smith Therapy holds about you (contact details, appointment logs etc.) at any time. If during therapy you would like to see your session notes, please make this request during your session.

In the event of any breach of our data protection policies, Lucy Smith Therapy will notify you and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) within 72 hours and will seek to rectify this immediately.

You can contact us in relation to data protection matters by email to info@lucysmiththerapy.com