Privacy Notice

About our therapeutic services:

Alice Ritch is an HCPC registered arts therapist, IFS Level 2 practitioner and certified Hand in Hand Parenting Instructor, currently working as Music Therapy Shetland. Alice offers in-person sessions mainly at Hymhus (the former Bigton Kirk) and online using Zoom video call.

This privacy notice explains how we store and use your information when you are referred for any type of therapeutic services.

Information we collect about you:

We need to collect information about you when you self-refer or are referred to our services. We collect information about you when you complete a referral / intake form.

We collect information about you so we can decide with you and your referrer whether and how best we can support you. We also use the information to stay in contact with you until you tell us otherwise.

We collect and use client information for the following purposes:

o   to support client’s emotional wellbeing, learning and development

o   to review, monitor and report on therapy or coaching sessions

o   to enable us to liaise with other related professionals if necessary

o   to keep children safe

o   to meet the statutory duties placed upon us by Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)

How we use your information:

We will respect your confidentiality and will keep the information about you secure.

We will only share the information you give us with people involved in providing and administrating our services. We may also discuss and share your information with your referrer, care co-ordinator, GP or during confidential consultations with a professional supervisor.

If we are concerned about your or another person’s safety or in the case of an emergency, we may contact, discuss and share your information with your next of kin, care co-ordinator, GP, the emergency services or other appropriate services. These include the requirements of a court of law or the threat of severe physical harm to you or others. When we can, we will always try to contact you before doing this. 

If you need help with transport to attend session or groups in-person, we will share your name, address and phone number with a transport company.

What we do with your information:

Electronic copies of your information are stored in our secure, electronic filing system and in our secure, electronic database which can only be accessed by people involved in providing and administrating our services. If you submit forms in hard copy, they will be kept in a locked filing cabinet in a secure place.

How long we keep your information:

If you do not access our services, we keep the information about you for up to two years after the date you completed this form. If you use our services, we keep your information for up to seven years after you stop using our services. After this, we will securely destroy any electronic copies of your information. We will keep an anonymous copy of your information stored in our electronic database for as long as we consider it necessary.

In the event of the therapist dying during the course of therapy, client data will be transferred to a nominated Allied Health Professional in Shetland and stored in compliance with the data protection act 1998.

Find out more:

If you would like to find out more about how we store and use your information, how you can get a copy of the information we hold about you, to ask us to correct or remove information about you which you think is inaccurate, or if you are concerned about the way we manage your information please get in touch musictherapyshetland@proton.me

or

If you have any concerns about how we store and use your information you can speak to the Information Commissioner’s Office on 0303 123113 or find out more on www.ico.org.uk