Confidentiality, Privacy and Consent.
It's really important to us that you are able to give your informed consent to the services you receive with In-Mind Partners.
But what does that mean?
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Informed consent is where you give your permission for us to work with you. You can only truly give your permission if you know what you will be doing and how we will take care of you and your information. You also have to be of an age or ability to understand all of these details to be able to give your consent.
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This page tries to explain all of these terms so that you know about how you will be supported and can truly give your consent.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality means that we keep all of the information you tell us private. That means that we don't share your information with anyone outside of In-Mind Partners. We won't forward any of the details you submit online to anyone, and we won't share the information you share with your clinician with anyone outside of the In-Mind Partners
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It is important that each of our partners are able to access support from senior partners and supervisors within the clinic, to help them in the work that they do with you. This is a standard recognised practice in Psychological professions to ensure the best possible care. Our supervisors and partners are committed to protecting your confidentiality and they will only be given the limited information that they need to know in order to support your clinician to provide you with the best support.
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There are very limited circumstances where we would need to share further information about your care more widely, and only with the purpose of keeping you safe. If, during the course of your work with us you tell us that you, or someone you are responsible for, are at immediate risk of harm to yourself, others, or from others, we would need to ask for help from other agencies to support yours or others' safety. This would include your General medical Practitioner (GP), and if you are between 13-18, also your parents, unless telling them could increase your risk of harm. We may also include statutory services who are more able to provide specialist support for you. We would always involve you in every aspect of this process.
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If you share concerns about your own, or someone else's safety, your practitioner will discuss these concerns with the safeguarding Lead.
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A note on chaperones
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We recognise that taking the first steps to work with someone who you don't yet know can be difficult. You might find it easier to bring a friend or family member with you to your initial sessions to help you feel more comfortable. We will always remind the person who is with you about the importance of the confidentiality of the information and experiences that you share with us, and we would expect them not to talk about this with others without your permission. As you get to know your practitioner better, we would hope that if you are aged 13 and above, that your practitioner will be able to dedicate all of the session time to working with just you, so that you can get the most out of the time that you have together. It is often a great idea for you to share your work after your session with people that you trust, and who can support you to work on your goals between sessions.
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Privacy
How we collect your information
We collect information from you in a number of ways: Through the form submission on the site, and through what you tell your clinician. Some of these sessions may be video recorded - with your permission - to support quality of care, and ensure that supervision is as productive as possible. This is ultimately to provide you with the best possible service.
How we store your information
All the information that could identify you, collected through the website, is protected by a further layer of encryption before it is stored on a secure server. We delete this information as soon as you complete your work with us. The information that you tell us as part of your therapy, is stored as part of your care records on a secure clinical records data management system many NHS mental health services use to keep records safe. Having records in a system like this is not only safe, but it helps us to keep track of the work that you have been doing with your practitioner and also keeps track of whether things have been improving. In line with NHS records guidance, your clinical records are stored for 7 years before being destroyed.
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The data that you input into the online self-referral form can only be seen by our senior partners responsible for case allocation.
How we use your infomation
We use the information you give us to help decide who to match you with to support your wellbeing, and following assessment, which approaches might work best to meet the goals that you set. During the course of therapy, we actively monitor whether you feel you are working towards your goals and whether your symptoms are improving. We share that information with you to help us decide whether we are working with the right approaches.
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We might also - with your permission - video record our work together. We use this in supervision so that other senior clinicians can support the work that you are doing with your therapist.
As Psychological professionals, we are scientist-practitioners. This means that we value research in helping us to understand experiences and continue to develop the best supporting treatments. We collect outcome data for every person who works with us, and put all this data together to assess how we perform. None of this data in identifiable to you or the work you did. We may offer you the opportunity to be part of additional specific research. If you opt to be part of any specific research opportunities, you will be assigned a unique ID, and no identifiable information about you will be held with your progress for research. That means we can see whether things are improving in the work you are doing, without knowing who you are, where you live, what school you go to, or anything else that could tell us who you are.
Consent
Giving your consent is the same as giving your permission.
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By ticking the box at the bottom of the self-refer page and submitting your response, you are giving us your permission to collect, store and use your information as we have told you we will in the privacy and confidentiality statement above.
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