Privacy Policy

Psych & Soma provides private psychological assessment and therapy. Psych & Soma is responsible for handling your personal information in accordance with applicable data protection law. Personal information is collected and used to provide therapy, manage appointments and payments, maintain clinical records, communicate with clients and meet professional and legal responsibilities. This information may include contact details, personal and medical history, mental health information, assessment results, clinical notes and correspondence.

Your information will be treated confidentially and stored securely. Psych & Soma will not normally share identifiable information about you without your permission, except where disclosure is required by law or is necessary and justified to protect you or another person, including in safeguarding situations. Relevant information may be discussed with a professional supervisor or consultant, using anonymised information wherever possible. Information may also be shared with relevant professionals or service providers where necessary and lawful. Where appropriate and possible, any proposed disclosure will be discussed with you beforehand.

Your personal information and clinical records are stored securely, with appropriate measures in place to prevent unauthorised access, loss or disclosure.

Psych & Soma uses the following systems to manage information:

• Clinical records: Sessionly

• Email and communication: Outlook

• Online sessions: Microsoft Teams

• Payment processing: Monzo

These providers may process information on behalf of Psych & Soma where necessary to support the practice.

Psych & Soma processes personal information under the lawful basis or bases applicable to the practice under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

As the practice handles sensitive health information, it also relies on an applicable condition for processing special category data under Article 9 UK GDPR.

Information is used only for appropriate purposes connected with providing and managing care and meeting professional and legal obligations.

Psych & Soma retains clinical records in accordance with professional responsibilities, applicable legal requirements and the practice’s record-retention policy. The retention period for clinical records is seven years. When information is no longer required, it will be securely deleted or destroyed.

Under data protection law, you may have the right to:

• Request access to your personal information.

• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.

• Request erasure or restriction of processing in certain circumstances.

• Object to certain types of processing.

• Request transfer of information where the right to data portability applies.

• Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

These rights are subject to applicable legal conditions and exemptions. Clinical records cannot necessarily be deleted or amended on request where there are legitimate grounds to retain them or other legal obligations apply.

To exercise your rights or ask questions about how your information is used, please contact Psych & Soma using the contact details on the first page of this document.

If you have concerns about how Psych & Soma handles your personal information, please contact the practice in the first instance so that the concern can be addressed. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s data protection regulator, at www.ico.org.uk.

Psych & Soma may update this notice if its data-handling practices or legal obligations change. The current version will be made available to clients. If you have any questions about this notice or how your information is used, please contact Psych & Soma using the details provided above.