Privacy notice
Under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) I need to let you know how I handle your data and my privacy notice is provided below. If you have any questions about this notice then please do contact me at:
hello(at)savannahlambis.com
Summary
I handle your information to satisfy service enquiries, to receive and make referrals, and during counselling.
Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for seven years from the time of your last contact with me and then securely destroyed.
I safeguard all information you provide and you have the right to access, correct or request the deletion of the information held. The legal justifications for processing your information rely upon the principles of consent and legitimate interest.
What information I collect and use
I may receive personal information from you, health care providers and insurance companies.
Information that may be collected includes:
- Name
- Telephone number/s
- Email address
- Home address
- Payment information
- GP details
- Date of birth
- Gender and/or identity
- Medical and psychiatric conditions
- Prescribed medication
- Therapy history
- Emotional & psychological issues
- Relationships
- Occupation, employment & education
- Racial or ethnic origin
- Religious and/or beliefs
- Offences and alleged offences
Why I collect this information
I collect this information to ensure that I can provide you with an appropriate service or referral and to support any ongoing therapy sessions.
Confidentiality
Sessions and their content are strictly confidential subject to the following exceptions:
- disclosure that you are at risk of harming yourself or others;
- a legal requirement to break confidentiality, such as court injunction or subpoena;
- in the service of our work in discussion with my clinical supervisor, who holds the same principles of confidentiality, to ensure safety, quality of care and ethical responsibility;
- in keeping clinical records.
Sharing personal information
In some circumstances it may be necessary for me to share information:
- in making a referral to another professional;
- in breaking confidentiality as subject to the exceptions stated above;
- in working with a third party for specific tasks in order to deliver my counselling service (such as my supervisor, executor of my clinical will, HMRC).
Where possible I will seek to obtain your written consent before sharing information with other professionals.
Where necessary I may transfer personal information outside of the UK. When doing so I comply with the UK GDPR making sure appropriate safeguards are in place.
Storing personal information
Your contact information may be stored in a cloud-based storage system and accessed on a mobile phone and a computer system. The cloud and all the devices that have access to it are protected by encryption and local passcodes.
Any information that is more detailed, such as GP referral letters or any other documents that contain confidential information (the GDPR calls this ‘special category data’) will be saved on a secure cloud-based storage system with end-to-end encryption and additional password protection. Hard copy documents will be kept under lock and key in a locked building. Special category data will be transferred via an encrypted email service.
Website
My website does not use cookies or web analytics. No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party. If you complete the form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me.
I use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website.
Your rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
- to be informed of what information I hold (as set out in this privacy notice);
- to see the information I hold about you;
- to rectify any inaccurate or incomplete personal information;
- to withdraw consent to me holding your personal data;
- to request your personal information to be permanently erased;
- to have access to data portability;
- to decide on any automated decision making or profiling that uses your data;
- to object.
If you would like to enquire or enact any of your rights as listed above, please contact me using the details at the top of this privacy notice. If you make a request, I have one calendar month to respond to you.
If you wish to object to the way that I use your personal information and are not satisfied with our response you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO):
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
Lawful Basis
These rights do not mean that in every case they can be observed and there may be occasions where they may be overridden by a legitimate need to process your information.
Accordingly, the legislation requires me to inform you of the ‘lawful basis for processing’ your data. These are legal terms that have specific definitions that can be found on the Information Commissioners Office website http://www.ico.org.uk.
The following represents the lawful bases for using your information in our work together:
- Consent
- Legitimate interest
In addition the following categories apply to my processing your ‘special category data’:
- Explicit consent
If you have any questions at all about how the GDPR works in practice during your relationship with me then please do not hesitate to ask.
This Privacy Notice is reviewed regularly. Last updated August 2024.