Privacy:

Website

The DMC Clinic (“The DMC Clinic”) operates thedmcclinic.ie and may operate other websites. It is The DMC Clinic’s policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our websites.

Website Visitors

Like most website operators, The DMC Clinic collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. The DMC Clinic’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how The DMC Clinic’s visitors use its website. From time to time, The DMC Clinic may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.

The DMC Clinic also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on thedmcclinic.ie blogs/sites. The DMC Clinic only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below, except that commenter IP addresses and email addresses are visible and disclosed to the administrators of the blog/site where the comment was left.

Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information

Certain visitors to The DMC Clinic’s websites choose to interact with The DMC Clinic in ways that require The DMC Clinic to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that The DMC Clinic gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we may ask visitors who sign up at thedmcclinic.ie to provide a username and email address. Those who engage in transactions with The DMC Clinic are asked to provide additional information, including as necessary the personal and financial information required to process those transactions. In each case, The DMC Clinic collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with The DMC Clinic. The DMC Clinic does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below. And visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities.

Aggregated Statistics

The DMC Clinic may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. The DMC Clinic may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, The DMC Clinic does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below.

Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information

The DMC Clinic discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on The DMC Clinic’s behalf or to provide services available at The DMC Clinic’s websites, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using The DMC Clinic’s websites, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. The DMC Clinic will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations, as described above, The DMC Clinic discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only in response to a subpoena, court order or other governmental request, or when The DMC Clinic believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of The DMC Clinic, third parties or the public at large. If you are a registered user of an The DMC Clinic website and have supplied your email address, The DMC Clinic may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what’s going on with The DMC Clinic and our products. If you send us a request (for example via email or via one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish it in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or to help us support other users. The DMC Clinic takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.

Cookies

A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. The DMC Clinic uses cookies to help The DMC Clinic identify and track visitors, their usage of The DMC Clinic website, and their website access preferences. The DMC Clinic visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using The DMC Clinic’s websites, with the drawback that certain features of The DMC Clinic’s websites may not function properly without the aid of cookies.

Business Transfers

If The DMC Clinic, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, or in the unlikely event that The DMC Clinic goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of The DMC Clinic may continue to use your personal information as set forth in this policy.

Clients who Attend the Clinic

The personal data we receive includes your name, date of birth, gender, relationship status, address, mobile /telephone number, email and telephone number, G.P. name, address. We may receive data about you from persons who refer you to the service.

We collect data from you in the course of providing you with individual counselling. All information received about and from you will be used by us only in accordance with the purposes outlined in this notice.

The Purpose and Legal Basis for Collecting Your Data

Any personal data you provide in the course of availing of the services provided by The DMC Clinic will be processed fairly and lawfully. In keeping with professional codes of ethics and practice the processing of personal data by The DMC Clinic is necessary in the course of its legitimate activities.

Counselling records are maintained for the purposes of aiding in the monitoring of a client’s progress. Records are especially important when there are significant periods of time between counselling contacts or when the client seeks services from another professional or service. Appropriate records can also help to protect both Client and Therapists. Precise record keeping can help provide clarity in the event of legal or ethical proceedings.

We store your information securely and retain counselling records for a period of seven years following termination of counselling in keeping with professional codes of practice.

We will only ask for and keep information that is necessary and make every effort to keep it as accurate and up to-date as possible. We will explain the need for any information we ask for if you are not sure why it is needed.

 

Details of Third Parties With Whom Your Personal Data May be Shared

The information you provide to The DMC Clinic is confidential, however there are circumstances in which it may be necessary to share aspects of your data with third parties for the purposes outlined below.

 

Disclosure of Information to Other Health Care Professionals:

In the context of referral to other health care professionals, it may be necessary to furnish them with relevant parts of information in order for them to provide you with the treatment and services you need. This information will only be given with your explicit consent, except when there is serious concern for your safety.

We may wish to liaise with other professionals involved in your care to ensure that an optimal care plan is in place for you. This will only be done with your consent.

 

Disclosures Required or Permitted Under Law

The information that you provide to The DMC Clinic is confidential to the service. In keeping with codes of ethics for therapists, the information shared within the context of a counselling relationship is treated in a strictly confidential manner and will not be divulged to others without your consent, except in the following exceptional circumstances:

  • If there is a serious concern that there may be a threat to your safety or life or that of another.
  • In the context of criminal behaviour and disclosures required by legal process
  • Counsellors are legally obliged under the Children First Act 2015 to report child protection concerns and retrospective disclosures of abuse to Tusla Child & Family Agency, or An Garda Síochána. Mandatory reporting is generally done jointly with the The DMC Clinic Designated Liaison Person. If you have concerns in relation to mandatory reporting your counsellor will provide you with information and support in relation to them.

If it becomes necessary to breach confidentiality, every effort will be made to discuss this with you before that step is taken. Information to third parties is provided on a need to know basis and is done so with great sensitivity.

 

Supervision, Professional Development and Quality Assurance

All therapists in The DMC Clinic attend professional supervision and engage in reflective practice at which they discuss client presentations as part of their continuing professional development. In these situations, any identifying information pertaining to the client concerned is not revealed.

 

How Long We Keep Your Data

In keeping with the data protection principles we will only store your data for as long as is necessary. For the purposes described here we will store your data for a period of seven years following the termination of counselling.

 

Accessing Your Counselling Notes and Freedom of Information

As a client of The DMC Clinic, you have the right to request access to the personal information held about you by The DMC Clinic.

If you wish to see your counselling notes please discuss this with your therapist, who will review the information on your records with you. If your counsellor is not available another member of the counselling staff will facilitate this.

If you wish to receive a copy of your records having viewed them, you can make a formal written letter titled ‘Request for Release of Counselling Notes’ to The DMC Clinic and the letter must be signed. A copy of your passport for proof of identity will need to be included. The DMC Clinic will provide this to you within thirty days or sooner free of charge.

In regards to a parent or legal guardian of a client of The DMC Clinic, if you wish to view your child’s session notes (under 18), under GDPR there is no direct provision stating that a person can exercise the right on behalf of another person (in this case a minor/child) to access their personal data. When a legal guardian signs confidentiality agreement, it states clearly that only in the case of risk factors will therapy confidentiality be breached and this includes disclosure of notes given the rights of the child.

 

Your Rights

You have various rights under data protection law, subject to certain exemptions, in connection with our processing of your personal data, including the right:

  • To find out if we use your personal data, access your personal data and receive copies of your personal data;
  • To have inaccurate/incomplete information corrected and updated;
  • In certain circumstances, to have your details deleted from systems that we use to process your personal data or have the use of your personal data restricted in certain ways;
  • To object to certain processing of your data by The DMC Clinic;
  • Where we have relied upon consent as a lawful basis for processing, to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time;
  • To not be subject to solely automated decision;

If you have any queries in relation to your personal data held by The DMC Clinic please contact either your Therapist or ruth@thedmcclinic.ie or phone 0876093745.

Complaints Policy

The DMC Clinic is committed to dealing effectively with any complaints you may have about our service.

Informal Resolution

If possible, we believe it is best to deal with things as soon as possible and in the easiest and most direct way. If you have a complaint, raise it with the person you are dealing with. He or she will try to resolve it for you there and then. However, they may need time to look into it.

How to Make a Complaint

  • Remember to state your name, address, telephone number and email address and whether you are acting on behalf of someone else.
  • Describe what your complaint is about stating relevant dates and times.
  • Name in full, the Therapist who the complaint is against and why
  • List your specific concerns starting with the most important concern.
  • Be clear about what you are hoping to achieve.

To make a complaint please do so with a formal written letter and post it to; Complaints Officer Ruth Swaby, The DMC Clinic, 48 Innovation House, The Bullring, Wexford

Dealing With Your Complaint

We will formally acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and let you know how we intend to deal with it.

We will deal with your complaint in an open and honest way.

If you are making a complaint on behalf of somebody, we will need their agreement to you acting on their behalf.

Investigation

We will inform you who we have asked to investigate your complaint. If your complaint is straightforward, we will usually ask somebody from the service to investigate it and get back to you. In some cases, if we deem the complaint is serious, we may ask someone from outside the organisation to investigate.

We will set out to you our understanding of your complaint and ask you to confirm that we have got it right. We will also ask you to tell us what outcome you are hoping for.

The person investigating your complaint will usually need to see the files we hold relevant to your compliant. If you don’t want this to happen, it is important that you tell us.

If there is a simple solution to your problem, we may ask you if you are happy to accept this.

 

We will aim to resolve concerns as quickly as possible and expect to deal with the vast majority within 30 working days.

If your complaint is more complex, we will:

  • We will inform you within this time why we think it may take longer to investigate.
  • Tell you how long we expect it to take.
  • Give you updates, within 20 working days, on any progress made.

 

The person who is investigating your concerns will aim first to establish the facts. The extent of this investigation will depend on how complex and how serious the issues you have raised are. In complex cases, we will draw up an investigation plan.

In some instances, we may ask to meet you to discuss your complaint. Occasionally, we might suggest mediation or another method to try to resolve disputes.

When investigating your complaint, we will look at relevant evidence. This could include files, notes of conversations, letter, emails or whatever may be relevant to your compliant. If necessary, we will talk to the Therapist or others involved and look at our policies and any guidance.

Outcome

If we formally investigate your complaint, we will let you know what we have found.

If we find that we were wrong, we will inform you as to what and why it happened. If we find there is a fault in our systems or the way we operate, we will tell you what it is and how we plan to change things to prevent it happening again.

If we made an error, we will apologise.

Putting Things Right

If we didn’t do something well, we will aim to put it right. If you have lost out as a result of a mistake on our part we will try to put you back in the position you would have been in if we had got it right.

Accrediting Body

If we do not succeed in resolving your complaint, you may complain to our Accrediting Body. There are several different Accrediting Bodies for Therapists, such as; IACP, APCP, BACP, etc. Please ask the Therapist who the complaint is against to confirm who they are accredited with.

Learning Lessons

We take our complaints seriously and try to learn from any mistakes we have made.

Where there is a need for change, we will develop an action plan setting out what we will do, who will do it and when we plan to do it by. We will let you know when changes we have promised have been made.

What We Expect From You

In times of trouble or distress, some people may act out of character. There may have been upsetting or distressing circumstances leading up to a complaint. We do not view behaviour as unacceptable just because someone is forceful or determined.

We believe that all complainants have the right to be heard, understood and respected. However, we also consider that our staff have the same rights. We, therefore, expect you to be polite and courteous in your dealings with us. We will not tolerate aggressive or abusive behaviour, unreasonable demands, threating behaviour or unreasonable persistence.

 

Privacy Policy Changes

Although most changes are likely to be minor, The DMC Clinic may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and in The DMC Clinic’s sole discretion. The DMC Clinic encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. If you have a thedmcclinic.ie account, you might also receive an alert informing you of these changes. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.