Confidentiality
Castlegate is a confidential service. This means we will not pass on information about you without your permission. However, to give you the best possible service, we may share information about you with the staff team. We will also share information with the Connexions staff in York and North Yorkshire if you are aged 16 to 19 (or up to 25 if you have extra support needs).
The Castlegate counselling service has its own confidentiality policy, so what you talk about with your counsellor is not shared with the rest of the staff team.
In exceptional circumstances we may not always be able to keep your confidence. This is if:
- You, or another person you tell us about, is in danger or at risk of serious harm
- If anybody using Castlegate puts staff, or other users, at risk we reserve the right to pass this information on to other agencies
Consent and information sharing
It may be helpful to keep a record of what has been talked about, and what needs to be done and by whom. Information can only be recorded with your written permission.
We will:
- Go through a consent form with you that lets you tell us how we can contact you and what information we can share with others
- Make sure you have a copy of this leaflet which explains our policy
- Update the consent form on a regular basis, usually every 6 months
If you don’t want information written down then we will still continue to work with you but it might affect the amount of support we can give you. Please tell us if there is certain information that you don’t want to be recorded and we will respect that decision.
Information will be recorded either on the Connexions database, called Aspire, or in a written paper file. Aspire can be seen by Connexions workers in York and North Yorkshire, as well as authorised support workers from places like Castlegate and Young People’s Services. Paper files can only be seen by workers at Castlegate.
If you live in York or North Yorkshire your parents have probably already agreed for information to be held about you whilst you were at school, and this is shared with Connexions and put on their database. This is usually only your name, address, date of birth and the school that you attended.
If you’ve seen a Connexions worker at school or elsewhere, this discussion has probably been recorded on Aspire.
It can be very positive to see the information about yourself so that you can see how far you have moved on in various aspects of your life.
You can see all the information about you that is kept on Aspire by Connexions staff by asking a worker to print it out for you. Alternatively you can fill in a “Request for Disclosure of Personal Data” held by the City of York Council, which is on their website.
If it is a paper file you can look at it, keep important documents, take it away or destroy it. Paper files are kept in a locked filing cabinet.
Information kept in paper files will be kept for 6 years and then shredded. Information held on Aspire is held until you are 20, or until 25 if you have extra support needs.
Do ask a worker if you have any further questions about this policy.
Recording your information: our guidelines
When recording information, we use the following guidelines:
Red The following should not be recorded
- Opinions of the worker
- Hearsay
- Assumptions about what has happened or what is going to happen
- Information that is untrue
Amber Approach with caution or get explicit consent
- Information about any criminal activity such as fraud or drug use
- Personal information about you such as your relationships, sexual health, mental or emotional health
Green Information in your best interest
- Information on agreed actions by you and/or your worker
- Referrals that have been made
- Updates on your situation
- Conversations about practical issues