Privacy & Cookies

Your privacy is very important to me and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose it was given to me. I adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

This privacy notice tells you what I will do with your personal information from initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended.

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about mydata protection policy and you can contact me via email; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is me. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information

The GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which I am processing your data. I have explained these below:

If you have had coaching or counselling with me and it has now ended, I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information.

If you are currently having counselling or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.

The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is that it is for provision of health treatment (in this case counselling) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).

How I use your information

Initial Contact

When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include your first and last name, email address and mobile number. Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral, or trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf.

If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within six months. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.

While you are accessing counselling.

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken in these circumstances: 1) when I discuss client issues with my Supervisor in support of therapy. 2) If you disclose an intention to hurt yourself or someone else. 3) If I felt you to be at risk of suffering or perpetrating violence. Or 4) if I am ordered by a court.
I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.

For security reasons I do not retain text messages for more than 6 months. Email correspondence will be deleted after a year.

After counselling has ended.

Once counselling has ended your records will be kept on file as sometimes clients want to return to see me after some time. If you want me to delete your information on completion of counselling, please tell me.

Your rights

I try to be as open as I can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. You have a right to ask me to delete your personal information, to limit how I use your personal information, or to stop processing your personal information. You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that I hold about you and to object to the use of your personal data in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.

To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, put the request in writing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by writing or emailing to the contact details given above. And if you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information you can contact the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Data security

I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I make efforts to make sure it is kept secure.

Visitors to my website

When someone visits my website, I use a third party services such as Google Analytics to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. I do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone.

I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website.

Cookies

Like most websites we use cookies to help the site work more efficiently.

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer's hard drive by your web browser when you visit any website. They allow information gathered on one web page to be stored until it is needed for use on another, allowing a website to provide you with a personalised experience and the website owner with statistics about how you use the website so that it can be improved.

Some cookies may last for a defined period of time, such as one day or until you close your browser. Others last indefinitely.

Your web browser should allow you to delete any you choose. It also should allow you to prevent or limit their use.

Our website uses cookies. They are placed by software that operates on our servers, and by software operated by third parties whose services we use.

If you choose not to use cookies or you prevent their use through your browser settings, you will not be able to use all the functionality of our website.

We use cookies in the following ways:

  • to track how you use our website
  • to record whether you have seen specific messages we display on our website
  • to keep you signed in our site
  • to record your answers to surveys and questionnaires on our site while you complete them
  • to record the conversation thread during a live chat with our support team