Privacy Policy

Who I Am

My name is Anjula Sharma-Smith and I am a qualified counsellor.   My website address is: https://www.healmymind.co.uk

Information about you.

• In order for me to be able to fulfill my responsibilities as a counsellor I will need to record personal information about you. This information includes your name, address, phone number, email address, contact person with phone number, and GP practice. Using your initials I will also take notes of ‘assessment information’ that is relevant, medical information and aspects of your personal social and family history that you choose to share with me. This information will be retained in a locked file cabinet. Your contact details will be used to contact you. Other personal data such as your name, address and/or date of birth will be used to verify your identify if there is a need to contact your G.P. or a request for access to personal data from yourself or your representative or legitimate legal instrument such as a court order
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• This personal information will be held for a period of seven years after the counselling sessions have ended, except where there is a mutually agreed decision to retain it for longer or where I believe that it is in my best professional interests to do so.
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• Your contact details alone will be shared in exceptional circumstances with my supervisor or other named agent in the event that I am incapacitated so that they can contact you to explain the situation.
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• Information about counselling sessions and our work together
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• Also I will record notes of each therapy session using your initials. These notes will be brief factual record of the session. This set of notes will include any agreements made with regard to for example, cancelled sessions or changes to the way the therapy is conducted. The notes are held in a locked filing cabinet. Any notes or information on my laptop is all protected by password.
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• These notes may be shared using your initials or first name with my supervisor, counselling professional body or similar for purposes of maintaining professional standards and aiding my professional development.
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• These notes will be held for a period of three years after the counselling sessions have ended, except where I agree with you to retain them for longer or where I believe that it is in my best professional interests to do so.
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• I may make information from these notes available to legitimate third parties under the following conditions:
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• • Receipt of a request from you or your representative, and where the release of the notes is not judged by me as likely to cause you significant harm or harm to another person. Where there is a specific legal requirement for me to do so.
  • Where there is an ethical duty for me to do, for example to avoid serious harm to yourself or another person, including the safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults.
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• Records of contact between us
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• I will hold your name and telephone number on my mobile phone until our counselling relationship ends; I will delete it from my contact once we have ended the sessions.
• If we agree to communicate by text or by email, these records may be kept for the same duration as your counselling. My mobile phone is a smart phone and could therefore also have your texts, and email and email address available on it. The phone is password, protected, emails are stored, in ‘the cloud,’ so they can be restored if my phone is lost or stolen.
• Your name and email address may also be used for invoicing at invoicehome.com.
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• Your Rights
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• You have the right to ask to see any information held by me about you. To do this please either ask me, or submit a request by writing. You also have the right to ask for information that you believe to be incorrect to be rectified. I will endeavor to provide you with the information requested within four weeks.
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• If I become aware of a situation where your personal information may have accidently or maliciously been obtained by a third party I will notify you as soon as possible – usually within 24 hours.
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• If you are concerned about the way that your information is being held please discuss this with me. If you are still unhappy you have the write to complain to the Information Commissioners Office.