Catherine McDonald Counselling
catherine@cm-counselling.co.uk
Privacy Notice
Introduction
It is of the upmost importance to me that your personal information is kept safe and secure and only used for the purpose it was given to me. This t is of the upmost importance to me that your personal information is kept safe and secure and only used for the purpose it was given to me. This privacy notice tells you what I will do with your personal information from initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended, including the lawful basis under which I process your information, how I store your information and for how long, and your data protection rights. Please contact me by email with any questions you might have about my data protection policy.
I adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration number ZB617078, see Information Commissioner’s Office: hXps://ico.org.uk). ‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is me.
My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information
The GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which I am processing your data.
- If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.
- If you have had therapy with me and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information.
The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information that you may appropriately disclose to me. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is consent ini3ally. I will then retain any counselling records in case of the need to reference them in the future (the official legal basis is to defend against potential legal claims).
How I use your information
Initial contact: When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name, contact details and reasons for contacting me. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf.
If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted after 6 months. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.
While you are accessing counselling: Confidentiality is central to the way I work and my ethical responsibilities as a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Everything you tell me remains confidential, with the only exceptions being:
- I believe that you or another person are at risk of harm,
- I have a significant safeguarding concern, or
- I am under court order to disclose information or I am obliged to assist in the prevention or detection of a serious crime.
As with all properly qualified practitioners, I undertake regular supervision in which I discuss my work with clients, but on a basis that respects their privacy and does not disclose their identity.
I will keep a record of your personal details to help your therapy service run smoothly. These are not shared with any third party. As a member of BACP, I am required to keep accurate and appropriate notes of our work together and I will keep written notes of each session.
For security reasons I do not retain text messages for more than 6 months. If there is relevant information contained in a text message I will record it in the records I hold for you. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted within 6 months if it is not important. If necessary, I will retain important email communication in the records I hold for you.
After counselling has ended: Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for 5 years from the end of our contact with each other and then securely destroyed. If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.
Third party recipients of personal data
I some3mes share personal data with third par3es where I have contracted with a supplier to carry out specific tasks, for example Zoom if we are meeting online. In such cases I have carefully selected which partners I work with. I take great care to ensure that I have a contract with the third party that states what they are allowed to do with the data I share with them and that they do not use your informa3on in any way other than the task for which they have been contracted.
Your rights
I try to be as open as I can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. You have a right to ask me to delete your personal information, to limit how I use your personal information, or to stop processing your personal information. You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that I hold about you and to object to the use of your personal data in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-maXers.
If I do hold information about you I will:
• give you a description of it and where it came from;
• tell you why I am holding it, tell you how long I will store your data and how I made this decision;
• tell you who it could be disclosed to;
• let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you. To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to catherine@cm counselling.co.uk.
Data security
I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to make sure it is kept secure. I record your personal details and my session notes separately and securely on a laptop that is only used by me, and this is password protected at both the level of the individual document and the laptop itself. Any paper documents are locked in a robust non-portable cabinet to which only I have access.
Visitors to my website
My website is hosted by WebHealer, a specialist website provider. Like most websites, we use cookies to distinguish you from other users of my website and to help the site work more efficiently. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website. More information on the use of cookies can be found hXps://www.webhealer.net/privacy-policy/. If you fill in a form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me.
Complaints
I welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures. If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data please contact me in the first instance by emailing catherine@cm-counselling.co.uk. I will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and investigate with undue delay. In the event that you do not receive a satisfactory response from me, you can raise your complaint with the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a complaint.
Catherine McDonald Counselling: Privacy Notice [last reviewed June 2026]