Privacy Statement

What information we store

During the time we work with you, we may collect the following information:

  • Full names of child, parents or carers, and other significant family members

  • Date of birth 

  • Address, telephone numbers, and email addresses

  • GP and school contact details

  • Reasons for seeking therapy

  • Family history

  • Experiences of school, social interactions, and relevant medical information

  • Support networks, strengths and interests

  • Video records of therapy sessions

  • Records of supervision, meetings and correspondence 

Why we store this information

The General Data Protection Regulations define specific legal bases for storing information. Several of these apply to the information which we store about our clients and their families:

  • We ask clients and/or parents to consent to us storing and using this information

  • We only store the information which we need to provide the service which you have asked us for

  • In some cases, we need to use the information we have collected in order to safeguard vulnerable children and young people.

How information is stored

Holistic Attachment Services keep electronic records. These are to help your Therapeutic Play Specialist in their work with you. They also help us to check that we are offering a good service and that our work is effective. The Therapeutic Play Specialist will keep a video record of each session, an assessment report that informs treatment and copies of any correspondence sent or received in relation to our work. We store all records securely, including the use of encryption. These records will only be maintained by Holistic Attachment Services and stored securely during the time your family is undertaking sessions or until Holistic Attachment Services have fulfilled our statutory obligations. Your address, phone number, or e-mail address may be used to contact you in relation to your therapy. For the protection of the Therapeutic Play Specialist and client, personal details and private therapeutic information will be retained for a period of 7 years, after which it will be destroyed via a crosscut shredder. During the referral process, we will ask you to confirm the best ways to contact you. You have the right to request correction of any inaccurate or out-of-date data.

Confidentiality

Information about your family and the therapeutic sessions is only shared on a need to know basis. It is considered best practice to share information with relevant professionals in order to work together to support your child’s needs. We will routinely share information with your child’s G.P, nursery, school and any other professionals involved in your child’s care unless you request (in writing) that this should not happen. You will be asked to provide a list of the professionals involved in your child's care. There are some situations where we may pass on information without a client’s agreement. This may include:

  • When a Therapeutic Play Specialist is concerned that a child, young person, or someone else would be at serious risk of harm if we did not share information with other professionals.

  • When we have information relating to criminal act we are legally obliged to report this. If at all possible, we will discuss our concerns with the client first and come to an agreement about what is the best thing to do. We will tell the client what information we are going to share, and who we are going to tell.

All Therapeutic Play Specialists receive professional, external supervision, which is also kept confidential.  

Access to records

You have the right to see records that are kept about you. If you would like to do this, please ask your Therapeutic Play specialist. They will explain anything in a record that is unclear. You have the right to correct any part of a record that you believe is wrong. Information stored about children belongs to the child, and young people have the right to ask to see their own records. If younger children want to see their records, their parents can request this on their behalf. We then have a legal obligation to consider whether it is in the child’s interest to release this information to their parent. Parents have the right to ask to see information, which is stored about them, for example records of meetings where they were present.  

Data Portability

You have the right to receive your personal information as previously provided, and to transfer the information to another party. Holistic Attachment Services may make future updates or changes to this privacy policy. Please check this page regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version. If you transfer to another website from a link within Holistic Attachment Services site, the Holistic Attachment Services Privacy Policy does not apply. We recommend you examine all privacy statements for all third-party websites to understand their privacy procedures. Holistic Attachment Services is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. 

Monitoring and evaluation

We evaluate all our work to ensure that all of the services we deliver are effective, to enable Therapeutic Play Specialists to continue to grow and improve their practice, and to help us plan and develop our service.

Therapeutic Play Specialists may record your comments in relation to your experience of therapy. We will store this information anonymously and where used to support our service ensure that there is no possibility of individuals being identified.

Privacy statement last reviewed & updated January 2020