Tel: 079 39 321 332

Email: contact@steppingstonespsychology.com

I will maintain confidentiality and protect your data. This applies to any and all records in accordance with GDPR and confidentiality guidelines of the NCPS. I will not disclose identifiable information about you or someone you discuss except for in the following circumstances:

  • My own Supervision. Our work will be discussed with my supervisor in a confidential, anonymised manner that focuses on my own practice. Where there is a connection or potential connection between my client/supervisee and supervisor, I will take extra steps to anonymise any issues I bring to them, or if that is not possible, use an alternate supervision space.
  • If you or someone else is at risk, I will explore this with you and we will mutually agree on how to proceed. I do not operate a general policy of disclosing risk without my client’s consent, as such a policy can put clients at further risk. However, in exceptional circumstances where there is severe risk of criminal harm to others, I reserve the right to share information with the appropriate agency, including without the client’s consent.
  • There are rare certain legal situations where I would be obliged to share information, for example in the case of terrorism, money laundering and certain instances related to road traffic offences.

Working with under 18s

  • I work with Gillick competent under 18s. I never share information with parents, even if parents are paying for therapy, without clients’ permission. As a general rule I do not bring parents into the therapy process with the exception being when the therapy approach is systemic/dyadic.
  • The number of sessions that need to be paid for will necessarily be disclosed if a parent is paying, however I will not disclose if the client made a last minute cancellation or did not attend a session.
  • If a young person under 18 is at risk of abuse or serious harm, I will discuss with them the best way to help them be safe. There may be very rare occasions when I would need to take the decision to speak to a GP or social worker about safeguarding concerns without the young person’s consent.

Clients who are a trainee

  • A trainee will also be bound by their own organisational and practice agreements around disclosure and confidentiality
  • Disclosure will only be made if the trainee fails to disclose where deemed necessary.
  • In the case of trainees, I will be required to provide reports of our work to the training institute, and in some instances, the placement. While I will always share these with you before they are sent, there may be instances where I am ethically required to disclose concerns or developmental issues with your practice. I will address these in our sessions beforehand where possible.
  • If I believe that the trainee is not fit to practice or practicing outside their limits of competence, we would have a discussion, with the possibility that I might request the trainee takes a break from client work to rest, pending a review, or that a trainee would end work which is beyond their level of competence.
  • Under the NCPS Code of Ethics I am required to protect clients from unsafe practice and ensure they are not harmed. Therefore I will disclose to the trainee’s professional body and to placements and training organisations in the rare circumstance where a trainee is unfit/unsafe in their practice and has not themself taken the necessary steps to inform the appropriate people.

Session recordings

Sessions must not be recorded without written agreement of all present

  • If I or my client makes session recordings these must be agreed to in writing by those being recorded, and subsequently stored in according to GDPR rules and deleted immediately after they are no longer required.
  • I take notes manually in sessions but occasionally record sessions (not audio or video recording, but note-taking only) via a note taking app to help me take notes more efficiently. I have additional needs and find this mode of note taking helpful to ensure I have not missed any important details. This is used for record keeping only such as session notes and will not be used or shared anywhere.
  • There is specific training where a recording of a session is required for the training centre to assess me and my work. I will only record a session if a client has given me consent to do this. A client is never obliged to agree to this and a session will never be recorded without the client’s consent.