Privacy Policy
Privacy Statement for Parents & Carers
So that we can support you and your child effectively, we collect the following information about your family:
- Names, addresses & dates of birth
- Family background information related to your child’s health, development & well-being
- Names & contact details of professionals involved with your family
We only collect information that is necessary for us to understand your child’s difficulties, to plan how best to support him / her and to communicate effectively with you and others supporting your child.
Under the General Data Protection Regulations, our lawful basis for collecting and using this information is:
Consent – We ask your consent to record particular information about your family. We agree with you how we will use this information, who we will share it with, and how we will keep this safe.
Special Category Data – We record information necessary to provide you and your child with a service to prevent or treat ill-health.
We also collect data to monitor and evaluate the quality of the service we are providing. We will ask you to fill in forms relating to this. Your child will not be identified in any data collected from these forms.
How we protect your information
Contact details and background information are kept in a locked filing cabinet within our office. If we communicate with you through email, your email address is kept on Play Therapy Base’s email system which is password protected and on a system that meets GDPR requirements. If we contact you by mobile phone, your number will be stored on your therapist’s phone using initials only.
While we work with you and your child, we record notes of the therapy sessions so that we can remember clearly what has happened, and can build an understanding of your child. These notes are kept in our electronic filing system (which meets GDPR compliance standards), are anonymised and protected by a password. The notes can only be accessed by your Therapist and the Service Managers and will never be shared with anyone else.
So that Therapists are supported to do the best job that they can, they are required to attend regular supervision meetings with their Clinical Supervisor. The Therapist may discuss their work with your child in these meetings, but will not identify your child.
It can also be helpful for us to take photos of your child’s work in the playroom (pictures or sand trays) as part of session notes. Your child will never be in these photos and we will ask specific consent from you to keep these on record electronically.
You, or professionals working with your child, may request a report of the work. Any reports written will be shared with you in the first instance. We would then share these with other professionals with your permission. If the report has been requested as part of statutory procedures (e.g. for Looked After Children Reviews), we would be required to share the report with named professionals but would still share the report with you first (and include any comments you wish to be included).
How long we keep your information
Contact details, email messages & texts will be kept for 6 months after your child ends therapy.
Session notes & reports will be kept until your child’s 21st birthday.
At the times above, we delete all electronic records (including texts & contact details on phones) and cross-shred all paper documents.
If you would like to see the information we hold
You may request to see the information we hold about your family. Any requests should be made in writing to the Service Managers and we will arrange a time for you to view files.
If there is anything you believe should be changed in the information that we hold, we will record this in our records.
Any questions?
If there is anything more you would like to know about the privacy of your personal information, please ask.