Online Therapy Enquiries

Members of the public who make enquiries via the website or via email, are consenting to their data being shared with Victoria Abbott, with the purpose of arranging therapy with Victoria Abbott. 

We retain emailed and webform queries from the general public for a maximum of six months. 

Audit and Regulatory Requirements

We may share any data about our operations with:

• HMRC - see HMRC personal information charter

• the Charity Commission - see Charity Commission personal information charter

• the Information Commissioner’s Office - see ICO privacy notice 

• Companies House - see Companies House personal information charter and other regulatory bodies, should this be necessary to complete our statutory audit and regulatory requirements.

GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is concerned with the personal information about you and how it is collected, stored and shared. This is the GDPR statement of by Victoria Abbott, an integrative psychologist offering psychological therapy in person and online as well as related online resources. Here you find information on how I collect, store, and share information collected. Please note that information collected varies according to your interaction with me, i.e. whether you access services online (such as free resources) and/or in person / online therapy.

When you enter my website, you are required to confirm whether you allow information to be submitted to Victoria Abbott, before entering the site. If you do not allow personal information collected on the website to be sent to me (do not accept the link emailed to you after the initial sign up), you may be unable to engage in the website activity that requires having your contact details to send you the requested information. I aim to minimise personal information collected when providing a specific service or accessing a specific feature of the website.

• Storing pre-consultation information (collected when booking a consultation online): When you book online, you are asked to provide some details about you and what you are looking for. The details collected are name, whether seeking online/telephone/in-person therapy, reasons for seeking therapy, current coping strategies, whether able to commit to weekly sessions and whether you approve being sent emails relating to therapy sessions.

• Storing information when accessing free resources: When you sign up for free resources and updates, MailChimp is used for delivering the materials and storing your information. Only your first name and email address are collected. You can update your email preferences at all times by following the link at the end of every email.

Email Use

I use GMAIL based email. Your email address and our correspondence will be stored in my email account.

Supervision

As part of my registration with the BACP and it’s code of ethics, I am required to seek regular consultation with another psychological therapist who is qualified in this process. This is to ensure that I am able to work to my best ability and offer an ethical service that is helpful to you.  The consultation process is also protected by confidentiality and my consultant will not know you personally nor professionally. It takes place verbally and I refer to you by your first name. This process is to ensure my professional development.

In Case of Emergency

If I have a reason to believe that you are at risk to yourself, to someone else or there are child protection issues I am required to act upon these concerns. In that case I am obliged to breach confidentiality by speaking to e.g. a crisis team (harm to self) or the police (harm to others / an organisation e.g. in case of terrorism) or child protection services / NCPCC. If I have to breach confidentiality, where ever possible I aim to discuss this with you first.

If I was to encounter an emergency myself and was unable to contact you myself, your name and contact details might be shared with a trusted person to inform you about the changes in our meetings. No other personal information would be shared.

Visitors to the website

When someone visits our website we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We 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. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.

We use Google Analytics so that we can continually improve our service to you - read the Google Analytics privacy notice.

No user-specific data is collected by us or any third party. If you fill in a form on our website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to us.

Cookies

Like many websites, we use cookies. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your computer or mobile phone browser from a website’s computer and is stored on your device’s hard drive.

Cookies record information about your online preferences. They help us understand how visitors engage with our site so that we can improve your online experience with us. We do not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you.

Each website you visit can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it. To protect your privacy, your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other websites.

How to control and delete cookies
You may restrict or block the cookies which are set by our website, or any other website, through your browser settings. You can also ask your browser to alert you when a cookie is issued.

For more information about cookies and how to manage them is available at www.aboutcookies.org

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors engage with our website. It collects information anonymously and reports website trends without identifying individual visitors. For more information visit Google Analytics privacy and security information.

Case Notes and Confidentiality

Your case notes are kept confidential within the service and all information is stored securely. I follow the ethical guidelines of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) and ICO to ensure that your information about you is collected and stored securely.

When you contact me to access psychological therapy, I collect your personal information including: your name, date of birth, address, phone number, email address, occupation and previous psychological therapy. I keep records of your appointments, brief notes on the topics covered during the sessions and your concerns, and any letters and/or psychometric testing concerning you.

Session related information, attendance and topics covered in the sessions will be initially stored electronically without identifying details and protected by a coding system. Your personal details and any information collected during the initial consultation (including possible referral letters, questionnaires) are stored electronically within a data secure software. Once you have finished working with me the information is kept up to 7 years for legal reasons.

As part of the intake process, I collect information about whether you are happy for your GP to be informed about your contact with me and if additional support is required from them. At times I may seek further consent for sharing information if necessary.

Working with private medical insurance companies: I share your attendance with the referring insurance company. If we need to request further sessions for you, I share some details of your sessions such the focus, progress, and need for further sessions with the insurance company. You get to see the report prior to it being shared and you may request information being omitted if you wish to do so.

Complaints

Complaints should be addressed to the BACP. I hope we can establish a therapeutic relationship, which includes open communication and you are able to raise any concerns in the session. I also hold a Professional Indemnity Insurance.

A printed copy of the privacy policy will be given to you and signed by both you and me when therapy starts. This is to acknowledge that we agree on the policy.