The holder of register:
Shalom Peace Counselling
Palakoskentie 17, 03150 Huhmari, Finland
Person who is responsible of the register:
Voahirana Reineck
Palakoskentie 17, 03150 Huhmari, Finland
+358 400 925 515
Shalom Peace Counselling’s Register and Privacy Policy
We understand how important your privacy is. We take care to maintain your confidentiality in accordance with current data protection laws (GDPR, 2018) and the guidelines of Valvira, and for ministry, Suomen ACC (Association of Christian Counsellors Finland). These guidelines have been set up to protect your confidential material and ensure that your therapist always conducts themselves with professionalism and integrity.
To provide you with the best service possible, we will hold your personal contact details and records of your therapy sessions. Please find below important information about how this information will be held and used. The terms Counsellor and Therapist are used interchangeably.
How we protect your personal information
The security of your personal information is important to us, but no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Cookies
To improve your experience on our site, we may use 'cookies'. A cookie is a small text file that our site may place on your computer as a tool to remember your preferences. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of our website.
We also using google analytics to improve webpage visibility and functionality.
Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites, and these websites are not subject to our privacy policy. We are not responsible for the content of these websites or the privacy practices of these sites. If you navigate to other websites via our website, we advise you to read their privacy policy.
Service Providers
We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our website service, to provide a website service on our behalf, or to assist us in analysing how our website is used.
These third parties have access to your personal contact information shared via the website, only to perform these tasks on our behalf, and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.
By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google's Privacy Policy and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.
Our website may also use interfaces with social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and others. If you choose to "like" or "share" information from this website through these services, you should review the privacy policy of that service. If you are a member of a social media site, the interfaces may allow the social media site to connect your visits to this website with other Personal Information.
Embedded Content
This website may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content belongs to the website it links to and thus their website may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content.
Your personal information
We use a secure, encrypted, and password protected commercial cloud storage platform to collect and store your personal data.
At the point of booking your initial consultation with us, you will be asked for your personal contact information, for example your name, address, email address and telephone number and you may also choose to share details of the issues you are looking for help with.
Your contact information is stored securely in Shalom Peace Counselling’s cloud storage platform and can only be accessed by your counsellor.
To be able to fulfil our duty of care to you, in your initial consultation or first treatment session, your therapist will ask you for contact information for your elected Emergency Contact person. These details will be stored securely in Shalom Peace Counselling’s cloud storage platform and will only be accessible to your therapist.
This personal information will be held up to seven years past your last therapy session, after which it will be deleted from our database.
Please note that we will need to keep a record of your name and client reference number for six years after the end of your therapy.
We will never pass on your contact details to any third-party organisations for the purposes of sales, marketing or research and will never use your personal data for any purposes other than the administration of the counselling service we are providing to you i.e. to arrange, cancel and rearrange appointments and collect payment for sessions.
Online Bookings and Payments
When you make an online booking using the online booking system DigitalBooker, DigitalBooker will send a booking notification to your therapist via email. Kindly refer to DigitalBooker’s Privacy Policy for additional information.
Anonymised payment details are recorded in our Visma Pay payout reports. Due to legal requirements, we retain this information for 5 years after the end of the financial year.
Your payment details
All payments are handled through direct bank transfer, Visma Pay (visma.com) or Zapper (zapper.fi) according to their privacy policy guidelines. Shalom Peace Counselling does not hold your payment information.
Your therapy sessions
Everything that you discuss with your counsellor is confidential. Confidentiality will only be broken if there is concern about your safety or the safety of someone else or we are instructed to do so by a Court of Law. We will always endeavour to speak to you about this first.
During remote working, your counsellor will ensure that they are conducting online and telephone sessions in a quiet, private, and confidential setting. We have selected video calling platforms that offer end to end encryption to ensure maximum privacy. Please note however that we cannot be held responsible for any breaches that occur due to failures in this technology.
Your counsellor discusses their clinical work with a supervisor. This is to ensure that they are offering you the best service possible. These conversations are bound by confidentiality, and you will only be referred to by your first name.
Your therapist will also keep notes of each session. These are anonymised and are stored in a locked filing cabinet or within a password protected file within our secure and encrypted cloud storage platform. These notes are for your therapist’s use only and will be confidentially destroyed four months after the end of your sessions.
If your sessions are paid for or arranged via a third party, (e.g. your employer, a friend, or a family member), other than payment requests, invoices or receipts, your counselling information will not be shared. Details about what is discussed in your sessions will remain confidential between you and your therapist. Any other information can only be shared if you provide your written consent.
Your communications with us
All our email accounts use the secure GSuite server and are double password protected. If you send an email to your therapist’s email address, only they will have access to it.
All phones, tablets and laptops used to respond to your emails are encrypted, fully protected with anti-virus software and password protected.
Data Usage
We will only use your email address and telephone number to contact you about your appointments and follow-ups. Your therapist may also contact you directly via email to share information with you that is pertinent to your therapeutic process.
Your phone number may also be used to issue appointment reminders via text message.
Your rights
Any personal data retained by your counsellor is kept in accordance with the GDPR, 2018.
Under these guidelines you have the following rights
The right to request access to your data
You can request to view the information that we hold about you (contact details, appointment logs etc.) at any time. If during therapy you would like to see your session notes, please make this request to your therapist directly on writing. We will check back with you to confirm your request. Should you require a copy of your notes after your therapy has come to an end (not more than four months after the end of your sessions) you can make this request by emailing spc@voahirana.com. We will provide the requested information within 30 days of receiving your written request.
The right of rectification
At any point during your time using our service or during the seven years thereafter, while we retain your records, you have the right to request amendments to your contact details. This right can be exercised by contacting us in writing.
The right to be forgotten
You can request that we delete and confidentially destroy the information that we hold about you and your sessions at any time. This request can be made by contacting our admin office at spc@voahirana.com.
Instances where we would not be able to comply with your request are as follows:
a) It is necessary for us to retain these records to continue providing an effective service
b) We are compelled to retain these records by a Court of Law
c) We require these records to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Consent
You will be asked to confirm that you consent to the storage and processing of your personal data for the purposes of providing therapeutic services before the start of the first session.
You are entitled to withdraw this consent at any time and can do so by emailing our office at spc@voahirana.com
Breaches of data protection
In the event of any breach of our data protection policies, we will notify you and the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman within 72 hours and will seek to rectify this immediately.
Raising concerns
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in writing via the below contact details. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure.
Attn: Voahirana Reineck
spc@voahirana.com
Palakoskentie 17, 03150 Huhmari, Finland
+358 400 925 515
We will respond to the complaint within 30 days of receiving the complaint in writing. You can also contact the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman. For further information kindly visit tietosuoja.fi