Confidentiality
Clinical psychologists are bound by established professional guidelines about confidentiality, governed and upheld by the British Psychological Society and equivalent French and European professional bodies. Patients can feel confident that what they say in psychology sessions will be held in confidence by their Clinical Psychologist. There are exceptions to this ONLY when a risk of harm to the patient or others is identified, or a serious crime comes to light. In those rare cases the degree of risk and extent of necessary disclosure to identified others (usually mental health or legal professionals) will be fully discussed with the patient to ensure that they feel supported through the disclosure process.
Online Work & Data Protection
Your contact details and those of your GP will be requested when you book your first appointment. In most cases there is no need for the psychologist to contact the GP and they would not be contacted without your permission. If contact with other mental health/care professionals is advised this will be discussed and agreed between you and your psychologist. All contact details will be securely held in accordance with European Union Data Protection Law and will not be shared with others.
Short notes will usually be taken throughout sessions by your psychologist and will be added to with updated progress notes following each session. All patient notes are held securely and are not available to be seen by others (subject to the exceptions of formal legal requests).
A secure e-platform such as Zoom will be used for all online psychological sessions. These meetings will be organised by the psychologist and you will receive an invitation to attend at the scheduled time.
Therapy sessions are generally not recorded but with the explicit agreement of both parties, they may be recorded by either the patient or the psychologist for agreed purposes. Any recordings should be used only for the agreed purposes and viewed only by those explicitly authorized to do so, by both the patient and the therapist. In any event the recording/s should be erased as soon after that purpose as is practicable.
The same boundaries of confidentiality and Data Protection are adhered to for face-to-face consultations and therapy.
Your data protection rights
If you have purchased therapy sessions from Psychology-helps, you can request to receive an export of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.