This legal notice and privacy policy applies to the entire contents of this website under the domain name www.emcounselling.com and to any email, text, social media or instant messaging correspondence from me and for all communication with myself, Emma Marshall.

To comply with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) GDPR legislation, effective May 2018, I am required to be clear with you about what data I will hold about you, how you can access it and how your data will be used. I am registered on the Information Commissioner’s Office Register as a Data Controller for Emma Marshall Counselling Services. You can search the register at
https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/what-we-do/register-of-fee-payers
 

I will use your contact details to send you further information about my services or to answer specific enquiries, if you contacted us, using the Contact form or by any email or messaging correspondence.

If you provide information about yourself by registering on a page, by enquiring about services or otherwise by telling me about yourself I will collect that information to respond to your request and to assess your needs more accurately. If you decide to not engage with my services all contact details and correspondence will be deleted within 5 days. 

If we are to begin working with each other what data will I record?
At the commencement of any work together you will be asked to read and sign a General Data Protection Register (GDPR) consent form that reiterates the information below.
 

If you are a client, I will keep the following information about you:
● Your full name, address, email and contact telephone number
● Your date of birth
● GP details
● Any prescribed medication in case of emergency
● School/University details if applicable
● Brief anonymised notes of our sessions
 

If you are a supervisee, I will keep the following information about you:
● Your full name, address, email and contact telephone number
● Your date of birth
● Work context/placement
● College/University details including Tutor contact details
 

My obligations to you
1. I am a Senior Member (SMACCPH) of the Accredited Counsellors, Coaches, Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists (ACCPH) and a Registered Practitioner (MCMA) of the Complementary Medical Association and I adhere to both their Code of Conduct
https://www.accph.org.uk/code/of/conduct and Code of Ethics for good practice.
https://www.the-cma.org.uk/policies/code-of-ethics

2. I will keep your information confidential at all times unless, as contracted, confidentiality has to be breached under the following circumstances:
● If you disclose there is a risk of serious harm to yourself or others
● I am subpoenaed by the police to provide my notes or called as a witness for the defence or
prosecution.
● If you request your notes to be released to a third party.
● If you are a supervisee and I have serious concerns about any aspect of your client work, my
ethical responsibility to protect clients from harm, means I will contact either your Agency
Manager and/or College Tutor where applicable.

Please note that I will seek your consent before releasing confidential information and will ask you to sign the relevant disclosure form. However, in some instances, I am not required to gain consent where the law requires me to make a disclosure in cases of safeguarding including known cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) in under 18’s, terrorism, money laundering and drug trafficking. Please see my Confidentiality Guidelines for further details

3. Brief anonymised session notes are kept securely in line with the ACCPH Code of Conduct and the CMA Code of Ethics. In any clinical supervision, which is a necessary element of ensuring that high standards of professional practice are maintained in therapy, any references to individuals will be anonymised so that clients or supervisees are not personally
identifiable.

4. I will only use the data that I collect to help me offer you the best counselling service that I can and as an insurance requirement. I will not use the data for any other purposes. If you request it, I will show you all the data that I hold about you including session notes in person. This will enable me to explain any notes that I have taken that you might want to question. Under no circumstances will I email or post any paper copies to you to protect confidentiality.

5. I am required by law and by my insurance company to keep brief records for a period of 7 years even when our sessions have ceased. The same level of confidentiality applies.

6. In the event of emergency cancellation due to illness or death and I was not able to practise or contact you personally, I have a protocol in place whereby my appointed legal executor, Kate Levell of Kate’s Counselling Service, a Registered Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy who adheres to their Ethical Framework, would be able to access your contact details only via digital/paper appointment diary to enable her to contact you on my behalf.

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