Your privacy and confidentiality
If you are going to talk with someone, whether online or face-to-face, one of the most important things you’ll probably want to know is whether what you say will be kept private and confidential.
At Centre 33, all our services are confidential. We will not discuss you with anyone outside of Centre 33 without your permission, unless it’s to get more support for you, or we believe you or someone else may not be safe. We would then contact other services that could help. We would always try and let you know we are doing this and get your agreement for doing so. For further information, please look at our privacy notice.
Your counsellor may discuss their work anonymously with their supervisor, who makes sure they are working effectively (in line with BACP Guidelines). Your counsellor may also speak with their manager if they’re concerned about your or someone else’s safety, or if they want to find out more about other support options for you. We’ll always let you know if we feel we do need to speak with a colleague.
You can read our full privacy notice here.
What do you do with my information?
Your counsellor uses the information we have about you to help them support you.
We keep your information safe on our secure web-based management system which has limited access for appropriate staff only. In line with legal guidelines, we will keep your records for 6 years unless a particular contract or legal framework requires us to keep it for longer.
Within Centre 33, your information may be shared on a need-to-know basis. For example, counsellors may discuss you with colleagues if it is necessary to work collaboratively to support you.
We don’t share your information outside of Centre 33, unless:
- we believe you or someone else may not be safe and we would then contact other services that could help – we will always try and get your permission first
- we needed to work with another organisation to get you other support – we will ask your permission to do this
- you ask us to share it with someone
- we use your information anonymously for reports to our funders, assessors or auditors. This will not include any information that could identify you individually
- in very rare circumstances, we may be legally required to do so under UK Law (such as becoming aware of a terrorism threat or a lawful request relating to court proceedings).
If you or someone else is at risk
Any decisions to share information about you (if you or someone else may be at risk) will take your circumstances into account, including who else knows what’s happening and if they are keeping you (or another person) safe and what other support you may already have. If we do have concerns and need to act, then we:
- will always try to talk to you about this first and to involve you in the decision, as much as we can
- may talk the decision through with a manager at Centre 33 before sharing information further, to make sure we are acting in the best interests of everyone involved
- will only share the information needed to make sure everyone involved is kept safe and only do so with relevant services
- will update you with the outcomes of any information sharing.
You can read our full privacy notice here.