Counsellors will keep a record about what happens while you are in counselling. If you use drawings or paintings in counselling, the counsellor may also take a photograph of this after the session. Here’s a list of the information the counsellor will collect:

Information about you

• name
  
• date of birth
  
• home address
  
• phone number
  
• parents names and who you live with 
  
• gender
  
• ethnic group 
• religion
  
• if you have a disability 
  
• additional education needs
  
• doctors name and address 
  
• other health information 

We collect the information for the following reasons:

• To see if we are helping you the best way we can
  
• To help support you further if things get worse
  
• To help us improve the way we work with you
  
• To report to the Welsh Government (who pay for the service) to tell them how the service is doing. This information includes you, but you’re not named. It’s just numbers so with this information no one knows who you are
  
• To contact you, or those who care for you, in case of an emergency

We process personal information about you in order to provide the counselling which is a task carried out in the public interest. We process more sensitive information about you due to the substantial public interest that relates to providing counselling (under schedule1 part 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018).

For us to provide you with counselling, we will share your information with the following:

• Newport City Council (TalkingZone provides the counselling on behalf of Newport City Council)
  
• Welsh Government (only information with your name removed is provided)
  
• Doctors  (only if there is a serious medical concern about you)
  
• School, Social Services or Police (only if the counsellor believes you are at risk or being seriously harmed)

We keep your information until your 24^th birthday, at which point it will be securely destroyed.

All the information about you is held electronically on a secure encrypted server. The security we have in place makes it almost impossible for anyone else apart from the counselling service to see your information. We also make sure that the people who maintain the server are following the Data Protection rules and do not access your information unless we say they can. Any information we send to others will be password protected.

You have a right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Request that we correct any mistakes you think we have made in your personal information 
• Request that we stop collecting any further personal information about you
• Request that we erase the personal information we hold about you
• Request that we send your personal information securely to another organisation

You can contact us to make a request or complain if you think we’re not respecting your rights

If you want to access your information or you are unhappy with the way in which your personal information has been handled, you can contact the Data Protection Officer at the University of South Wales where TalkingZone operates from. The contact details are as follows:  

University Secretary’s Office

University of South Wales

Pontypridd,

CF37 1DL 

Email: dataprotection@southwales.ac.uk 

If you remain dissatisfied then you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

www.ico.org.uk