The South Manchester Centre for Psychotherapy Privacy Notice
Privacy Policy - Overview
smcp is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a data controller
Organisation name: Carol Lucas
Registration reference: ZA176065
The south Manchester centre for psychotherapy (smcp) is committed to protecting the privacy of its referral service users, members, students, website users, supervisees, practitioners and people on the smcp data base.
This Privacy Policy outlines the personal data that we collect, how we use and store this information, and the options you have in sharing this information with us when you visit our website, use our services or become members.
The policy also outlines how you can request smcp to delete your personal information. Personal information includes any information we hold about a person, either electronically or in paper form.
These policies are in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations 2018. As part of our data collection policy from time to time we examine whether we are keeping data collection to the necessary minimum.
The information we collect about you, how we store it and how long we keep it
We keep all written personal information in a secure environment and do not / never have pass/ed it on to third parties outside smcp without your written consent, except in the very, very rare instance when someone’s life or safety is at risk. The information you provide will only be used for the purposes stated when it was collected, for example; to facilitate your training, therapy, room hire or membership.
smcp membership comprises, all service users; psychotherapists, counsellors who work at smcp - these therapists / counsellors have their own privacy policy and you can ask to see their privacy policy before working with them.
Referral Service users
When you make an enquiry to smcp, we will retain your name and email contact address.
This will be stored securely. As part of the process of finding you a psychotherapist / counsellor, your personal information (name and email), with your explicit consent, will be shared with possible therapists, who may be suitable to work with you and have availability at smcp. Once we have identified a psychotherapist / counsellor to work with you - they will be asked to retain and store those details in line with their own individual privacy policies.
smcp will ask for your written consent to retain your personal information. To protect your confidentiality there are a number of ways in which your privacy is shielded: by removing identifying information where possible, not sharing any data with those who do not have a working contract with smcp, reviewing processes, adhering to strict contractual conditions, an annual deletion of information for those not taking up the service. For those who take up psychotherapy / counselling referral service we have to keep the personal data for a minimum of several years (at least 3 and possibly up to 7) in accordance with BACP / UKCP guidelines. Data maybe stored for a longer period than this if deemed necessary.
Data may be shared with other agencies if there is a legal requirement, or if there is felt to be an immediate risk of substantial harm to clients or others. Client rights are recognised in line with data protection law at all times. Email maybe used for making arrangements for appointments but not for discussing any case material with clients.
Members, Teachers, Supervisors
We keep contact details (name, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses) of the people above on a list which is password protected and accessed by the administrative staff only. It is collected so that we can offer administrative services to people who have requested the services of smcp - the information on this list has never been shared with third parties and never will be. The personal data is deleted after 3 years (and possibly up to 7) when a person ceases to be a member, teacher, supervisor at smcp.
Students
We keep contact details (name, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses) of the students on an internal list which is password protected and accessed by the administrative staff only. This information is collected so that we can keep people informed about the services they have requested from smcp. This contact information is deleted after 3 years (and possibly up to 7) after a person ceases to be a student.
The Director of training holds information on each student and this information includes:
*their application and CV for the training
*training therapist and training supervisor details
*feedback from teachers
*assessments from supervisors and assessors
*termly self-reflections
* assignments and anything else relating to the assessment criteria
People requesting information to attend a course / event
When you attend a conference or workshop organised by smcp or contact us expressing an interest in our work and services your name and email is added to a list – so we can respond to your request for services.
Your access to your information
You may request a copy of the personal data we hold on you and this is called a Subject Access Request (SAR). There is no charge for this and we will respond within one calendar month. Please email admin@smcpsychotherapy.co.uk
Your right to withdraw consent for your personal data to be held
You can make a request in writing or by email to smcp to have your personal data deleted. In this case any paper records will be shredded and any electronic data - emails would be permanently deleted from the devices they are stored on. We will save the request for the deletion but not any other data.
However, if you have provided or received psychotherapy / counselling through smcp or trained at smcp or worked from smcp, we would keep this data for 3 years under UKCP / BACP guidelines (and possibly up to 7).
Links: The website may contain links to third party websites and third party websites may contain links to our site. We take great care to create links only to organisations we believe to be responsible, but please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these other sites.
Making a complaint: If you want to make a complaint about how your personal data is handled by smcp please contact us at the email address below. In the event that smcp cannot resolve your complaint to your satisfaction you can contact the ICO on 03031231113.
Carol Lucas
B.Ed Hons (Cantab)
Certified Transactional Analyst (CTA): with psychotherapy specialism qualified membership with
The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP): membership number 00950332
Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (TSTA) with psychotherapy specialism
Psychotherapist, Trainer and Supervisor qualified membership with the:
The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP): membership number 00950332
Psychotherapist, Trainer and Supervisor qualified membership with the:
The European Association for Transactional Analysis (EATA)
Psychotherapist, Trainer and Supervisor qualified membership with the:
The United Kingdom Association for Transactional Analysis (UKATA): membership number 125
Carol Lucas is the owner and Director of The south manchester centre for psychotherapy established in 1991 and The north wales centre for psychotherapy established in 2010.
Chair of the Training Standards Committee (TSC) for The United Kingdom Association for Transactional Analysis. This Committee regulates, monitors and standardizes all Transactional Analysis Training within the United Kingdom under the oversight of UKATA 2010-2016.
The South Manchester Centre for Psychotherapy is an Organisational Member of:
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
The Association for Independent Practitioners of BACP
The Faculty of Healthcare Counsellors and Psychotherapists Limited of BACP
The South Manchester Centre for Psychotherapy is a United Kingdom Association for Transactional Analysis (UKATA) registered training establishment and delivers training that can lead to registration with The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).
