In line with current Data Protection legislation and best practice, I need to inform you what data I will collect and how it will be used.

In order to work effectively with you I will need to record some personal information such as your name and contact details. In case you contact me in the future in any distress, I will retain a copy of your initials, date and birth and GP contact details.

I may take and retain some brief handwritten notes on our sessions as they proceed in order to help me remember basic details between sessions. These will be entirely anonymised and will not contain any personal identifying details.

I request GP details at the beginning of therapy. I do not pass any information to your GP unless there is a pressing medical need to do so (e.g. an insulin dependent diabetic deliberately not taking insulin in order to harm themselves). I discuss cases with my professional supervisor, but when I do so I anonymise the information so that no personally identifying data is disclosed.

I will always ask your permission in advance of any recording. If you consent to recording in any session (audio or video) I will keep the recordings on an encrypted and passworded secure disk.

Other than the above, nothing you tell me leaves the therapy office. There are just two exceptions to this rule: firstly if you tell me anything which makes me feel you are actively at risk to yourself or someone else; secondly if you tell me anything about child abuse which identifies a perpetrator, (even if was many years ago, even if did not directly involve yourself), I would have to let somebody know, in case somebody else could be at risk.