Privacy
In partnership with GamCare, Ara provides a free and confidential counselling service for people adversely affected by gambling. What you discuss with your counsellor remains confidential except in extreme circumstances; e.g. if your counsellor believes you are at high risk of significantly harming yourself or others (including risk to children). Where possible your counsellor will discuss situations where they feel they must break confidentiality with Ara counsellors will keep records, including personal data, as defined under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018. Your information will be retained for 7 years. You have a right to request access to your information and where information is found to be inaccurate have it corrected.
By signing this form, you consent to Ara creating and storing your records in a secure manner. Your information will not be used for any other purpose than for the provision of counselling by Ara. Your data will be shared with GamCare. Non-identifiable, pooled information may be used for research and evaluation purposes by Ara and other affiliated organisations. You have the right of complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk if you think we have dealt with your information in an inappropriate manner.
For further details on GamCare’s approach to confidentiality and data protection click here
Please tick the box at the end of the form to acknowledge that you have understood the content of this document and agree to its terms.
Follow Up
Overcoming the impact of a gambling problem can take time. It is important to us that when you finish your treatment with us, your relationship with the service is not over. After your sessions end, Ara will contact you at 3, 6 and 12 months (after last treatment appointment), to enquire about how things are going. This is called a `follow up’ and contact will be made by email or letter, based on your consent to contact. If at any point, you feel it would benefit you to return to counselling, you will have the opportunity to do so. The follow up will also provide you with an opportunity to assess how things are going for you, and whether you are satisfied with the progress, you have made. If you would like to discuss this with your counsellor, please do.
Commitment
We require a commitment from you to attend your sessions regularly for counselling to be effective and you need to let us know as soon as possible if you cannot attend a session. If you miss two sessions in a row, without contacting us, we will assume that you no longer want counselling and we will make that time available to someone else.
