Privacy Policy

Who I am and What I collect and use

I, Ioanna Matte, do not collect, use or disseminate any personal information about you via this website. Personal information is restricted to your mobile phone number and email address, it is only collected once a counselling or psychotherapy contract is entered into, and is not held on this website. Your phone number is saved using only your initials on my mobile phone. Your email address is saved on my email contacts list, which is used solely to contact you. I do not use my contact list for research, sale, or advertising. This is regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation, which applies across the European Union and the United Kingdom, and I am responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that I do not own or control.

Who I share your personal information with

I do not share your personal information with anyone.

I do not take client notes during or after sessions unless I am seriously concerned about risks to your or another’s life. Any process notes I keep do not include any of your personal or identifying information.

As an Accredited Professional Member of the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS), I abide by their Code of Ethics. Therefore, the limits to confidentiality include my legal requirement to report to a relevant authority any current terrorist activity, money laundering, people trafficking, and child abuse.

I receive professional supervision from a qualified and experienced professional, an accredited supervisor, who is bound by the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) code of ethics and conduct.

How long do I keep your personal data?

All your personal data will be deleted 3 years after your sessions with me have ended. 

Your Rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:

  • Fair processing of information and transparency over how I use your personal information
  • Access to your personal information and to any other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address
  • Require me to correct any mistakes in your information which I hold
  • Require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations
  • Receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to me, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations
  • Object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing
  • Object in certain other situations to my continued processing of your personal information
  • Otherwise restrict my processing of your personal information in certain circumstances

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • email me at info@mattepsychotherapy.com
  • Let me have enough information to identify you (e.g. your name and email address)
  • Let me know the information to which your request relates

Keeping your personal information secure

For the purposes of privacy and protection of your data I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). This requires me to keep information in accordance with the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which came into effect on the 25th of May 2018 in all EU countries and the UK.

I have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. I limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it, which is only under legally required circumstances to relevant authorities. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

I also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. I will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where I am legally required to do so.

Bank payments – Your name will appear on my bank account statement, which is electronic only and password protected.

HMRC – If I am audited, your name may be visible on invoices or bank statements, but not your address. Please note that HMRC are also GDPR compliant.

How to Complain

I hope that I can resolve any query or concern you raise about my use of your information.

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, which in my case is the UKCP, or the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner, who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or by telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This privacy notice was first published on 1st July 2018.

I may change this privacy notice from time to time. You should check this policy occasionally to ensure you are aware of the most recent version.

How to Contact me

Please contact me if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information I hold about you.

If you wish to contact me, please use the contact form on this page: http://www.mattepsychotherapy.com/contact/ or send an email to: info@mattepsychotherapy.com