Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy for Counselling
Secure Storage
With the client’s permission, we retain the following information:
Name
Date of birth
Telephone number
Email address
Postal address
GP name and practice address
Basic personal and background information e.g. occupation, siblings, parents, partners, children
Health information and medication
Your personal information from your initial assessment session is held in handwritten format, and stored securely in a locked filing cabinet. Your contact details i.e. address, phone number, email address are stored on a single personal password protected laptop. Brief factual notes of counselling sessions are made as an aide-memoire and for supervision purposes. These notes are stored on a single personal password protected laptop. In the case of letters/emails to third parties requested by clients and with their consent, a copy is retained with any personal information securely redacted. These are retained for six years (in line with insurance requirements) and are then securely destroyed. All your data is used in a safe and ethical manner in line with EU General Data Protection Regulations May 2018 (GDPR). It is not shared with other people without your consent.
Right to Access
You have a right to ask for a copy of your personal information, free of charge (for the first request), in electronic or paper format. You also have the right to ask for amendment or change to any incorrect information about you. We reserve the right to charge for any subsequent requests for your personal information.
Right to be Forgotten
You have the right to ask for information held about you to be erased. This includes your personal information that is no longer relevant to original purposes, or if you wish to withdraw consent. In all cases and when considering such requests, these rights are obligatory unless it is information that we have a legal obligation to retain (e.g. for clients aged under 18 years).
Data portability
As the client, you have the right to receive your personal information which you previously provided. You also have the right to transfer that information to another party. For the purposes of the GDPR 2018, the ‘data controller’ is Alison Chisholm – trading as Thameside Resolutions, Alison Chisholm – sole trader.
Privacy Policy for Family Mediation
Our Privacy Policy explains:
What information we collect and how we collect it
Why and how we use your information
How long we keep your information
How we may share your information
Your rights on the information we hold about you
Security – How we keep your information safe
Changes to this Privacy Policy
How to Contact Us
The Data Controller is Alison Chisholm
How we collect information
Thameside Resolutions collects only the information needed to deliver family mediation.
Information is held on a single personal password protected laptop.
Information We Collect
In order to provide our services and for the other purposes set out in ‘How we use information’ below, we collect and process Personal Data from you. We may collect the following information:
Personal details including your name, address, email address, date of birth, mobile and telephone number, relationship status, gender, sexual orientation, race or ethnic origin, religious opinion
Family details including partners, names and date of birth of children
Lifestyle and social circumstances including your health (mental or physical)
Education and employment details
Financial details including a full schedule of all assets, liabilities and income
History of court involvement in your case
Safeguarding incidents
Thameside Resolutions only collects this information where it informs the provision of the service to you. Whenever we do this we will state clearly why this information is required. From time to time and as permitted by applicable law(s), we may collect Personal Data about you and update any existing Personal Data that we currently hold from other third-party sources.
We collect your information from:
Self-referrals via the contact form on our website
Referral forms from solicitors or other agencies
We may also collect information from telephone conversations, emails and written and verbal communications and from records of any sessions
How we use information
Your Personal Data may be used in the following ways:
To provide our services to you
To respond to your requests and enquiries
Carry out general administrative tasks, like dealing with complaints and feedback and essential record keeping
Keep you safe in the event that we reasonably think that you (or someone else) is at risk of harm. We have a duty, should we believe there is a risk or issue, to alert relevant authorities as part of our overall responsibility to safeguard both adults and children.
Where required to do so under the Proceeds of Crime Act, information will be shared with the relevant government or law enforcement agency
At a client’s explicit request, to share data with the family court (confirming MIAM attendance)
Through supervision sessions and communications with the mediator’s Professional Practice Consultant who monitors quality of service
To request your participation in surveys, or other initiatives which help us to gather information used to develop and enhance our services
To comply with applicable law(s) or to carry out professional ethics/conduct investigations
To enable us to provide, to maintain our own accounts and records
If your contact details are provided to us by your ex-partner when they are considering mediation, then we will use this information to contact you and offer you the opportunity to find out more about mediation. If you don’t want us to retain these contact details for you, or if you want to correct them, please email us to request this.
Consent and lawful Processing of data
Our legitimate interests, which include processing such Personal Data for the purposes of:
Maintaining notes from your initial meeting to help us work with you
You consenting for us to hold the information to provide and enhance the provision of our services
Where the processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of the third party
Administration and delivery of service
How long will we keep your information?
Thameside Resolutions information is retained for six years, in line with insurance requirements. After this time, electronic data is deleted and paper documents are shredded.
Sharing and Disclosure to Third Parties
We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which it was obtained in the first place. We won’t share it with any third parties unless:
You request or authorise the disclosure of your personal details to a third party e.g. you ask us to send information to your solicitor
The information is disclosed as permitted by applicable law(s) and/or in order to comply with applicable law(s) e.g. completing the necessary forms so an application to court can be made If we are required by law to do so e.g. if required to do so by a court order, the government or other law enforcement agencies or for the purposes of investigation and/or prevention of fraud or other crime or where it is necessary for the purpose of, or in connection with, legal proceedings or in order to exercise or defend legal rights
The information is provided to service providers who perform functions on our behalf
Hosting providers for the secure storage and transmission of your data
Professional Practice Consultants who provide ongoing supervision and can review files to ensure we are working within the family mediation council standards
Complaint practice consultants and member organisations who may need to review the file if you or your partner should make a complaint
Technology providers who assist in the development and management of our web properties
Parents and Children
If the person about whom we are holding information is below 14 then we will need to seek consent from the parent or legal guardian if consent is required. Once the person reaches 14, we will seek consent from them.
Subject Access/User Rights
As a user, you are subject to the following rights:
The right to be informed of the use of your Personal Data
The right to access and/or to require the correction or erasure of your Personal Data
The right to block and/or object to the processing of your Personal Data
The right to not be subject to any decision based solely on automated processing of your Personal Data
If you have a complaint in relation to the processing of your data carried out under this Privacy Policy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner Office.
You may seek to exercise any of these rights by sending a written request to thamesideresolutions@gmail.com
Information security
We are working to protect your personal information that we hold, its confidentially, integrity and availability.
We review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against unauthorised access to systems
Access to personal information is restricted to Alison Chisholm who is subject to strict confidentiality obligations
We have Security Information Policy in place which defines the measures we take to protect your personal information. We use a combination of technology and procedures to ensure that our paper and computer systems are protected monitored and are recoverable
We only use third party service providers where we are satisfied that they provide adequate security for your personal data
Compliance and cooperation with regulatory authorities
We regularly review our compliance with our Privacy Policy. If we receive formal written complaints, we will contact the person who made the complaint to follow up. We will work with the ICO to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that we cannot resolve with our users directly.
Changes
Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit consent.
How to Contact Us
Alison Chisholm FMCA
Thameside Resolutions
Marchamont House
116 High Street
Egham
TW20 9HB
07801 337592 / 01784 558548
www.thamesideresolutions.com