Privacy Policy

Claudio Mendes

Counselling and Psychotherapy

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.

• Your data protection rights.

I am happy to talk through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via my email address claudiompsychotherapy@gmail.com

I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office

Registration number ZB832220

My phone number is: 07985571875

My email address is: claudiompsychotherapy@gmail.com

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 consent initially.

I will then retain any counselling records in case of the need to reference them in the future (the official legal basis is to defend against potential legal claims).

How I use your information

The personal information I hold about you - names and contact details, addresses, date of birth, payment details (including card or bank information for transfers and direct debits), medical history, call recordings if made, records of meetings and decisions - are all kept confidential.

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential.

That confidentiality will only be broken if:

I am sufficiently concerned that you may harm yourself or a third party.

Children or vulnerable adults are at significant risk of harm (sexual,

physical, psychological or financial abuse).

Acts of terrorism are planned or disclosed.

Money laundering (including drug/people trafficking involving money

laundering).

If I am subpoenaed by a court and ordered to give evidence under oath.

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 will keep a record of your personal details to help ensure the counselling service I provide to you runs smoothly. These details are kept securely, stored in a locked cupboard and on my laptop that requires a password that only I, Claudio Mendes, have access to. The data held electronically is backed up by a third-party cloud in the event that data has to be wiped remotely, in line with cyber security guidelines.

I do not share your information with any third party.

I will keep written notes of each session. My notes are kept in paper in a locked filing cabinet. Only I have access to them. Your name or any other people’s names will not appear on my notes.

After counselling has ended.

Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for seven year period from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed.

Your rights

I will be as open as I am permitted to 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.

For legal purposes, I am required to keep some data about you. We can discuss any requests you make for data together. Once we have come to an agreement, I will meet your reasonable request to the extent permitted by law, within one month, without charge.

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 claudiompsychotherapy@gmail.com

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.

You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.

If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with me, you can also complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Claudio Mendes, Counsellor & Psychotherapist

MBACP Accred

BABCP Accred Member

IPT UK Accred Psychotherapist and Supervisor

T- 07985571875