Counselling Service Records, Confidentiality and Who Will know I am accessing counselling or have access to my notes.
I offer a high level of confidentiality, consistent with the law and associated professional bodies’ Code of Practice.
There are exceptions to confidentiality If I feel that you are at risk of self-harm, harm to others, you tell me about an unresolved crime or there are child protection issues. In certain instances, I may not ask permission to break confidentiality depending on the circumstance
A necessary breach in confidentiality, whether agreed or not, will only disclose information to relevant services which are relevant to the situation. This would be in the interests of client and public safety, adhering to BACP guidelines
I record information about you so I can contact you, provide with you with the counselling you request and offer you appropriate support.
I do record personal, identifiable information about you. This is stored either on an GDPR Compliant electronic client record system or locked up securely.
Your referrer may know you have accessed or are accessing counselling
Usually, no one outside my service will know you are accessing counselling unless you tell me about unresolved safeguarding concerns, criminal issues or activity, a risk of harm to yourself or others, or your case is discussed in clinical supervision.
Only I will read your session notes or a nominated counsellor if necessary in my unforeseen absence.
I regularly access clinical supervision and may discuss what you say in sessions with my Clinical supervisor. This is in the interests of maintaining the quality of counselling you are offered
If something happens to your counsellor, a nominated clinical supervisor or counsellor may access your details to contact you, inform/ update you, and signpost you to other services if needed.
When you refer or access counselling I may record the following details.
While you access appointments The information I store about you may include;
Last updated: 25 August 2026
I hold your information so that I can respond to your enquiry, arrange and provide counselling sessions, keep appropriate and confidential records, and meet my professional and legal responsibilities as a counsellor. My lawful bases for processing are your consent, the steps needed to enter into and deliver our counselling agreement, and my legitimate interest in running a safe and professional practice. Some counselling records may involve information about your health, which I treat with particular care as a special category of personal data.
You can submit a request for your records in writing by emailing [email protected]. Requests will be subject to appropriate identification / Data checks
If you contact me but we do not go on to work together, I will keep your enquiry only for as long as is reasonably needed, and then delete it. If we do work together, I keep counselling records for the period required by my professional obligations and insurer, after which they are securely destroyed.
Whilst there is no fixed legal timeline on how long I am required to I store your records, I will Keep your records for 7 years after therapy ends in line with standard practice.
Cheryl Simpson Therapy is registered with the Information Commissioners office.
I do not sell your information or share it for marketing. Your information is kept confidential. There are limited circumstances where I may need to share information, for example where there is a serious risk to your safety or the safety of others, or where I am required to do so by law. Wherever possible, I would discuss this with you first. I also use trusted service providers, such as those named above, who process information on my behalf under appropriate agreements.
Under UK data protection law you have the right to ask for a copy of the information I hold about you, to have inaccurate information corrected, to ask me to delete information where there is no longer a reason to keep it, and to object to or restrict certain processing. To exercise any of these rights, please contact me using the details on this website.
If you have a concern about how your information is handled that I have not been able to resolve, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
I may update this notice from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last reviewed.
