Privacy

Last updated: 4 October 2026

This Privacy Notice explains how I collect, use, store and protect your personal information when you contact me or use counselling services provided by Hattie Taylor Counselling.

I am committed to respecting your privacy and handling your information securely and confidentially, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and applicable professional and ethical requirements.

1. Who I am

Name: Hattie Taylor
Practice: Hattie Taylor Counselling
Data Controller: Hattie Taylor
Email: htaylorcounselling@gmail.com
Telephone: 07908813846

As a sole practitioner, I am the data controller responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is processed.

2. Information I may collect

Depending on your circumstances and the services you receive, I may collect and process:

• Your name and contact details

• Date of birth, where relevant

• GP or other healthcare professional details, where necessary

• Emergency contact information

• Information provided during an initial enquiry or assessment

• Information about your personal circumstances and reasons for seeking counselling

• Information discussed during counselling sessions

• Session notes and other counselling records

• Information relating to your physical or mental health

• Correspondence between you and me

• Documents or information you choose to provide

• Payment and appointment information

Some of the information discussed during counselling may constitute special category data, including information concerning your physical or mental health. I only collect and process information that is relevant and necessary for providing safe and appropriate counselling services.

3. How I use your information

I may use your information to:

• Respond to enquiries and arrange introductory calls

• Assess whether counselling is appropriate and whether I am able to offer you a service

• Provide counselling safely and effectively

• Arrange and manage appointments

• Communicate with you about your sessions

• Maintain appropriate professional records

• Meet professional, legal and insurance requirements

• Manage payments and accounting

• Respond appropriately to safeguarding or serious risk concerns

• Deal with complaints or legal matters where necessary

I will not use your counselling information for purposes unrelated to providing or managing your counselling unless I have a lawful basis to do so.

4. Lawful basis for processing

Under UK data protection law, I must have a lawful basis for processing personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, I may rely on:

• Contract: where processing is necessary to provide counselling services or take steps at your request before entering into an agreement.

• Legal obligation: where I am legally required to retain or process certain information.

• Legitimate interests: where processing is necessary for legitimate business or professional purposes and your interests and rights do not override those interests.

• Consent: where consent is the appropriate basis, including for optional uses of your information.

Where I process information concerning your health or other special category data, I will also rely on an appropriate additional condition under UK data protection law. This may include processing necessary for the provision of health or social care, where the relevant legal requirements are met, or explicit consent where appropriate.

5. Confidentiality

Counselling is confidential. I will not normally disclose information about you to another person or organisation without your knowledge and, where appropriate, your consent.

There are limited circumstances where confidentiality may need to be broken, for example:

• Where there is a serious and imminent concern about your safety or the safety of another person

• Where safeguarding concerns require action

• Where disclosure is required by law or a court

• Where disclosure is necessary to obtain appropriate professional or legal advice

Where possible and appropriate, I will discuss any proposed disclosure with you first.

6. Supervision

As a counsellor, I undertake professional supervision.

I may discuss aspects of my counselling work with my supervisor for the purposes of professional support, reflection, ethical practice and client safety. Information is discussed as appropriately and confidentially as possible, and identifying details are anonymised or minimised wherever possible.

7. How I store and protect your information

Third-party services

I use a small number of trusted third-party services to operate my counselling practice. These services may process personal information on my behalf:

• Kiku – used to securely store and manage counselling notes and client records.

• Gmail (Google) – used for email communication and correspondence.

• Zoom – used to provide online counselling sessions.

• Monzo – used to receive some client payments by bank transfer.

• Google Sites – used to host my practice website.

• Meta (Facebook/Instagram) – if you contact me through Facebook or Instagram, or submit information through a Meta lead form, Meta may process your information in accordance with its own privacy policy.

I take reasonable steps to ensure that third-party providers I use have appropriate security and data protection measures in place. These providers may process or store information outside the UK, depending on their services and infrastructure, and where this occurs I will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place as required by UK data protection law.

8. How long I keep your information

I retain counselling records only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which they were collected, including meeting professional, legal, regulatory and insurance requirements.

My current standard retention period for counselling records is six years following the end of counselling, unless a longer or shorter period is required or justified by the particular circumstances.

At the end of the applicable retention period, information will be securely deleted or destroyed.

9. Sharing your information

I will not sell or otherwise share your personal information for marketing purposes.

I may share information where necessary:

• With your consent

• Where required by law or a court

• Where necessary to address serious safeguarding or safety concerns

• With my professional supervisor, subject to appropriate confidentiality and anonymisation

• With professional advisers, insurers or other relevant parties where this is necessary and lawful

• With service providers who process information on my behalf, where necessary to operate my practice

I will only share information that is relevant and necessary for the particular purpose.

10. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you may have rights including:

• The right to be informed about how your information is used

• The right to access the personal information I hold about you

• The right to ask for inaccurate information to be corrected

• The right to request erasure in certain circumstances

• The right to request restriction of processing in certain circumstances

• The right to object to certain processing

• The right to data portability in certain circumstances

• The right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent

These rights are subject to certain legal exceptions. For example, I may need to retain some counselling records where there is a legal, professional or insurance requirement to do so.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact me using the details below.

11. Complaints

If you have concerns about how I have handled your personal information, please contact me in the first instance so that I can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection regulator.

You can find information about making a complaint at:

https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

12. Changes to this Privacy Notice

I may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes to my practice, the services I provide or applicable data protection requirements.

The date at the top of this notice shows when it was last updated.

Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or how I handle your personal information, please contact:

Hattie Taylor
Hattie Taylor Counselling
Email: htaylorcounselling@gmail.com
Telephone: 07908813846