Privacy policy
Privacy Policy
I understand how important your privacy is and I will take care to maintain your confidentiality in accordance with current data protection laws (GDPR, 2018) and the ethical guidelines of The Health and Care Professions Council and The British Psychological Society. These guidelines have been set up to protect your confidential material and ensure that I always conduct therapy and coaching with professionalism and integrity.
In order to provide you with the best service possible, I will hold your personal contact details and records of your therapy and/or coaching sessions. Please find below important information about how this information will be held and used.
Your personal information
I use a secure, encrypted and password protected system to collect and store your personal data. At the point of booking your initial consultation with me, 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 me.
This personal information will be held for the duration of your therapy after which it will be deleted from my database.
Please note that I 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 therapeutic notes and treatment.
I 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 counselling service I am providing to you i.e. to arrange, cancel and rearrange appointments and collect payment for sessions.
Online Bookings
Anonymised payment details are recorded in my financial income reports. These reports will only hold your first name, last name initial and unique client reference number. The Spanish tax authorities require that we retain this information for 6 years after the end of the financial year.
You can view my privacy policy and website cookies policy here: https://www.saranicolpsychology.com/privacy-policy
Your payment details
All payments are processed via the secure booking system on the Client Area page of my website, where you can choose to pay with debit/credit card (transactions are processed by the secure third-party payment processor, Stripe) or Paypal. The booking system is managed by Acuity Scheduling, which is part of the Squarespace suite of products, and is therefore subject to Squarespace´s policies and practices. Acuity Scheduling is designed to comply with the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule. You can view more information on Squarespace´s privacy practices here: https://www.squarespace.com/privacy
Your therapy sessions
Everything that you discuss with me is confidential. Confidentiality will only be broken if there is concern about your safety or the safety of someone else, or I am instructed to do so by a Court of Law. I will always endeavour to speak to you about this first.
During remote working I will ensure that I am conducting online and telephone sessions in a quiet, private and confidential setting. I have selected video calling platforms that offer end to end encryption to ensure maximum privacy (such as Doxy.me and It´s Complicated). Please note however that I cannot be held responsible for any breaches that occur due to failures in this technology.
As an obligation of my registration with the HCPC and BPS in the UK, I am required to undertake Continuing Professional Development, and as part of this process, I discuss my therapy and coaching work with a peer supervisor. This is to ensure that I am offering you the best service possible. These conversations are bound by confidentiality and you will only be referred to by your first name.
I keep notes of each session. These are anonymised and are stored 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 communications with me
My email account uses the encrypted Zoho Mail service that ensures secure access, data protection and privacy. If you send an email to me, only I 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.
Data Usage
I will only use your email address and telephone number to contact you about your appointments. I may also contact you directly via email 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.
Your rights
Any personal data retained by me is kept in accordance with the GDPR, 2018.
Under these guidelines you have the following rights and can request the relevant information by emailing: contact@saranicolpsychology.com
The right to request access to your data
You can request to view the information that I hold about you (contact details, appointment logs etc.) at any time. If during therapy you would like to see your session notes, please let me know. Should you require a copy of your notes after your therapy has come to an end you can make this request by emailing me.
The right of rectification
At any point during your time using my service or during the seven years thereafter, while I retain your records, you have the right to request amendments to your contact details or session notes. This right can be exercised either by speaking directly to me or by contacting me by email.
The right to be forgotten
You can request that I delete and confidentially destroy the information that I hold about you and your sessions at any time. This request can be made by emailing me.
Instances where [I /we] would not be able to comply with your request are as follows:
a) It is necessary for me to retain these records in order to continue providing an effective service
b) I am compelled to retain these records by a Court of Law
c) I require these records in order to establish, exercise or defend legal claims
Consent
Before your first session with me, you will be asked to provide a signature and tick a checkbox to confirm that 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 contact@saranicolpsychology.com
Visitors to my website
When someone visits my website (https://www.saranicolpsychology.com), I use a third party service, Squarespace, 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 Squarespace 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. I use Google Analytics so that I can continually improve my service to you, You can read Google Analytics privacy notice here.
This website uses cookies and similar technologies, which are small files or pieces of text that download to a device when a visitor accesses a website or app. For information about viewing the cookies dropped on your device, visit the cookies Squarespace uses. These functional and required cookies are always used, which allow Squarespace, our hosting platform, to securely serve this website to you.
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, in order for me to respond to your submissions.
Marketing emails
I may send you marketing emails, which you can unsubscribe from by clicking the link at the bottom of the email. I share your contact information with Squarespace, my email marketing provider, so they can send these emails on my behalf.