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How do you know I am qualified to do the job?
My business is a member of, and therefore regulated by the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (AfSFH) and the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH).
I must adhere to their strict code of conduct and ethics, including having a recognised qualification, correct insurance, regular Continual Profession Development (CPD) training, and having routine supervisions with a regulated and qualified supervisor.
What is the General Data Protection Regulations, 2018 (GDPR) and how does it affect me?
GDPR replaces the 1998 Data Protection Act to ensure your personal and sensitive, confidential data is kept private and held securely and being processed in the way that you have agreed to. It is there to protect your rights as a consumer of a service or product that might involve your identifiable data, e.g. your name and address or whether you have a specific condition. It also covers any session records, text messages or emails we exchange.
How long will you hold my information for?
I am a member of the AfSFH, an organisation that stipulates I must hold your data for 8 years after your final session. Unless you are a child, in which case I must hold your data until your 25th birthday, unless you are 17 when treatment ends and then I must keep it until your 26th birthday. Therefore, all records will be deleted in the January after the above retention scales. This is in line with NHS guidelines for holding data.
What if I don’t want my records to be held for that long?
Under GDPR you can make a request in writing to me, for all your records to be deleted. In this case all your paper records would be shredded with a cross-cut shredding machine and any electronic data such as emails or text messages would be permanently deleted from the devices they are stored on. I would have to save the request for deletion you made but would not save any other data.
Why do you need to record this information?
I collect information about why you are using the service, a small amount of medical information and a small amount of information about your important others, alongside brief session notes. This information enables me to provide a high-quality service to you, ensuring I am equipped with the knowledge of our previous discussions prior to each session.
What lengths are made to ensure my information is held securely?
Text messages – My phone is secured with a pin code.
Emails – My email account requires a user name and password.
Email attachments – Any attachments sent by email to you containing your personal information would be password protected and the password would be sent to you via text message.
Electronic documents – Any electronic documents e.g. A letter to your GP, or an invoice, are password protected and stored on a password protected computer if they contain personal or sensitive information.
Is what we discuss kept confidential?
Everything we talk about during our sessions are strictly confidential between you and I.
To ensure I am doing my job effectively and that I have the right support, I may discuss some elements of our sessions with my supervisor. My supervisor also adheres to GDPR.
What if I see you outside of the session?
You are welcome to share with other people about the therapy you are receiving, but I am obliged by GDPR law to ensure your confidentiality is protected. I would request that in order to ensure the success of your treatment, that you refrain from discussing your treatment with me outside of your sessions.
What about other Health and Social Care Professionals?
As I adhere to the GDPR, any contact relating to you with other health care professionals would only be made with your signed consent. E.g. If I were to write to your GP to notify them of your treatment with me, and then notify them of the treatment ending, I would only do this if you were to sign the specific consent for this at the end of this document.
How long will each session be and how often?
Sessions are usually 50 minutes.
Sessions will usually begin weekly at first, and then over time we will – in agreement – spread them out over longer periods.
Smoking Cessation is a one-off session that lasts approximately two hours.
NOTE: Payment is in advance at the time of booking by bank transfer.
What if I’m running late?
Please do your best to let me know if you are running late. I run a busy practice and schedule client appointments back-to-back. If you are late, your appointment will still run in the allocated slot.
What if I need to rearrange my session?
I operate a busy practice, with a waiting list. Please be considerate when cancelling an appointment and where possible give at least 48 hours notice. If less than 24 hours notice is given, the appointment fee will be charged in full.
If I need to rearrange a session I will let you know at my earliest opportunity and would hope you might approach our sessions with the same ethos. In extreme circumstances, I may choose to waive the cancellation fee e.g. severe disruptive weather conditions.
Therapeutic Alliance
If I am subjected to abuse by you, or by someone else acting in your interests, I reserve the right to end our therapy with immediate effect. Our therapeutic alliance is based on mutual respect; please respect my right to a family life and be respectful of my time outside our therapy sessions.
Your commitment to these sessions is essential and if you regularly fail to attend sessions or regularly cancel and rearrange sessions, I will have a discussion with you about whether this is something you are truly committed to.
Intellectual Property
Any resources sent to you as part of our work together remains my intellectual property. You should not disclose, communicate, reproduce or distribute any materials and resources provided during delivery of our sessions or our work together.
International clients
Please note that I am based in the UK and as such I am governed by UK laws.