Privacy Statement

Lindsey Kind collects your name, address, telephone number, email address, date of birth, ICE/emergency contact and GP details for purposes connected with providing and managing your therapy.

I may also collect relevant medical information, including known allergies, medications and other health information where this is necessary to ensure that I am appropriately informed when working with you.

In the case of serious crime or serious harm to yourself or others, I may need to contact your emergency contact, GP or other appropriate authorities in order to protect the safety of yourself or others.

Confidentiality

The content of therapy sessions is confidential, including your clinical records and notes.

There are, however, circumstances in which confidentiality may need to be broken, including:

• where you give permission for information to be shared;
• where I am compelled to disclose information by a court of law;
• where information disclosed during therapy relates to serious crime; or
• where I have reason to believe there is a serious risk of substantial harm to yourself or others.

In these circumstances, I reserve the right to contact the appropriate authorities.

Where possible, I will inform you before information is disclosed. However, if I consider that the urgency of the situation requires immediate action to safeguard the physical safety of yourself or others, information may be shared without prior notification.

Clinical Supervision

As a UKCP psychotherapist, my work is subject to regular clinical supervision.

Client work may be discussed within professional supervision in accordance with the ethical and professional requirements governing my practice. Information is shared for the purpose of supporting safe and effective professional practice and confidentiality is respected.

Storage of your information

Your basic contact information, including your name, address, telephone number and email address, is stored securely within IONOS, the email and contact-management service used by Park Avenue Counselling.

Information collected through Microsoft Forms may include your date of birth, GP details, ICE/emergency contact, medical information, assessment information and risk information. This information is stored within my secure Microsoft 365 environment and/or my clinical record-keeping system as appropriate.

Heidi Health

I make use of Heidi Health, a healthcare-focused clinical documentation platform, as part of my clinical record keeping.

Heidi is used to maintain a client profile and clinical history and may contain relevant client information, assessment information, risk assessments and other documents where appropriate. It is also used to assist with the creation and management of clinical session notes.

I remain responsible for reviewing and approving your clinical notes.

Retention of clinical records

Clinical notes are retained within Heidi Health for the duration of your therapy so that your clinical history and previous sessions can be appropriately accessed when required.

I will periodically export copies of your clinical notes and retain them securely as part of my independent clinical record.

At the end of therapy, your clinical record will be exported in full from Heidi Health and securely retained as part of my clinical records. Once I have confirmed that the complete record has been successfully exported and securely retained, your record and notes will be deleted from Heidi Health.

Your independent clinical record will continue to be retained for seven years after counselling has ended, in accordance with my professional and insurance requirements. After this period, your records will be securely erased in accordance with my record-retention arrangements.

Your contact, GP and medical information will no longer be retained once it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, subject to any legal or professional requirement to retain relevant information within your clinical record.

Clinical Executor

I have appointed a clinical executor who would have access to your name and contact details to enable them to contact you in an emergency or if, for any reason, I am no longer able to work with you.

In the event of my death, arrangements are in place for your clinical records to be managed and ultimately deleted in accordance with the applicable record-retention requirements.