Privacy Notice for Laura Chapman

This Privacy Notice was last reviewed in August 2021.


The purpose of this privacy notice is designed to notify you of how you can expect Laura Chapman @ Minds-Aligned to use your personal data when you enter into a therapeutic relationship with her.

This privacy notice has been written in a way that I hope is clear and easy to understand. However, in order to keep it concise I might refer to terms or situations which are not immediately obvious to you. If you come across anything that you would like to have explained, please do contact me by emailing laura@minds-aligned.uk and I will do my best to provide further clarification.

As a therapist I highly value your right to privacy. As such I will only use the personal data that you entrust me with for the purpose which it was given to me. I adhere to the current UK data protection legislation, including the Data Protection Act 2018, UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR).

This privacy notice covers the following points:

  • What personal data I collect

  • The purposes of processing your personal data

  • The legal basis for processing your personal data

  • How I store your personal data

  • Who I share your personal data with and why

  • How long your personal data is retained

  • Your rights around the use of your personal data

  • How to contact the authority if you have concerns

 

What personal data does Minds-Aligned collect?

The details collected at the time of your initial contact with Minds-Aligned will be used throughout the therapeutic relationship to communicate with you in relation to appointments. As a reminder, these details include:

  • Your name

  • The name and age of a child or young person you are applying on behalf of

  • Your preferred contact information, i.e. your email address or a telephone number

  • The reason that you are seeking hypnotherapy

When you begin your therapeutic journey with me, I will collect additional personal data as part of my registration and assessment process and to ensure that the arrangement and work together can be carried out. This information includes:

  • Details relating to your general physical health, e.g. level of fitness, amount of alcohol you consume on a weekly basis

  • Details relating to your current emotional state

  • Details regarding your sexual orientation, preferred gender pronoun *

  • Details regarding your nationality *

  • Age(s) of and relationship of significant others, e.g. parents, siblings, children, partner *

  • Current and previous mental health conditions *

Please note, some of the above personal data (marked with an asterisk (*)) is collected on an optional basis, as it is not essential to carry out the counselling work but can be helpful within it.

You will also be required to sign a Working Agreement (contract) for the therapy you undertake, which will also contain:

  • Your signature

  • Your address

  • The name, address and contact telephone number of your GP surgery

  • The name, contact telephone number or email and relationship to you of an emergency contact

Once therapy has begun, a record of your sessions will also be kept, in addition to the above mentioned personal data. This means that I will take brief notes during your sessions, to help the therapy process run smoothly and serve to aid memory about the work, as is standard professional practice. These notes are available to you to view at any time upon request and are anonymised as much as practically possible to protect your privacy.

 

The purposes of processing your personal data

As might reasonably be expected, the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR both state that personal data can only be collected and used if there is a legal reason for doing so.

The below table will hopefully help show you which legal condition I am relying upon when using your personal data.

What data
What it is used for
Legal condition Legitimate Interests
Name and/or contact details Communications - e.g. booking appointments, facilitating video call therapy sessions etc. Performance of contract N/A
Issuing invoices for payment Performance of contract N/A
Execution of therapist’s professional will Explicit consent N/A
Emergency contact name and/or contact details Communication should an emergency with you arise during therapy Legitimate Interest To aid in meeting our safeguarding requirements.
Health information, e.g. details relating to current emotional state Session notes
Performance of contract To aid in determining contraindications for hypnosis.
Details relating to sexual orientation and nationality Provision of therapy Legitimate Interest To aid in the therapy, so the performance of the contract.
Details of significant others
Provision of therapy Legitimate Interest To aid in the therapy, so the performance of the contract.
Name and/or contact details of other therapists Referrals Explicit Consent N/A
 

How Minds-Aligned stores your personal data

How I store your personal data depends on the type of record that I hold the personal data on.

Paper records, such as signed working agreements or session notes will be stored in secured filing cabinets contained in areas with access restrictions.

Electronic records, such as your contact details, are stored in a number of different systems, including those listed in the section “Who Minds-Aligned shares your personal data with and why”. As far as is reasonably practical, these systems have been carefully selected on grounds of the security they enforce. All systems are set up with unique username and strong password combinations and utilise access controls to restrict unauthorised access.

 

Who Minds-Aligned shares your personal data with and why

Confidentiality is at the heart of all I do as a hypnotherapy practice. As such, I do my best to ensure that your personal data is kept safe and secure. However, there are instances when your personal data may need to be shared with third parties. Below is a list of third parties that you can expect your personal data to be shared with, and in what situation.

Please note, where links have been included we cannot accept responsibility for the content contained within their web pages.

Recipient of data Reason for sharing data Type of data shared
Email provider
We currently use Privateemail, which is a secure email provider.
You can find details of their privacy notice here:

www.privateemail.com/privacy
Whatever personal data you include in an email;
including information such name and contact
information and, in the case of the initial
enquiry, details regarding the reason that you are seeking counselling.
Website provider Wix.com is a website provider that we use
to host the Minds-Aligned website.
You can find details of their privacy notice here:

www.wix.com/about/privacy
Name, contact information and
reason for seeking counselling
if supplied using the website’s
Contact Form.
Video call software
We use Zoom for all of our remote counselling
sessions. Zoom is a secure and encrypted
service and is free for you to access and
download.
You can find Zoom’s privacy notice on www.zoom.us/privacy
Your name as you enter it when
you join the Zoom meeting.
Room booking calendar To manage the availability of the counselling
room at our location our counsellors use Skedda.
Please note, no personal data will be added
to any booking made in Skedda, unless you are
making the booking as a counsellor.
You can find Skedda’s privacy notice here:

https://support.skedda.com/en/collections/37147-legal
Name and contact information.
Hypnotherapy supervisors Under the NCH Code of Ethical Framework our
therapisits are required to attend regular
sessions with a trained Supervisor. During
supervision sessions, your privacy and
confidentiality will be protected by only referring
to you by your first name.
Any other details relating to your therapy will be anonymised as much as possible.
First name only – to protect
your privacy.
General details relating to
your therapy sessions.
Specific details relating to
your therapy sessions should
an emergency or issue relating
to your safety arise.
Emergency services
In the event that an emergency took place during
a therapy session, or if a safeguarding issue
was raised, we might be required to contact one
of the emergency services and provide them with
your personal data.

Please note, where possible, we will always seek to
get your consent prior to contacting the emergency
services.
Name and contact details – to
help the emergency services
identify you.
Details relating to your safety
or a serious crime that you have
disclosed, should it be our legal
requirement to do so.
GP Surgery
In the event that, during a therapy session, your
therapist was concerned about your wellbeing or
safety, they may ask for your consent to contact your
GP on your behalf.
Your name and contact information
would need to be shared to help
the surgery identify you.
Other contacts or services,
e.g. parents/carers, social workers,
schools, local authorities etc.
In cases where the client is a child or young person,
if they were to disclose information relating to a
safeguarding concern, it may be necessary to contact
their parent/carer, or if they are in care, the
organisations relating to their care.

Please note, depending on the concern raised,
consent from the child would be sought in advance.
Name and contact information
Details relating to the safeguarding
concern that has been disclosed.
Other therapists Should Minds-Aligned not be able to provide the
help needed, we may ask for your consent to refer
your contact information to another therapist.
Name and contact information.
General information relating to
the reason you are seeking
therapy.
Executors of a will and
related service providers
In the unforeseen event of the death or incapacity to
work of your therapist, your personal data will be
handled by the executor of their will, in order to
inform you.
Name and contact information.
 

How long Minds-Aligned retains your personal data

The length of time your personal data will be retained for is 8 years, in accordance with CNHC policy.

Following your initial contact with Laura Chapman at Minds-Aligned, should you proceed with therapy, your personal data will be held for the lengths of time outlined below:

What data
Retention period
Personal data relating to working agreement,
including name, contact information, emergency
contact information, GP surgery contact
information, health data.
For 8 years following the last treatment,
in accordance with CNHC.
Personal data relating to working agreement,
including name, contact information, health data.
For up to 8 years to meet the requirements
stipulated by our hypnotherapy insurance
companies, with the details of children
and/or young people being held for 8 years
after they turn 18.
All personal data relating to financial records,
including name, contact information.
Until the end of the 5th financial year after
the end of the counselling relationship as
required by Her Majesty's Revenue and
Customs (HMRC).
Referral list of other therapists displayed on the
counselling@unit12 or Minds-Aligned websites,
including name and contact information.
Until such a time as the therapist withdraws
consent for their details to be displayed in
this manner.
 

Your rights relating to your personal data

Your personal data belongs to you. As a client of Minds-Aligned you entrust your personal data to me, so that I can provide you with the therapeutic help that you are seeking, but you retain certain rights over your data and how it is used.

Below are a list of your rights and how you can exercise them.

The right to be informed
In a nutshell, this is your right to know how and why your data is being collected and used by Minds-Aligned. We hope that this Privacy Notice provides you with that information. Should anything be unclear though, please do not hesitate to contact me by email on laura@minds-aligned.uk.

The right of access
You have a right to know what data I hold on you. As the controller of your data, Minds-Aligned is required to respond to any request that you make to see the data I hold within 30 days of you making such a request. This is commonly referred to as a Data Subject Access Request. If you would like to see the data I hold on you, please either email laura@minds-aligned.uk or speak to me if you have started hypnotherapy with me already.

Please note, while it may sound contradictory, to properly protect your privacy, we may be required to request additional personal data to verify your identity before providing the personal data to you if you email us with a data subject access request. This is in an effort to stop other people claiming to be you from getting access to your personal data.

The right to rectification
You have the right to ensure that any personal data that you have provided Minds-Aligned with is correct. As such, if your circumstances change, for example you get a new contact telephone number, or wish to change your preferred method of contact from telephone to email, please do provide me with the up-to-date information and I will correct our records immediately.

Please note, there may be circumstances when I am not required to follow up on you exercising your right for rectification.

The right to erasure
This right allows you to ask Minds-Aligned to delete the personal data I hold on you. However, there are certain instances when I would not be able to honour your request, including those were I am under legal obligations to retain the data, for instance the HMRC requirement for my financial records to be held for 5 financial years.

Also, please note, while you are actively engaged with therapy, I would not be able to delete the personal data that I hold on you, as this is required by me to fulfil our side of the working agreement.

The right to restrict processing
Related to your right to erasure, you have a right to restricting how I use the personal data that you have provided me with. This right is closely linked to your right to erasure, and also has some restrictions as to when it can be exercised.

The right to data portability
Should you wish to move from using Laura Chapman at Minds-Aligned  to another therapist, you have the right to request that I make the personal data I hold on you available in a format that easily accessible and machine-readable. Specifically, this right applies to data I hold electronically.

Should you wish to exercise this right, please do contact me via email at laura@minds-aligned.uk.

The right to object
Another right that is similar to both the ‘right to erasure’ and the ‘right to restrict processing’ is your right to ask me to stop using your data at any time.

This again does only apply in certain circumstances, so please do contact me at laura@minds-aligned.uk to discuss this exercising right.

Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
Here at Minds-Aligned, I do not profile you or make any automated decisions regarding you in any way. As such, while this is a right you have, it does not apply to the services I provide.

 

How to contact the authority if you have concerns

If you have any concerns around the use of your personal data, I would prefer it is you would address these with me first. You can either contact me by email at laura@minds-aligned.uk or, if you are a current client, you can speak to me.

However, if you do not feel that I am providing you with a satisfactory response, you are also entitled to lodge a complaint with the National Council of Hypnotherapists (NCH), which is the UK’s leading not-for-profit hypnotherapy Professional Association, promoting and protecting the practice of hypnotherapy in the UK.
You can contact the NCH via their website: www.hypnotherapists.org.uk