Privacy Policy

When you first contact me

When you get in touch about counselling, I will usually collect your name, contact details and some basic information about what you are looking for support with.

Sometimes somebody else, such as a parent, family member or another professional, may contact me on your behalf. If this happens, I may receive some of your personal information from them and will normally make you aware of this when we first speak.

I may make brief notes during our introductory call. If you decide not to go ahead with counselling, these are securely deleted or destroyed. Other enquiry information and correspondence may be kept for up to 12 months.

If we work together

If you decide to begin counselling, I will collect some additional information so that I can work with you safely and professionally. This may include your address and date of birth, emergency contact details, relevant health or medication information, accessibility needs and information about your wellbeing.

I also keep brief notes about our counselling sessions and may keep relevant assessments, safeguarding information or important correspondence where needed.

I aim to keep records brief and only record information that is relevant to our work together. I do not record or automatically transcribe counselling sessions.

You do not have to tell me everything, but there may be information I need in order to provide counselling safely. If I do not have that information, I may not be able to offer or continue counselling.

Confidentiality

What you share with me in counselling is confidential.

There are some circumstances where I may need to share information, including where I am concerned about serious harm to you or somebody else, where there is a safeguarding concern, or where I am required to disclose information by law. Where it is appropriate and safe to do so, I will aim to discuss this with you first.

I discuss my counselling work in professional supervision. Client work is anonymised wherever reasonably possible, and supervisors are also required to maintain confidentiality.

If you give me details for an emergency contact, I will only normally contact them in an emergency or where there is a serious safety or safeguarding concern. Being named as your emergency contact does not give someone access to information about your counselling.

For clients aged 16 or 17, the counselling relationship is with the young person. A parent or carer may make the initial enquiry or pay for counselling, but this does not give them access to information about the counselling.

Keeping in touch

I may use email to arrange appointments and share information or resources with you.

WhatsApp and SMS may also be used for brief communication about appointments and for sharing general resources such as worksheets or video links. I do not use these services to provide counselling, and I encourage you not to send detailed or sensitive information through them.

If you do send me something that is important to your counselling, I may keep the relevant information as part of your counselling record.

Feedback

If you choose to give me feedback, I will ask you explicitly if you are happy for me to share it anonymously on my website or social media. You can withdraw this consent at any time.

Why I can use your information

Data protection law requires me to have a lawful basis for using your information.

While you are enquiring about or receiving counselling, my main lawful basis is contract. After counselling ends, I rely on my legitimate interests to keep appropriate records for professional, insurance and legal purposes.

Some of the information you share with me, particularly information about your health, is classed as special category data. I process this where it is necessary to provide counselling under Article 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR (health or social care) and in accordance with my professional duty of confidentiality.

Who else might have access to my information?

I use trusted services to help me run my practice, including services for email and secure storage, online forms and video calls, appointment booking, payments, accounting, website hosting and communications.

These services may process limited personal information where this is needed to provide their service. Some may process information outside the UK; where this happens, I use providers with appropriate arrangements in place for international transfers under UK data protection law. You can contact me if you would like more information about these safeguards.

I do not routinely share information about your counselling with family members, employers or other professionals. If sharing information with someone else would be helpful, I would normally discuss this with you first.

If I die, become seriously ill or am unexpectedly unable to practise, a designated professional executor may access the minimum information needed to contact current clients and make sure confidential records are managed appropriately.

How long will you keep my information?

If you become a client, I normally keep your counselling record for seven years after your final session.

If you were under 18 when counselling took place, your record will normally be kept until at least seven years after your 18th birthday.

There may occasionally be a reason to keep information for longer, for example because of a legal, safeguarding, insurance or professional requirement.

Routine messages are deleted when they are no longer needed. If a message contains information that is important to your counselling, the relevant information may instead be kept as part of your counselling record.

Financial records are kept for as long as required by tax and financial law.

How do you keep my information safe?

I take reasonable steps to keep your information safe. Electronic information is held using secure business systems and protected devices, and paper records are stored securely in a locked private office.

Access to client information is limited to what is necessary to run my practice.

What are my rights?

You have rights over your personal information. Depending on the circumstances, you can ask me to:

• give you a copy of the information I hold about you;
• correct information that is inaccurate;
• delete information in certain circumstances;
• restrict how I use your information;
• object to certain uses of your information; or
• provide certain information in a portable format.

These rights do not apply in every situation, and there may be circumstances where I need to continue holding information.

If you want to exercise one of these rights or have a concern about how I have used your information, email danny@mcgillcounselling.com.

If you make a data protection complaint, I will acknowledge it within 30 days, investigate it appropriately, keep you updated where necessary and let you know the outcome without undue delay.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator.

When you use my website

When you visit my website, some technical information may be collected to keep the site working securely and help me understand how it is being used.

The website uses essential cookies needed for it to work. Analytics and other non-essential cookies are only used with your consent, and you can change your choices using the website’s cookie controls.

If you send me an enquiry through a website form, the information you provide may be stored temporarily on the website as well as being sent to me.

More information about the cookies currently in use is available through the website’s cookie settings.