Information collected and how it’s used

For individuals where your employer has a Service Agreement with Mind Matters Counselling:

If you are accessing our services we will need to collect some relevant information from you. The following information will help to identify the service contract that your employer offers, your location within the country, and information about your health condition so that we can match you to an appropriate counsellor and allow contact to be established.

The legal basis for collecting and processing data will be through both consent and explicit consent under Article 6.1.a and 9.2.a of GDPR which we deem to be necessary for our legitimate interest as an organisation to provide a counselling service.

This information will include:

Personal Information

• First name
• Family name or surname
• Address
• Telephone numbers
• Date of birth
• Email address
• Gender
• Availability
• Means of transportation and / or your access to Skype or other means of online services

Sensitive Information

• GP details
• Physical or mental health conditions
• Medication details
• Risk assessment information.

We need to obtain sensitive information in order to understand the level of support you require and is considered “good practice” under the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions formally adopted 1st July 2016. To learn more about this click here
https://www.bacp.co.uk/events-and-resources/ethics-and-standards/ethical-framework-for-the-counselling-professions/

What do we use it for?

• To help plan services for your support
• For maintaining records
• To prevent and detect crime
• To protect you and other people
• To collate statistical information
• To account for our decisions and investigate complaints
• To respond to any enquiries you make

What is consent
We ask your employer to obtain your consent before providing any data to Mind Matters Counselling LLP. Where possible we ask that your explicit (signed) consent is obtained (but if is urgent for an individual to have access to our counselling Service your employer many not be able to obtain explicit consent, but they should still obtain your verbal consent before passing your details to Mind Matters Counselling LLP).

You have a right to withdraw your consent at any time and can do this by contacting us by:

• email us at admin@mindmatterscounselling.org.uk
• visit our website and complete our online form
• call us on 01213680083
• write to us at Mind Matters Counselling LLP, Suite 5, Tower House Business Centre, Fishergate, York, YO10 4UA

How to access our services?

If your employer has a contract with Mind Matters Counselling LLP your Line Manager, HR or Occupational Health department will provide you with the relevant information about how to obtain a referral through to Mind Matters Counselling LLP. We request that your permission has been granted before forwarding your details to Mind Matters Counselling LLP. Once we have received your contact details our team will arrange for a consultation appointment to take place over the phone.

What is a consultation appointment and what does it entail?

A consultation appointment will be set up by our Administration Team. Our Administration Team will have access to your data so that they can match you to an appropriate Case Manager and book a suitable appointment. This appointment usually takes approximately 15 – 20 min and is completed over the phone. The Case Manager will call you at the time of your consultation on the number that you have provided. We will need to obtain relevant information during the consultation appointment so that we can work out a suitable treatment plan for you.

During the consultation we may ask for information that will include information relating to aspects of your health, both physical, mental and emotional that might be impacting on your health. We may also ask you about your family circumstances, cultural issues, general interests in life and any other factors that are considered relevant to understanding your needs in order that we can provide an appropriate treatment plan.

It is important that you understand that you can choose not to provide this information but in doing so means, we may not be able to offer a treatment plan that best suits your needs. At the end of the consultation appointment we will discuss with you a plan of action and talk you through the next steps. If a treatment plan has been agreed, we will match you with an appropriate therapist and we will ask for your consent to share your information with that therapist.

How do we keep your information secure?

We recognise that the information you provide may be of a sensitive nature and your confidentiality will be respected at all times. We will store confidential information securely and control who has access to it.

We want to make sure that your data are stored and transferred in a way which is secure. We will therefore only transfer data outside of the European Union (EU) (i.e. the Member States of the European Union, together with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) where it is compliant with data protection legislation and the means of transfer provides adequate safeguards in relation to your data, for example:

- by way of data transfer agreement, incorporating the current standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission for the transfer of personal data by data controllers in the EU to data controllers and processors in jurisdictions without adequate data protection laws; or

- by signing up to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework for the transfer of personal data from entities in the EU to entities in the United States of America or any equivalent agreement in respect of other jurisdictions; or

- transferring your data to a country where there has been a finding of adequacy by the European Commission in respect of that country's levels of data protection via its legislation; or

- where it is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract between ourselves and a third party and the transfer is in your interests for the purposes of that contract (for example, if we need to transfer data outside the EU in order to meet our obligations under that contract if you are a client of ours); or

- where you have consented to the data transfer

How do we share your information?

To provide the service to you we need to share some of your personal data with other third parties, this is for

• To allow administration tasks
• Where required to provide a treatment plan.
• In anonymised form as part of statistics data to assist organisations to improve and develop services
• To comply with legal obligations.
• Where you have given your consent to share information with third parties.

We will only share your information with third parties that we use on a limited basis following due diligence and in accordance with our internal procedures.

How do we deal with corrections and concerns?
If you believe information we hold about you is incorrect or out of date, or if you have concerns about how we are handling your personal information, please contact us

• email us at admin@mindmatterscounselling.org.uk
• visit our website and complete our online form
• call us on 01213680083
• write to us at Mind Matters Counselling LLP, Suite 5, Tower House Business Centre, Fishergate, York, YO10 4UA

Or you can contact the Information Commission Office at the following link

How to make a complaint?

If you would like to make a complaint about our services, please contact us by:

• email us at admin@mindmatterscounselling.org.uk
• visit our website and complete our online form
• call us on 01213680083
• write to us at Mind Matters Counselling LLP, Suite 5, Tower House Business Centre, Fishergate, York, YO10 4UA

For information about our complaints handling procedure you can request a copy of our leaflet by call us on 01213680083.

If you are not happy with the way we have been processing your personal data, or you think that we have not dealt with one of your rights correctly when you have asked us to, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). The ICO has several ways in which you can get in touch with them, including post, email, and online forms. To find out how click here.

How to access your information and what are your rights?

You have various rights in relation to how we process your personal data.

• You can access the personal data we keep about you and be given specific information about the processing.
• You can ask us to update inaccurate personal data we hold about you.
• You can ask us to delete your personal data but only when specific grounds apply.
• You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data, for example if you are contesting the accuracy of it.
• You can object to the processing of your personal data if you do not agree with our legitimate interest grounds and for direct marketing purposes.
• You can transfer your personal data from us to another service provider but only when certain grounds apply.

We do not undertake any automated decision-making, including profiling.

Should you wish to access these rights please contact us by

o email us at admin@mindmatterscounselling.org.uk
o visit our website and complete our online form
o call us on 01213680083
o write to us at Mind Matters Counselling LLP, Suite 5, Tower House Business Centre, Fishergate, York, YO10 4UA

Do I have a right to be forgotten?
Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have a right to be forgotten unless we need to keep your data, for example, to comply with a legal obligation. If you wish to have your personal information deleted, please complete our online form and we will take reasonable steps to delete your information as soon as possible, unless there are specific reasons that we need to keep it.

What is our retention Policy?
Mind Matters Counselling LLP has a strict retention policy. Data will be kept no longer than considered reasonably necessary and for no longer than 7 years.