Living CALM (Counselling And Life Management) (website url), understands and appreciates that your privacy is very important. Care is taken to maintain client confidentiality in accordance with BACP guidelines along with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page. Please check back frequently to see any updates.

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Security

The padlock in the browser address bar for this website, tells you that this is a secure site. We use SSL this is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and your browsers remain private and integral.

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Living CALM (Counselling and Life Management) uses a secure system for online counselling, protecting the information that is collected. All email and contact forms are encrypted. All telephone calls are confidential. Furthermore:

All email accounts are double password protected and encrypted. If you send an email to your Counsellor’s email address, only they will have access to it at their end.

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Sessions are confidential and never recorded.

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All tablets, laptops and storage devices required to conduct or aid Counselling sessions have anti-virus and/or double password protection.

When devices are not in use for sessions, they are kept securely in a locked cabinet that only your Counsellor has access to.

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The compartment safe is further kept secure in a locked room and/or locked cabinet that only your Counsellor has access to, this is to ensure your privacy and meet ethical guidelines.

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Whilst every effort is made to ensure security, please be advised that with all third party owned addresses, websites etc. there is a risk and there could be vulnerabilities. Please only use our service if you accept this.

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Confidentiality

Living CALM will advise clients of confidentiality and the importance it has on the individual counselling sessions. Any discussions during counselling sessions will be strictly confidential.

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Counsellors are required to have regular supervision with a qualified supervisor. Your identity will always be protected in supervision sessions.  All work is to the highest ethical standards. Living CALM (Counselling and Life Management) will only disclose information, if necessary, e.g., if the person either Counsellor or client is at risk of harm, we are then ethically required to seek advice and guidance from other professionals. We would, of course, try to discuss this beforehand with you to obtain your assent. 

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We may also disclose information if there is deemed to be a risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult

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If a Counsellor receives information, regarding a proposed or actual act of terrorism or money laundering, they are required to share this with the police. Upon receipt of a subpoena, from a judge in a UK court of law, your Counsellor will be bound by British Law to release any information. 

Information – collection, accessing and deleting.

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Living CALM will only ask for information that is considered necessary for the effectiveness of online and/or telephone therapy. We do not store information in a way that makes you personally identifiable. 

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Collection of information
We do not require personal data such as date of birth, race, sexual orientation, political opinion, or religion. Before online and/or telephone sessions begin, telephone number, contacts etc., as well as brief details of what you feel you wish to talk about, may be submitted. This information is accessed by your Counsellor only. Living CALM (Counselling And Life Management) will always ensure basic information is gathered accurately.

Your email address, use to initiate contact, will be used to book, and conduct sessions.

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Your Counsellor may choose to keep offline information about their client's session time/date to stay organised. The information held by the Counsellor is destroyed within 6 months.

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Disclosure of information
You will never be contacted via phone at any time other than for pre-arranged sessions. Your telephone number, and email address will not be shared with any outside agencies or third parties.

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Financial information
We do not request proof of income or financial status. Session payments are made by the client via BACS at least 24 hours prior to the session. We do not request banking and financial information; no card payments are taken via the phone or on the website.

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Access to information
You are welcome to request any information we hold about you. To request any information, please contact your Counsellor directly, we ask that you allow 60 days for the request to be fulfilled. Please note that we only hold basic details for up to 6 months after your last session/purchase.

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Deleting your information 
Within 6 months of last your session/purchase, all details will be destroyed. (There may be some rare instances where it is kept in secure offline storage for up to 7 years). The details are unlikely to make you personally identifiable, however, if you would like those details to be removed before the 6th month, please contact your Counsellor directly to make that request, we ask that you allow 14 days for that request to be fulfilled. 

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Cookies
We use Google Analytics. The cookies are set by Google. Inc and are used to review information about how visitors use our site, this information is used to help us improve the site. The cookies information is in an anonymous form, it includes the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. You can choose to accept or decline cookies on your device. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies; however, you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

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External links
Our site may contain links to and from other websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that they have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for those policies. Please check their policies and terms of use before you submit any personal data.