GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) Statement.
Information on How your Personal Information is Collected, Stored and Processed when contracted to LGBT Couple Counselling (UK).What is GDPR?
The right to privacy is part of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. It says: “Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.”
GDPR aims to ensure the protection of this right through legislation establishing minimum data privacy and security standards.
Personal data – is any information that relates to an individual who can be directly or indirectly identified. Names and email addresses are obviously personal data. Location information, ethnicity, gender, biometric data, religious beliefs, web cookies, and political opinions can also be personal data. Pseudonymous data can also fall under the definition if it’s relatively easy to ID someone from it.
Data processing – is any action performed on data, whether automated or manual. The examples cited in the text include collecting, recording, organizing, structuring, storing, using, erasing, etc.
Below is detailed what personal data LGBT Couple Counselling will collect and how it is processed and destroyed.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is concerned with your personal data that I collect, store, and share.
This page details my GDPR policy.
A note about GMail (Outlook etc) and Electronic Messaging Systems - free electronic email & messaging services (Gmail, Outlook, Facebook, WhatsApp etc) regularly read incoming & outgoing messages electronically. One of the reasons for this is that the service gains knowledge about the messaging user for the purposes of selling advertising to other companies. To put it plainly: if you email me about the topic of, say, your sexuality using your GMail address it's very likely sexuality will be associated with your email account... which will possibly attract associated advertising topics wherever you're logged in with that same account (eg Google.com).Personal Data I will Collect.
How I will store your Personal Data.
Storage Methods.
Documents Held.
Paper...
Electronic...
Consultation.
I seek a monthly consultation with another therapist qualified in this process. The consultation process is for my practice (rather than seeking instruction on working with you). In order to protect your privacy, my consultant will not know you personally nor professionally. I will refer to you by your first name, and I may refer to your data verbally when it's helpful to my professional processes.
*Session summaries are my aide mémoire to assist me in my consultation processes; they are my property.
Therapeutic Will.
Your name and contact details will be shared with my Therapeutic Executor. This is so that you will be contacted on the event of my death, should you still be in therapy with me.
Emergencies.
If your health is in jeopardy (provided I have your consent) I may share your contact data with an emergency healthcare service (e.g. Mental Health Crisis Team).
If I have become aware of your intent to cause harm to another person/organisation (e.g. terrorism), the law may require that I inform an authority without seeking your permission. In such a situation, the law may require that I share your personal data without your knowledge (known as: whistle-blowing).
Erasing your Data.
When we have finished working together, I will erase electronic copies of your data & correspondence within one month.
I will hold onto your written/printed data for up to seven years past the end of our working together. This is so that I have a reference of our work in situations such as you returning to counselling in the future. After this time has passed, I will destroy the written/printed data.
Your Rights.
You have the following rights...
** With individual counselling "you/your" refers to yourself alone. With couple and group counselling "you/your" refers to you as an individual and therefore you may only make a GDPR Data Request for data held about you as an individual; you may not request data held on your partner (couples) and you may not request data held on any other member of the therapy group (groups). *With respect to my session notes they reference either the individual (individual counselling), the couple's relationship (couple counselling) or the group dynamic (group counselling) depending on the counselling service contracted. Therefore, to request a copy of my notes under GDPR: as a couple both your permissions will be required (and a copy will be sent to both partners simultaneously), and for a group every group member's permission will be required (and a copy will be sent to all group members simultaneously).
NB: A printed copy of this statement will be given to you when we first meet for counselling. If we agree to continue working together, we will both sign the printed copy of this statement to indicate our agreement.
Request to be "Forgotten".
This section references information from https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/right-to-erasure/
The right (to have all data erased) does not apply to all lawful bases and may be refused in some circumstances.
Whilst clients of counselling have the right to have their personal data erased if the personal data is no longer necessary for the purpose which (the counsellor) originally collected or processed it for, the right to erasure does not apply if processing is necessary for one of the following reasons:
The UK GDPR [...] specifies two circumstances where the right to erasure will not apply to special category data:
Example:
In short:
Whilst GDPR gives you the right to request that you be forgotten after our counselling work is no longer taking place, GDPR gives me the obligation to decline the request due to my insurance provider requiring I keep notes/records on file for up to seven years due to the potential for case complaints or legal claims. After seven years have passed, following the end of our work, I will destroy all notes and records of our work.
About Dean Richardson MNCPS (Accred/Reg)
You could choose any couple / group counsellor…
Given that this will be the most intimate and vulnerable you could feel alongside your partner(s), you would want a skilled professional whose experience and specialism you could trust; whose focus would be upon your distinct relationship. Your couple, throuple or group relationship will be in good hands with Dean. He works from Great Britain, is Independent of "box 'em/shift 'em" therapy services, and identifies as a gay couple counsellor. He's also easily payable in pounds sterling! Dean already had an impressive 17 years actual video "webcam" experience - way before the first British emergency began (when suddenly many counsellors added a Video option to their portfolio, having not practised so previously! 🤔).
What makes Dean Distinct
- Dean is sensitive and effective to your sexuality / gender-identity and intimate ways of relating to each other. You'll discover quickly that Dean is an informed member of your own community.
- Dean demonstrates adept skills with lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, fluid, mixed sexuality and same-or-mixed gender relationships having over 25 years' experience as a counsellor.
- Dean avoids taking a the role of "all-knowing expert" (whether requested or projected onto him by the clients). "Experts" tell you what to do, do not learn very well from others, and struggle to adapt to new situations. A couple counsellor must be curious, adaptive, and ask questions from a "not knowing" position so that the relationship in counselling benefits from re-examination.
- Dean speaks plain English (and can swear like a virtuoso if you like, or not at all if you prefer). He works cooperatively with your relationship (no unnecessary silence, or just "hmms...").
- Dean was originally accredited by his first professional body 15 years ago; he is now an accredited registrant with The National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society. Accreditation is a valued recognition of a counsellor's substantial experience. Dean is also a member of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Union of Great Britain.
- Dean is a British Counsellor working from the South of England. Unlike other counselling services operating from abroad Dean is registered, accredited, insured & supervised from within England (not from abroad).
If any of this resonates with you and your partner(s), you should probably meet with the Gay Relationship Counsellor: Dean Richardson MNCPS (Accred/Reg) via Zoom, Skype, Whatsapp and other secure, reliable video conferencing media.
Dean focuses on LGBT/QIA+ relationships as a specialty in therapy. He works with individuals, couples and small groups. Plus, he's qualified to a postgraduate level (Chichester PG Diploma in Psychodynamic / Systemic Couple Counselling, IGA National Foundation in Group Counselling), and works as a private practice counsellor employing 25+ years experience*.
(*Very Important: not all counsellors have such specific skills for working with couples nor groups. Those who are initially trained to use common "Individual" Counselling skills have no experience in working therapeutically with relationships. Such counsellors may try, perhaps out of misplaced goodwill, to employ "individual" techniques (multiplied by 2) but the couple or group will find that the approach is ineffective. Simply put: it's the wrong approach; your relationship is not part of the counsellor's primary theoretical framework. Remember always to ask your potential counsellor: "what qualifies you to work with our relationship?" and trust your instincts based on what you hear.
Got a Question about LGBT/QIA+ Counselling?
Come and ask... whatever question you have about couple and/or group counselling for gay, lesbian, bisexual, aromatic, asexual and mixed-orientation relationships you might have, get in touch today to discuss your needs…
Private Counselling Services Designed for the LGBTQ+ Community. Available Exclusively to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, ASexual, ARomantic, Mixed & Queer Couples, and Established Polyamorous Groups - serving the UK Nationwide over Zoom & Skype, plus locations in and around central Havant, Petersfield to Waterlooville, Cosham to Portsmouth & Southsea, Southampton to Chichester, Fareham to Gosport, Hayling Island, Emsworth, Westbourne, Rowland's Castle, stretching westwards to Bournemouth, eastwards towards Brighton & Hove and northwards towards Liverpool, Manchester and Hull. For local residents anywhere in between, across the whole UK, and regularly further afield abroad!