Privacy Notice
I Aisling Goodison collect and process personal information in the following ways and in line with current Data Protection regulations and the law. This notice gives you the information you need about your rights and what happens your information.
Information that I collect: I will never collect information from you that I don’t need in order to provide the service of counselling. The Information I collect is:
- Name, Address, Contact Details, Date of Birth
- Next of Kin or Parents’ or Guardians’ names, addresses and telephone numbers
- Workplace assessment related information may also be collected. (For EAP Programme Clients only)
- Monitoring or outcome data (CORE) (*Voluntary information not included in essential information needed to provide you with the service of counselling, For AXA PPPHealthcare clients Only)
- Special Category Data (Including GP name, address and telephone number, health information included in session notes)
I Collect this from you: Directly via email, private message via facebook page https://www.facebook.com/agoodisoncounselling or SMS text message, telephone and in person; or From Employment Assistance Programme Companies in line with their privacy policies and the law.
How I Use Your Information: I collect your information to provide the service of counselling to you. I share your information only in the ways described in “Sharing and Disclosing your information” below. Your contact details will be used to communicate with you about appointments.
Your Rights: You have the right to access to, and a copy of: What personal data I hold about you, The purposes of the processing, The categories of personal data concerned, The recipients to who the Personal data has / will be disclosed, How long I intend to store your personal data for, If I did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source.
You can ask for any information you believe to be wrong or incomplete to be corrected or completed. I will try to do this as quickly as possible. If there is a valid or legal reason not to, you will be told as soon as possible.
You can withdraw consent for the processing of your information at any time, however there may be reasons to continue to process your information. (See sharing and disclosing and below)
Some information can be deleted on request, however services that hold special category information like counselling need to by law and following guidance from insurance and regulatory bodies hold information for certain lengths of time. Please see “How long I keep your information” below.
If you ask me to do any of the above, I may ask you to confirm your identity to keep your information secure.
Sharing and Disclosing Information: I do not give your information to anyone other than the people below for the reasons described, either by law or because of the contract I have with them. These people are bound to hold your information just like me under this notice and under the law.
By Law: If your notes are requested by the prosecution service / court services, I have to send them copies by law. Also if you tell me about a serious crime, including abuse I must report this to the police / Gardai, or social services / Tusla
Insurance: Where there is a claim about your specific case only, your information may be shared with my insurance company.
Regulatory Body: Where there is a complaint about your case only, information about our work together may be shared with my regulatory body the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Supervision: I will share information with my supervisor to make sure my work is of good quality.
Vital Interest to you or others: If you tell me about yourself or someone else being in danger, I may need to give your information to services that can keep you or the other person safe.*As part of vital interest criteria and due to the Covid 19 Pandemic: If I am requested by UK or Irish Health Services to provide information of contacts under “contact tracing” I will share with them your name and contact details only. I will NOT share how I know you.
Employment Assistance Programme Providers: Where you are an Employment Assistance Programme client your information will be shared with the Employment Assistance Programme Company under their Privacy Notice and my contract with them. For AXA PPP Healthcare clients this may include assessment information recorded on secure CORE system and secure email system.
Parental Rights: Parents / Guardians of those under 18 may request access to the information I hold on their child. However where the young person is assessed by me to be competent under Fraser guidelines (“whether the child has the maturity to make their own decisions and to understand the implications of those decisions” (NSPCC 2018)) and have requested that their information be kept confidential, information will remain confidential: Unless I am legally required to or in the vital interests of the child / Young person, as explained above.
Unable to Work: If I am unable to work long term and cannot contact you myself, another counsellor bound by confidentiality, Dominick Gallagher, will contact you to help you to find another counsellor.
Covid 19 Pandemic: If I am requested by UK or Irish Health Services to provide information of contacts under “contact tracing” I will share with them your name and contact details only. I will NOT share how I know you.
Safeguarding your Information: I work hard to protect you and your information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction and have the following security measures in place:
Personal data (name address etc) and Special Category Data (Case notes) are coded and held separately; Telephone numbers are only saved on telephones under your code, and only for as long as you are a current client; Emails, Private Messages online and Text Messages will be deleted when information they contain are transferred to paper records; Files are stored behind two separate locks; Whilst files are being transported to sessions, they are locked in a container and kept in the boot of the car when not in use, in accordance to indemnity insurance requirements and these files are placed into storage above at the earliest opportunity; Where Special Category Data is being transferred to an EAP, this information will be coded and / or encrypted in line with the privacy policy of that EAP and Data Protection laws.**
Information and Third Partys
**Please note that for Face to Face therapy to occur during the Covid19 pandemic, you may be asked to complete a risk assessment at each session for the premises management. This information will be held securely in line with Covid19 Health and Safety regulations.
Whilst all reasonable steps are taken to protect client data, digital services (including and not limited to phone, email and web-conferencing) supplied by third party providers, are not wholly within the therapist’s control. The therapist cannot be held liable, responsible or accountable for data breaches attributable to third party providers. Please see the following privacy notices for these services: My email account is operated by Gmail https://policies.google.com/privacy; Facebook https://www.facebook.com/policy.php; Zoom video conferencing https://blog.zoom.us/zoom-privacy-policy/, My telephone provider Tesco Mobile https://www.tescomobile.ie/about-us/privacy-policy.aspx My internet provider Eir https://www.eir.ie/privacycentre/ Whatsapp https://www.whatsapp.com/privacy
Consequences of not providing your information: You do not have to give me the information described above, however I cannot provide you with a counselling service without this information.
How long do I keep your information: I am required under tax laws to keep financial data (no identifiable client information included) for a minimum of 7 years and Health records will be retained for 7 years (for adults, and 6 years after the 18th birthday of minors).
Special Categories of information: I will only request the information required for providing a counselling service and always ask for your explicit consent through a signature, (or by your email response for online work only). You can modify or remove consent at any time, which I will act on immediately, unless there is a legal reason or reason of protecting you or another person from harm, for not doing so.
Lodging a complaint: I only process your personal information in compliance with this privacy notice and in accordance with the relevant data protection laws. If, however, you want to make a complaint about what I have done with your information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the following.
Northern Ireland: Information Commissioners Office – Complaints Form at www.ico.org.uk
Republic of Ireland: Data Protection Commissioner, Canal House, Station Road, Portarlington, Co Laois R32 AP23, 057 8684800, info@dataprotection.ie