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 UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK 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, including:

  • Why I am able to process your information and what purpose I am processing it for

  • Whether you have to 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,

  • Whether I do automated decision-making or profiling, and

  • Your data protection rights.

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email.

‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person 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 registration reference number is ZB985074.

My email address is: info@darumatherapy.com.

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 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 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 respond to your enquiry. This may include your name, email address, phone number, age, and a brief description of your reason for seeking therapy. Alternatively, your GP or another health professional may send me your details when making a referral.

If you decide not to proceed, I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within 30 days of your decision not to proceed. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know, and I will process your request as quickly as possible.

While you are accessing counselling.

Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if I believe there is a risk of serious harm to you or someone else, or if I am legally required to disclose information (for example, under a court order). I will always try to discuss this with you first, unless there are safeguarding concerns that prevent me from doing so.

I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely on encrypted devices and password-protected systems, and are not shared with any third party without your explicit consent, except where required by law.

I will keep written notes of each session securely in Google Workspace, which is GDPR-compliant and protected with encryption and strong access controls. These notes are only accessible to me and are not shared with any third party without your consent, except where required by law.

For security reasons, email correspondence will be deleted after 12 months if it is not important. If there is relevant information contained in an email, I will securely store it in Google Workspace.

After counselling has ended.

Once counselling has ended, your records will be kept for seven years from the end of our contact and are then securely destroyed. If you would like me to delete your information sooner than this, please let me know.

Third-party recipients of personal data.

I sometimes share personal data with third parties who provide services essential to the operation of my practice. In all cases, I ensure that I have a contract in place specifying how your personal data can be used. Examples include:

  • Google LLC (Google Workspace) – Provides secure email, calendar, document storage, and video conferencing services. Personal data shared may include your name, email address, session notes, and documents necessary to manage bookings and client communications. Data is used solely to provide these services and is protected under Google’s Cloud Data Processing Addendum.

  • HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) – For compliance with UK tax regulations. Personal data shared may include payment records and invoices. Data is used solely to comply with tax obligations.

  • Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – For regulatory compliance related to data protection. Personal data shared may include registration details, business contact information, and records of compliance if requested.

  • Squarespace Inc. – used as the content management system for the website and for analytics. Personal data shared may include form submissions and browsing information. This is used to manage website functionality, improve user experience, and securely transmit enquiries.

I ensure that all third-party partners are carefully selected and that your information is only used for the purpose for which it has been shared.

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 http://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 info@darumatherapy.com.

If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by 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 http://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Data security.

I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and take every effort to ensure it is kept secure. All digital records, including session notes and correspondence, are stored on Google Workspace, which is configured to be GDPR-compliant. Devices used to access these records are encrypted and password-protected. Paper records, if any, are stored in a locked cabinet in a secure location.

Additional information for website owners and employers.

Visitors to my website.

When someone visits my website, I use a third party service, Squarespace 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 do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting my website.

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

I use Squarespace Analytics so that I can continually improve my service to you. You can read Squarespace’s privacy notice here: https://www.squarespace.com/privacy.

I use Squarespace as the content management system for my website. Find out about Squarespace and data protection here: https://www.squarespace.com/data-privacy.

Like most websites, Squarespace uses cookies to help the site work more efficiently. Find out about Squarespace’s use of cookies here: https://www.squarespace.com/cookie-policy.

No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party. If you fill in a form on my website, that data will be temporarily stored on the web host before being sent to me.

Privacy policy.