Privacy policy
Introduction
Your privacy is very important 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 (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
Whether I intend to transfer it to another country,
Whether I do automated decision-making or profiling, and
Your data protection rights.
I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email.
‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/ organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is me (Lukas Dressler).
I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office ZA886885. Data controller: SD CC&C Services Ltd. Address: Brighton, East Sussex, BN3 2DL. Other names: Lukas Dressler Psychology. My phone number is: 07399 636 801. My email address can be found on the website.
www.lukasdresslerpsychology.com is owned and maintained by SD CC&C Services Ltd. t/a Lukas Dressler Psychology, Office 10, Kingsway House, 134 Church Road, Hove, BN3 2DL, United Kingdom. Company Registration Number: 13194498.
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 that it is for provision of health treatment (in this case psychotherapy/counselling) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).
How I use your information
Initial contact
When you contact me with an enquiry about my psychology services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include name, date of birth, address, contact information, details of current school and details of GP. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a parent or trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf.
If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within one month. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.
While you are accessing therapy
Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if by written permission and/or except where disclosure is required by law. I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.
I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details as well as written notes of each session, are kept securely within the practice management software (PMS) WriteUppTM which I also use to carry out all of my administrative workload such as scheduling appointments, sending invoices or online video sessions. WriteUppTM is a certified provider that complies with current information governance and security standards as well as GDPR standards. Please visit www.writeupp.com for further information.
Records and your right to review them
Please note that relevant information from emails, text messages or messenger services are part of the records. Unless otherwise agreed to be necessary, records are retained only as long as is necessary. If you have concerns regarding the records, please discuss them with Lukas Dressler. As a client, you have the right to review or receive a summary of your records at any time, except in limited legal or emergency circumstances or when it is assessed that releasing such information might be harmful in any way. In such a case, records will be provided to an appropriate and legitimate professional of your choice. Considering all of the above exclusions, if it is still appropriate, and upon your request, information will be released to any agency/person you specify unless it is assessed that releasing such information might be harmful in any way. When more than one client is involved in sessions, such as in cases of family sessions, records will be released only with signed authorisations from all the adults (or all those who legally can authorise such a release) involved in the treatment.
Online and phone communication
Unencrypted email, text messages or messenger services are vulnerable to unauthorised access. If you communicate confidential or private information via unencrypted email, text messages, or messenger services it will be assumed that you have made an informed decision, and viewed as your explicit agreement to take the risk that such communication may be intercepted, and it will be communicated on such matters using your preferred method. For online video consultation a certified provider is used that complies with current information governance and security standards as well as GDPR standards (see Initial Appointment Questionnaire).
After the engagement has ended
Once our engagement has ended your records may be kept for up to seven years from the end of our contact with each other/ for children and young people up to seven years after their eighteenth birthday and are then securely destroyed. If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.
Third party recipients of personal data
I sometimes share personal data with third parties, for example, where I have contracted with a supplier to carry out specific tasks. In such cases I have carefully selected which partners I work with. I take great care to ensure that I have a contract with the third party that states what they are allowed to do with the data I share with them. I ensure that they do not use your information in any way other than the task for which they have been contracted.
Practice management software (PMS) WriteUppTM
XERO Accounting software
Your rights
I try to be as open as I can 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. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.
If I do hold information about you I will:
give you a description of it and where it came from;
tell you why I am holding its, tell you how long I will store your data and how I made this decision;
tell you who it could be disclosed to;
let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
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 my email address.
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.
If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information you can contact the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
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 using the Practice management software (PMS) WriteUppTM.
Visitors to my website
When someone visits my website, I use a third party service, Google Analytics 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 Google 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.
I use Squarespace as the content management system for my website - find out about Squarespace and data protection.
Like most websites we use cookies to help the site work more efficiently.
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.
Testimonials on website
All testimonials published on the website were provided voluntarily and unprompted. Consent to use clients’ feedback as testimonials on the website was given by each individual.
Additional Information
Please refer to Initial Appointment Questionnaire on my website (as well as the Informed Consent when therapy commences).
You can also view my FAQs which provide more information about me, my services, and my ways of working.