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Professional quality and ethical standards

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Confidentiality statement

Confidentiality is a fundamental requirement for staff counselling. As an in-house service within the University, we take great care to ensure that one-to-one counselling is confidential. This means that:

  • No-one will know who is using the service, other than the member of staff themselves, the counsellor, service practitioners and administrators.
  • No information is disclosed outside of the Staff Counselling and Psychological Support Service, unless the client (member of staff) gives permission in writing or makes a request for such action.

Exceptions to Confidentiality

Confidentiality cannot be promised if any of the following is disclosed:

  • You give information which leads the practitioner to believe that you or someone else is in danger of serious harm. Then, after careful consideration, the practitioner may take steps to minimize this danger.  Any such action would be discussed with you first if possible.
  • Exceptional situations in which the practitioner will be legally required to disclose information. For example, when ordered to do so by a court or by statutory obligation to disclose information to the authorities concerning knowledge of acts of terrorism, drug trafficking, child abuse etc.

Data protection

The Staff Counselling and Psychological Support Service (SCPSS) prioritise your confidentiality, data management and privacy as a part of our service. The Data Protection Act 2018 controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses or the government.

Data protection and confidentiality for the booking processes and record keeping for Zoom meetings operate on the same basis as for face-to-face at our premises, presented below.

Specific to Zoom appointments

Zoom is a secure platform which complies with the security requirements of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Zoom provides end-to-end encryption for all meetings. There are some circumstances in which the content of Zoom meetings could be accessed by third parties. The UK police force and other international government authorities can ask for access to an individual's Zoom account, just as they can email accounts, where there is a suspicion of illegal or terrorist activities. On this basis we are not able to guarantee complete confidentiality in circumstances which lead to access being granted by Zoom.

What information is being used?

We record the contact details you provide us with. We record the dates of your consultations/ meetings and whether you have attended them or not. We also record generic categories for attendance (i.e. such as stress, workload, anxiety etc.) if they apply to you. This data is collected electronically and kept on an encrypted, bespoke database commissioned for our use only.

We also have hand written process notes created by each counsellor. These are kept under lock and key and are referenced by your designated code. Handwritten notes are destroyed after 3 years of the counselling closing. Our calendar system is a web based program and all appointments are recorded via your designated code.

Why it’s being used

The database enables us to manage individual contracts on a daily basis, helps us review service usage and report our activity to the University, as well as help us plan our proactive activity.

Where it came from

The originating data is anything you provide, the consequent data is based on your attendance to the service.

Who can see the information?

Only SCPSS personnel can see the records. All management reports involve aggregated data converted into statistics which cannot be used to identify any individual client at all in terms of service use.

Email

We recommend that you do not send personal information via email. We also suggest you don’t put a forward function on the email address used to interact with us. We manage our email accounts to ensure that information is not held any longer than necessary.

Your rights under GDPR are:

  • the right to be informed
  • the right of access
  • the right to rectification
  • the right to erasure
  • the right to restrict processing
  • the right to data portability
  • the right to object, and
  • the right not to be subject to automated decision-making

If you do not want us to use your information, you have the right to withhold your consent from it being shared. This may mean we will not be able to provide you with the services you may require or need. If you would prefer us not to hold this data about you, you can call, email or talk to your counsellor in person.

Further information about the University of Leeds policy on data protection is available at  http://www.leeds.ac.uk/secretariat/data_protection.html

Professional standards

All staff counsellors are professionally trained and experienced in workplace counselling. Staff counsellors are registered and accredited with either BACP, UKCP or NCS. They also have additional experience and competencies relevant to working with work-related issues and working in an organisational context. Counsellors engage in professional supervision and continuous professional development.

The service operates in accordance with BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy (2018) and BACP Guidelines for Counselling in the Workplace.

Mindfulness training is delivered by a fully trainer practitioner registered with the British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA) and in accordance with their good practice guidelines. 

Equality and inclusion

SCPSS is here to support all staff. Inclusiveness, access, diversity, authenticity, appropriate boundaries are integral to our professional standards of practice.

Staff Counsellors consider issues of diversity and equality as they affect all aspects of their work.

We are committed to addressing issues of prejudice and discrimination in relation to the mental wellbeing, political belief, sex, gender and gender identity, sexual preference or orientation, disability, marital or partnership status, race, nationality, ethnic origin, heritage identity, religious or spiritual identity, age or socio-economic class of staff.

Feedback and complaints

We invite you to feedback to us throughout your contact with our Service primarily, with your counsellor or our administration team.

There might be a situation where this will not suit your needs, however. If you need to make a complaint, the Service will take action promptly and in line with the BACP Ethical Framework.

The SCPSS complaints procedure is designed to enable complaints to be listened to, responded to and to take action where it is decided that change or improvement is required.  Where necessary appropriate concerns will be escalated to the appropriate organisational level.