Privacy Policy

In our therapeutic work together, your privacy and confidentiality are deeply important to me. Protecting your personal information is not just a legal requirement; it is a fundamental part of providing a safe, ethical and trustworthy space for your therapy. This notice explains how I collect, store, use and eventually delete your information, in line with UK data protection law, including the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

If you have any question about this notice, please contact me using the details at the end.

What Information I Collect

As a therapy client, I hold a small amount of personal information about you:

Contact details: your name, phone number, email address and home address.
Emergency contact: the name and phone number of a trusted person or your GP, which I would only ever use if I had serious concerns about your immediate safety.
Brief session notes: a short summary of our sessions to track your progress and guide our future work.

Through my website and related services, I may also collect:

If you join my mailing list, your name and email address.
Anonymous information about how visitors use my website, which is not linked to any identifiable person.

Why I Collect It

Under data protection law, I must have a valid legal reason to hold your information.

Contractual obligation: I process your basic contact details to fulfil our agreement to work together or to supply a product you have bought, such as scheduling sessions or managing invoices.
Special category data: because therapy involves health and psychological information, it is classified as “special category data.” My legal basis for holding this is that it is necessary for the provision of health or social care treatment.
Consent: where there is no contract between us, such as when you join my mailing list or agree to non-essential cookies, I rely on your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting me at info@copelandcounselling.com.
Legal obligation and safety: it may become necessary to share your data with a third party if I believe you, or someone else, is at risk of significant harm. Unless the risk is imminent, this will be discussed with you before any appropriate disclosure. I also have a legal obligation to break confidentiality to comply with a court order, or where there are concerns relating to child protection, fraud, drug trafficking or acts of terrorism.

How Your Information Is Stored and Protected

I take the security of your files very seriously so that your details remain strictly private.

Digital data: any digital records, such as emails, text messages or typed notes, are kept on password-protected devices using secure, GDPR-compliant software.
Paper data: any handwritten notes or paper intake forms are stored in a secure, locked filing cabinet that only I can access.
Separation: to add an extra layer of privacy, your session notes are marked with a unique code rather than your name, and are kept completely separate from your contact details.
Clinical will: in line with BACP ethical guidelines, I have a trusted professional colleague who acts as my Clinical Executor. In the unlikely event that I am suddenly incapacitated or unable to work due to an emergency, this colleague would be granted secure access to your contact details so they could notify you and help arrange ongoing support. They are bound by the same strict rules of professional confidentiality.

Cookies and Website Use

Cookies are small text files placed on your device by your web browser when you visit a website. They are widely used to make sites work, to remember your preferences and to understand how a site is used.

My website uses:

Essential cookies, which are needed for the site to work and to operate the contact form.
Preference and statistics cookies, which remember your settings and collect anonymous information about how visitors use the site, so I can improve it.
Marketing cookies, only where you have agreed to them.

When you first visit, you can choose which non-essential cookies to allow through the cookie banner, and you can change or withdraw that choice at any time. You can also disable cookies in your browser settings, though some parts of the site may not work as well if you do.

How Long I Keep Your Information

I do not keep your data forever. Once our therapy comes to an end, I am required by my professional insurance and guidelines to retain your records for 7 years. For child clients, I keep records until the child reaches the age of 25. After this period, any digital files are permanently deleted and any paper documents are securely shredded.

Your Rights Over Your Data

You have a number of rights over the information I hold about you, including the right to ask for a copy of your records, to correct any factual mistakes, and to ask me to stop using your information where I am relying on your consent.

Please note that, because I am legally and professionally required to retain therapy records for the periods set out above, I may not be able to delete those records on request until that retention period has passed. If that applies, I will explain it to you.

To exercise any of your rights, please contact me via the contact form.

How to Make a Data Protection Complaint

If you ever have a concern or complaint about how I have handled, stored or used your personal data, you have a statutory right to raise it directly with me. I promise to take your concerns seriously and to handle them with care.

To make a data protection complaint:

Get in touch. Contact directly via the contact form to outline your concern. You do not need to use formal legal terms.
Acknowledgement. I will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days of receiving it.
Investigation and outcome. I will look into the matter without undue delay, keep you updated on my progress, and write to you to explain the outcome and what I have done to put things right.

If, after receiving my final response, you still feel your data has not been handled correctly, you have the right to escalate your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can contact the ICO via their website at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.