Privacy Declaration (June 2023)
Your therapist is legally required to keep a client file during your therapy. This contains information about your state of health and the process of therapy sessions. There might also be information that is necessary for therapy, which your therapist (with your explicit permission) has acquired from another health provider, such as your doctor.
The steps we take in order to guarantee your privacy, include the following:- keeping your personal information password-protected and/or in a locked cabinet
- ensuring that only your therapist has access to your data, except in cases where, with your explicit permission, your information is shared with other health providers, for example, if therapy is finished or you are being referred to another practitioner
- observing the legal requirements of confidentiality
- sharing anonymized information with colleagues, who also have a legal duty of confidentiality, in the context of supervision or intervision
If your therapist needs to use your information for any other reason, this will be discussed with you and your explicit permission must first be obtained.
A few of the details in your file are used for financial administration to issue invoices, which will contain the following information:
- your name
- your date of birth
- the number of your insurance policy (which you can fill in yourself)
- the date of treatment and a short description
- the fee for treatment
Your Rights
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union, you have the following rights:
1. The right to receive and transfer your personal data
2. The Right to have personal data erased/destroyed
Counsellors are required to keep files for at least 20 years and financial
data for 7 years. However, the law also provides that you have the right
to ask your healthcare provider for your data to be destroy. Your healthcare
provider must comply with this, unless there are specific reasons not to,
such a legal stipulation that the data must be retained (for example, because
of someone else's interest or because the information is necessary for
the provision of care). Financial and administrative information about clients
and personal work notes are not covered by this right and cannot
be asked to be destroyed.
3. The right for rectification, addition and adjustment of information
You have the right to object to the use of your information under the following circumstances:
- the information is incorrect
- the information is incomplete
- the action would be unlawful
- the information is no longer needed
4. The right of access
You have the right to see your personal information and may request to do so.
After making your request, you will receive an overview of your personal
data within one month. If you find inaccuracies, you can request that
your information be amended, supplemented, deleted, or protected.
5. The right to have automated decision making overseen by a human
6. The right to object to the handling of your personal information
If you wish to claim any of these rights, please submit a written request
to your counsellor. We will then draw up an agreement regarding the handling
of your personal data.
Complaints
The ICC therapists who are members of the Algemene Beroepsvereniging voor Counselling (ABvC) are registered with the Stichting voor Complementaire en Alternatieve Gezondheidszorg (SCAG), a foundation for complementary and alternative healthcare, and are subject to their complaint procedure. For further information, you can download a PDF copy of the SCAG brochure) in English.
However, such issues often arise from simple misunderstandings and can be easily resolved; the first step in the complaint procedure is always to discuss the problem with your counsellor, if possible. The next step is to contact the complaint officer of the ABvC (klachten@abvc.nl). If you are still not satisfied, the complaint will be submitted to the SCAG.
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reserves the right to change the content of this privacy policy
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June 2023