Personal Stuff

Due to the nature of our work, it is necessary to collect and store significant personal information about children and their families in order to effectively assess and support them through our therapeutic work.  The type of information required will be explained during the initial stages of contact with The Wellbeing Academy.    We will ask that consent forms be signed by persons holding parental responsibility for child clients to indicate an agreement to collect and store personal information.  Where children have sufficient understanding to process the information in order to come to a decision about consent, they too can sign to this effect.

 

Generally speaking, The Wellbeing Academy can hold personally identifiable information for the following purposes:

·         Referrals                                                          

·         Contracts

·         Assessment

·         Review

·         Supervision/Consultation

·         Reports

·         Minutes of meetings attended

·         Feedback and research

 

The Important Stuff

Below are some important things you need to know about how The Wellbeing Academy works with the data that is collected in our day to day work on behalf of children and families.

 

Withdrawing Consent

Should you wish to withdraw your consent for The Wellbeing Academy to hold and use data about you and your family while therapy being received by your child, then you will need to put this in writing and email to office@thewellbeingacademy.co.uk.  The implications and process for moving this forward would be explained to you.  Withdrawing consent for holding and using data would result in the immediate withdrawal of therapeutic work.  You can ask for date about you and your family to be withdrawn at any time once therapy has stopped.

 

Electronic Protection

The Wellbeing Academy’s devices are protected by appropriate security packages to protect against external threats.  Access to the devices is via password control. Electronic records are created using Microsoft Word and are password protected.

 

Electronic documents with personally identified information on are only sent via secure email and

will only be sent when absolutely necessary (face to face delivery or recorded postal delivery are other options). Such emails would be password protected. Where feasible (i.e. where it would not impact on the readers comprehension or need for legal reporting of safeguarding concerns), documents will be pseudonymised before sending via email.

 

 

Paper Recordings

The Wellbeing Academy holds official paper such as: -

·         Referral Form

·         Parent Application Form

·         Client Assessment Forms

·         Client Notes

·         Informal supervision/reflective

All are created to track progression and contribute to any formal reports. 

Supervision/reflective notes do not contain personally identifiable information; they note key themes and events of therapy for the Therapist’s further thought within personal reflection and professional supervision.

Any paper documents received from third parties will be read and a decision will be made as to whether it is important to retain the information longer-term. All paper documents are kept in a secure lockable container, which is held within a lockable filing cabinet.

 

Record Deletion

Any retained third-party client related paper documents will be destroyed upon case closure.

All therapy records will be destroyed upon the child's 18th birthday.  Financial records will be retained in line with accountancy recommendations.

 

Access to Records

It is highly unlikely that The Wellbeing Academy will have generated any client documents that have not already been distributed to clients and their families; assessments and reports are routinely shared as part of our good practice.  

However, clients can request access to the information that The Wellbeing Academy holds about them. There is an administrative cost to this process (£10) and The Wellbeing Academy has 40 days to process the request.  Please note that any details about third parties will be blanked from any document released.  

 

Sharing Records

Client information may be shared with parents with the client’s consent at the review sessions.  This is always discussed during the referral and contracting periods when consent will be discussed.  

There are other times when client information will be shared, when it is deemed to be in the safeguarding best interests of children, families and the community. In these instances, information will most likely to be shared with health and social care professionals and/or the police.  Such instances will also be discussed in the initial contact phases.

 

Accountability

The Wellbeing Academy is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).  The ICO provides guidance to both the public and professional agencies about data protection and The Wellbeing Academy endeavours to work within the guidance they offer.  Any complaints about how The Wellbeing academy has managed your data can be directed to the ICO.