Legal
Privacy policy.
What we collect, why, how long we keep it and how to ask us about it.
What we collect
When you use the form we collect your name, phone number, email address and postcode, what you would like help with, when you would like to start, a preferred day and anything you write. The form also records the time it was sent and your IP address, used only to block automated submissions.
If you become a client we hold your contact details, a GP's name if you give it, the dates of your sessions, payments, and brief session notes. Notes and anything about your health are special category data and are handled as such.
Why we use it
- To arrange your free call and, if you go ahead, your sessions (contract).
- To keep brief notes so that your counsellor can work well with you (legitimate interest, and explicit consent for health information, which you give in the first session).
- To act where the law requires or where there is a serious risk of harm to you or someone else, as explained in the first session (legal obligation, vital interests).
- To invoice an employer for a workplace referral, sharing only attendance dates unless you agree otherwise (contract).
Session notes
Notes are brief, factual and kept in a locked cabinet or an encrypted record. They do not record everything you say. You can ask to see them. Our supervisor discusses our work without knowing your name.
How long we keep it
Enquiries that do not become sessions are deleted after three months. Client records and notes are kept for seven years after the last session, as our insurer requires, then securely destroyed. Payment records are kept for six years for HMRC.
Who sees it
Your counsellor, and the other counsellor only if your own is ill and you agree. Our email and video providers process data as our processors. Nobody else, except where the law requires it or there is a serious risk of harm. We never sell or share your details for marketing.
Cookies
This site sets a single session cookie to limit repeat form submissions. It contains no personal data and expires when you close the browser. The embedded map on the find-us page is served by Google and may set cookies under Google's own policy.
Your rights
You can ask for a copy of what we hold, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete what we are not required to keep, or object to how we use it. Email hello@opendoorcounselling.co.uk or write to the address above. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.