Privacy Policy
Data Protection and GDPR
For more information about your privacy rights, please take some time to visit: www.knowyourprivacyrights.org (link opens in a new window).
This site provides detailed information about your privacy rights and what you can expect from me in relation to your data.
Introduction
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 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.
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: mackeypsychology@protonmail.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 Dr Ellen Mackey.
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 psychology) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).
How I use your information
Initial contact.
When you contact me with an enquiry about my Psychology services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name and contact details and some information about the support you are seeking.
If you decide not to proceed, I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within seven weeks. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.
While you are accessing Psychology.
Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken in cases where there is serious risk of harm to you or others or where Courts have a legal right to require it. 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 Psychology services run smoothly. These details are kept securely.
I will keep written notes of each session which are also stored securely online in compliance with GDPR.
For security reasons I do not retain text or Whatsapp messages for more than three months. If there is relevant information I will add this to your electronic notes. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after three months. If necessary, I will add this information to your electronic notes.
After Psychology support has ended.
Once Psychology support has ended your records will be kept for seven 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.
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.
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 it, 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:
mackeypsychology@protonmail.com
I have a duty to provide the data I hold about you within 30 days of receiving a written request.
You do not have right to third party information I hold about you (information received from another person- e.g. GP or school) though I would try to ensure the themes of this information is available to you unless there were safeguarding concerns. You would need to request this information directly from them.
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.
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. I use password protected devices, secure mailing system and secure storage.
Please be aware that being online does raise some issues of data security, however I have carefully chosen GDPR compliant systems and emails.
Aspects of what you bring to our sessions I will take to Supervision meetings run by experienced Clinical Psychologists. This is to try to ensure you get as much benefit as possible from our sessions together. Supervision meetings are bound by the same requirements for confidentiality as I am personally as a Clinical Psychologist. I will only use your first name so that you remain anonymous.
If a complaint is made by you about my practice to the HCPC, I reserve the right to use my session notes to address any grievances. Wherever possible, I will inform you of this.
How can you protect your data?
I recommend that you take steps to protect your data on your side of our communications. You can sign up for a free Protonmail account, which adds additional security to our emails together.
You should also ensure you practice good password security with your emails, computer and phone.
When working online together, I am in a private and confidential space where our sessions cannot be overheard. I recommend that you also find a space where others will not be able to hear the session.
I will not record our sessions, and I do not give consent for recording of our sessions, unless otherwise discussed and mutually agreed.