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Karen Frodsham Counselling and Supervision Polices

Data Protection and Privacy Policy


Maintaining safe protection and privacy of personal information is a vital part of my practice as a Counsellor and Therapeutic Supervisor. This document describes my data protection and privacy policy, in line with good practice and relevant legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018. 

I collect and keep some personal information from my clients and supervisees. The purpose of this is to record who I am seeing and ensure that I am practicing safely by being able to communicate with clients and supervisees as necessary for our work. I keep: our contract, brief notes of our sessions, your contact details (name, address, telephone number(s), date of birth, email addresses, relevant emails and texts as recommended by professional bodies and insurers. 

I take the following measures to ensure your information is stored securely:
All paper documents are kept in a locked filing cabinet.  
Email addresses and mobile numbers are kept on password protected devices.  
When information is no longer required it is deleted or shredded. 
Paper records are kept for 5 years after the therapy has ended in accordance with professional and insurance guidelines.
There are limits to the protection of private information where disclosure is legally mandated and/or concerns child protection and significant risk of harm. 

You are entitled to have access to the personal data that I hold about you via a subject access request. I will respond to your request within one calendar month. 

In the unlikely event of a personal data breach I will inform you as soon as possible, record it and report it within 72 hours to the relevant supervisory authority.

See the Information Commissioner’s website https://ico.org.uk for further information about data protection legislation.

Karen Frodsham Counselling and Supervision

6 Beckfield Lane, York, YO26 5RL, England

Tel: 07952 662788  karen.counselling@virginmedia.com

Karen Frodsham Counselling and Supervision Social Media Policy

The document below outlines the social media policy for Karen Frodsham Counselling and Supervision.  Please read it to understand how I conduct myself online as a therapeutic counsellor and supervisor in private practice.  It will explain how you can expect me to respond to any interactions that may occur between us on the internet and social media.  If you have any questions that arise from reading the policy, please raise them when we meet.

The policy is a live document and will be updated in light of new technology changes and/or developments.

Friending

I do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking app or website.  The reason for this is to respect and protect the privacy and confidentiality of you the client/supervisee as well as myself as counsellor/supervisor.  It will also preserve the therapeutic relationship as we work or have worked together.  I believe having that boundary in place respects the work we will do or have done together.  I am happy to discuss with you for further clarification and/or to answer any questions.

Social Media Policy

When working online my priority is to maintain privacy for both clients and supervisees.  I have a website and advertise with organisations on their registers, (Association for Counselling and Therapy Online, Association for Christian Counsellors, Counselling Directory, and Online Training for Counsellors).  I will not search for your social media presence or request to follow you.  I will not accept invitations to follow you on social media.  I do this to avoid confusion and potentially blurring the boundaries of the contract we agreed when working together therapeutically.

Interaction between Sessions

Contact me using email or text message on my work phone, both found on my website and I aim to respond within 48 hours during working hours.  Usually there is no communication between sessions unless we have agreed to do so or there is a need to change an appointment time.   

Email Counselling

I prefer to use a password protected Word document when working therapeutically by email.  I may send information to you, by prior agreement.  Emails are stored on both our internet service providers; it is possible that the service administrator of those providers may look at them.  Please try not to refer to content from our sessions in any email exchanges.

Thank you for reading this policy.  If you have any questions you wish to discuss please raise them when we meet.

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