Privacy Policy

Ark IFS Therapy Privacy Policy
Date revised: 10th November 2023
Our contact details
Name: Sophie Kay
Phone Number: 07709907171
E-mail: [email protected]

Confidentiality of Session Content
The content of the sessions is completely confidential, except under the following four circumstances:
a) It is recommended as an IFS/IFIO Practitioner that we have regular supervision with another IFS/IFIO trained person.  This is to enhance the work with you.  Any supervisor is also bound by confidentiality but if we do discuss our work, we will not use your real name or disclose anything that would enable you to be identified.  If you are being treated by your doctor for emotional difficulties, it is important that you inform him or her about our work, and vice versa. 
b) If you told us something that made us believe there was a risk of serious harm to yourself or someone else, especially a child, we reserve the right to break confidentiality in order to prevent harm. However we would only do this in extreme circumstances and would always try and discuss it with you before taking any action.
c) If we were required by a court of law to give evidence (e.g. in criminal proceedings).
d) If we received any information relating to an act of terrorism.

The type of personal information we collect
We currently collect and process the following information:

• Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name and contact details: email, phone number and address, GP name and phone number).
• During or after our sessions I will write notes about our session as an Aide Memoir for our next session and to comply with my insurance.  For insurance purposes I have to keep these for Seven years after our work finishes. 

How we get the personal information and why we have it?
Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

• In order to communicate with you, e.g. your name, email and phone number.
• In order to protect you or anyone else from significant harm, e.g. your address and GP name, which form part of our working contract, in case an emergency should occur. 
• Most of the information you give me about yourself will not be recorded, only as described above, the potential for a few key words to aide my memory between sessions. This information will not be processed or held digitally.

We will not share any of your information with anyone unless we believe there is significant risk of harm to yourself, to another adult or to a child from anything you have told me.  If we are concerned about you then we will contact your GP.  If it is a child or an adult we are concerned about then we will contact the relevant safeguarding team local to your area.  

In the event of an accident, emergency or death of the practitioner working with you then a trusted person will have access to our records so that they can contact you. 

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are: 
(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting [email protected] or phone 07709907171.   
(b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual.
 
How we store your personal information
Your information is securely stored.
 
We keep the personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics, in our Gmail account, which is password protected on the laptop, which we log out of when not with it, and PIN number protected on the phone, until we finish working with you.  
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Digital records are kept in my Google account, password protected, and any hand written notes are kept in a locked drawer when we are not working with them. For insurance purposes all records are kept for 7 years after the work finishes.
 
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
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Please contact us at [email protected] if you wish to make a request.

How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at ark,[email protected].
 
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:           
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk