Privacy Policy
Calm Connect Counselling
Introduction
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 the initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended, including:
- Why I am able to process your information and what purpose I am processing it for.
- Whether you must provide it to me.
- How long I store it for.
- Whether there are other recipients of your personal information.
- Whether I intend to transfer it to another country.
- Your data protection rights.
- Whether I use automated decision-making or profiling.
I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy, and you can contact me via phone or email.
‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects and stores people’s personal data and is responsible for it. In this instance, I am the data controller.
I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, Registration Reference ZC278151.
My postal address is 26, Thorndale Rise, Bradford BD2 1NU. My phone number is 07719380333. My email address is karen@calmconnectcounselling.uk
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. Different lawful bases are dependent on the stage at which I am processing your data. I have explained these below:
If you have had therapy 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 therapy 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 consent initially. I will then retain any counselling records in case of the need to reference them in the future (the official legal basis is to defend against potential legal claims).
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 name, telephone number, email address and details relevant to your enquiry.
Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a parent or trusted individual may give me your details when enquiring on your behalf.
If you decide not to proceed, I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within one month.
If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.
While you are accessing counselling.
Everything you discuss with me during our work together is confidential.
That confidentiality will only be broken if there is a legal or ethical obligation for me to do so; these include:
- My legal requirement to disclose information relating to money laundering, drug trafficking or terrorism.
- There is a serious or immediate risk of harm to you or another person.
- Safeguarding concerns involving a child or vulnerable adult.
I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.
I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These will include:
- Contact Details.
- Administrative details including attendance and communications.
- Counselling notes.
I keep details securely for my private clients and do not share them with any third party. If your provider is a third party, details may be stored on their secure system, and they control this data under your agreement with them.
I will keep written notes of each session; these are kept in a locked filing cabinet.
I may also store or access personal information on my electronic devices such as a laptop, mobile phone, or mass storage device which are protected by passwords, PIN and/or biometrics.
For security reasons, I do not retain client contact details or text messages on my mobile phone for more than one month. If there is relevant information contained in a text message, I will copy it into a correspondence file which is kept securely on my laptop in a folder secured with a password. Likewise, any email correspondence will be treated in the same way and deleted after one month if it does not contain important information.
Email services are provided through IONOS and Microsoft Outlook.
If necessary, I will retain communications via text or email if there is a clear reason to do so, such as safeguarding concerns, disputes, payment issues or complaints.
After counselling has ended.
Once counselling has ended, your records will be kept for up to seven years from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed.
Third party recipients of personal data
I sometimes share personal data with third parties, for example, where I have contracted with a supplier to carry out specific tasks. In such cases, I have carefully selected which partners I work with. I take great care to ensure that I have a contract with the third party that states what they are allowed to do with the data I share with them. I ensure that they do not use your information in any way other than the task for which they have been contracted.
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.
If I do hold information about you, I will:
- give you a description of it and where it came from;
- tell you why I am holding it, tell you how long I will store your data and how I made this decision;
- tell you who it could be disclosed to;
- let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you. To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing, addressing it to karen@calmconnectcounselling.uk.
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. I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures. 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 every effort to make sure it is kept secure. I limit the data I collect to only necessary personal information. My electronic devices such as a laptop, mobile phone, or mass storage device which are protected by passwords, PIN and/or biometrics. I use secure email services and secure storage of paper documents in locked filing cabinets. Where third parties are your supplier, I use their secure systems. Reasonable steps are taken to prevent loss, misuse or unauthorised access to your personal data.
Visitors to my website
When someone visits my website, IONOS collects standard web server log and site analytics data directly through its own proprietary infrastructure (using standard web server logging—such as Apache Common or Combined format, and internal systems like SiteAnalytics) rather than outsourcing the collection to external third-party tracking companies.
SiteAnalytics: https://www.ionos.co.uk/help/data-protection/data-processing-by-your-ionos-product/data-processing-by-siteanalytics/
How IONOS Collects and Handles Log Data:
- Collection Methods: Data is gathered either via direct server log files (access logs) or lightweight tracking pixels (without using tracking cookies for SiteAnalytics).
https://www.ionos.co.uk/help/hosting/log-files/notes-on-log-files/
- Data Collected: Standard metrics include the referrer, requested file/page, browser type/version, operating system, device type, time of access, and IP address.
- IP Anonymization: Visitor IP addresses are anonymized immediately upon collection or transmission (used strictly for rough geographic or security/stability purposes).
- Retention & Third Parties: Log and analytics data are typically retained for up to 8 weeks and are not passed on to external third parties.