The Wellness Hut Privacy Policy (UK)

In May 2018, the Data Protection Act was replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation  (GDPR). Samantha Anderson is GDPR registered. The changes to the Data Protection Act are aimed at ensuring  your personal, confidential and sometimes sensitive data is held privately and securely. This means  that any data you give to Samantha Anderson must be processed in a way you agree with. GDPR exists to protect your rights as a consumer. It applies to your identifiable data, eg your Samantha Anderson and address & any  reason you might have for visiting Samantha Anderson. It also covers any session records, text messages or emails  between Samantha Anderson & yourself.  

Samantha Anderson is a member of the NCH and AfSFH . As such they are bound by their regulations regarding the  length of time they must hold onto your information. The NCH and AfSFH insists that Samantha Anderson must hold  onto your data for 8 years after your final session. However, the rule for children is different and the   NCH and AfSFH stipulates that their data must be held until their 25th birthday. The exception to this  rule applies to young adults whose treatment ends when they are 17 years old when Samantha Anderson must  keep their records until they reach their 26th birthday. Client records will be destroyed in the January  after the dates given above. This is in line with NHS regulations for holding data. 

Under the GDPR rules, you are able to request the deletion of any of your records at any time.  Simply write to Samantha Anderson requesting that your records are destroyed and once they have confirmed  your identity, they will do so. There is no charge for this service. 

Samantha Anderson will then ensure that all your paper records are shredded with a cross shredding machine. Any electronic data held by Samantha Anderson, such  as emails or texts will be permanently deleted from the devices they are stored on. 

NB. Samantha Anderson may need to save the written deletion request you sent them, if their insurance company insists on it, but  would destroy any other data. 

In line with GDPR, if you send Samantha Anderson a request in writing, specifying the data you wish to see, they  will supply you with a copy of your data within 30 days. Samantha Anderson will need to confirm your identity  before sending you the information. There will be no charge for this service. 

NB Samantha Anderson’s insurance  company’s legal team may wish to verify any information Name sends out. 

Samantha Anderson is keen to offer the highest quality support to their clients and in order to do so they will  collect the following information: 

• An idea of what you would like to achieve by coming for hypnotherapy 

• A small amount of medical information 

• Some brief session notes 

• Your contact details 

• GP contact details 

• CORP research data 

• Some basic information about your important others

This information allows Samantha Anderson to provide continuity within the sessions, in order to help you towards  your goal. This information will allow Samantha Anderson to refer to the content of earlier sessions and previous  discussions. Samantha Anderson will only use your contact details/address and GP’s details with your explicit  consent. See client agreement and initial consultation. The CORP research programme collects  unidentifiable information for the purposes of producing scientifically measured outcomes for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy. 

• Paper session notes - Samantha Anderson stores all paperwork

• Text messages -Samantha Anderson’s work phone is secured by pin and bio metric security

• Emails-Samantha Anderson’s email account requires a unique username and password/bio metric security to access emails

• CORP research data- accessed via a password protected programme on a device which is itself protected by password, pin and bio metric security

Everything you discuss with Samantha Anderson during your sessions remains strictly confidential. Occasionally it  may be necessary for Samantha Anderson to discuss elements of your sessions with their supervisor to ensure that  they are helping you in the most effective way. However, no identifying features about you will be  disclosed during these discussions. Samantha Anderson’s supervisor is also registered with the ICO and abides by  GDPR requirements.  

Samantha Anderson is obliged by GDPR to protect your confidentiality at all times. So for this reason, although  they may acknowledge you, it would be ideal if any further conversation could be avoided. However,  if you wish to discuss your therapy with other people, that is your choice and you are welcome to do  so.  

Samantha Anderson is only able to contact other health and social care professionals with your written consent. Should they write to your GP, to notify them that you have entered into a therapeutic relationship  with them, or to notify them that your therapy has been successfully concluded, Samantha Anderson would  require your signature, in line with GDPR requirements. Samantha Anderson does have a ‘duty of care’ towards  their clients, so the only exceptions to this would be if they believed that you were about to harm  yourself or others. Should this occur then Samantha Anderson would be required to inform the relevant  authorities. However, Samantha Anderson would always aim to discuss this with you before taking any action.  Legally, Samantha Anderson would also have to provide the police with information as set out in a warrant or  court order, should the situation arise.  

The Data Controller is Samantha Anderson. This policy was last updated 9/23. It may be updated at any time, so please check back regularly to ensure that you're aware of the latest version. Please note  that the cookie policy for www.thewellnesshut.net is available to view online. 

ICO Registration number: ZB597961

Contacting Me…

You have the right to be informed about how your personal information is used. This is the reason for this privacy policy. Further rights are itemised below.

In order to exercise your rights under data protection law, where there is any doubt, we will need to verify your identity for your security, in order to communicate with you about your personal information. You can contact me by emailing thewellnesshut81@gmail.com