Privacy Policy

1) Worthing Counselling Centre is a Data Controller and this notice is to provide you with information about the personal data we collect, why we collect it, the way it is stored, what we do with it and the length of time we keep it before destruction. This is also to inform you of your rights. We comply with the General Data Protection Regulation.

The data we keep and how we use it.

2) When you first contact us we will ask you for details such as name, address, telephone number etc. so that a counsellor is able to get in touch with you and arrange to meet you. We may also ask for further information in order to give you the best possible service.

3) At your first meeting with a counsellor, and during counselling, we will ask for other relevant information in order for us to decide the best way forward for you. Certain data will be used to keep us informed of our client group and its needs, to give us feedback on the quality of our service, and to give us the information we need to support funding bids to improve and continue our service.

All data will be kept securely, and that used for statistical purposes will be destroyed once it has been processed. The only data to be used for marketing and funding is statistical in nature and contains no reference to you as a named or identifiable individual.

4) If we need any information about you from a third party e.g. your GP, we will only contact the third party with your consent.

Data Security

5) Worthing Counselling Centre has a legitimate interest in processing personal data in order to provide a counselling service. The personal information we hold about you will be kept securely and used only to provide the best possible service to you, to assist in clinical
assessment and allocation of a suitable counsellor, and for professional clinical supervision within the counselling centre. It will not be shared with any other organisation or person outside Worthing Counselling Centre, without your knowledge or permission unless there is
a legal reason or any cause to believe that you or another is in imminent and serious danger.

6) When you have finished counselling, your data will be kept securely for a period of 7 years in order to protect our legal position in the event of any legal proceedings. After that time it will be destroyed securely. Any payment data is held for at least 6 years to comply
with HMRC regulations.

7) We will take all reasonable precautions to prevent the loss or misuse of the data you give us and to preserve its accuracy. Any messages left on our confidential answering machine or e-mailed to us, will, once processed, be deleted.

8) We will not keep any data longer than is necessary in order to provide a service to you. We keep our communications systems protected against outside harm as far as is reasonably possible. Our website contains links to other websites which may be of interest, but over which WCC has no control. We cannot be held responsible for the protection or privacy of any information you provide whilst visiting such websites.
Our website, like most, uses cookies to help us understand how visitors find and navigate the website. For more information follow the link on our website.

9) If in the future it is required or necessary to process your personal data for a purpose other than that which it was collected we will provide you with information on that purpose and any other relevant information.

Your Rights

10) Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) you have a number of rights with regard to your personal data. You have the right to request from us access to and rectification of, and, under certain circumstances, erasure of your personal data, the right to restrict processing, object to processing as well as in certain circumstances, the right to data portability.

11)  If you wish to have access to your data, please ask your counsellor or the Administrator. We will arrange for the information to be available to you, free of charge and within 30 days. If you believe that any of the data we hold about you is inaccurate, if we are in agreement, the data will be altered. If there is reason for disagreement, we will record your objection and the reason for the disagreement.

12) You have the right to lodge a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you think that we have not complied with the requirements of the GDPR with regard to your personal data. If you have concerns about the way in which your data is processed, please
contact:
The SIRO Trustee, Worthing Counselling Centre.