Overview:
Your privacy is very important to me, and I am committed to ethical psychotherapy practice. This includes maintaining your trust and confidence, whether you are making an enquiry or using my services.
Through my private practice and website, I collect and hold personal data from clients and enquirers. I do not sell, rent, or trade your personal details to any individual or organisation.
I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO Registration: ZB757150) and comply with GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and related UK data protection laws.
‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. For the purposes of this website and my psychotherapy practice the data controller is me - Adam Bellaby.
Introduction:
This privacy notice explains how I, Adam Bellaby, collect, use, and protect your personal data when you visit my website, our first point of contact through to after your therapy has ended - our contract ceased. It is followed by the Lawful bases as defined by UK GDPR and ICO.
This includes:
I am committed to ensuring your privacy is respected and protected in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
My lawful basis for collecting, 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.
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 with me or if you are in contact with me to consider this service, 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. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is that it is for provision of health treatment - psychotherapy - and necessary for a contract with a health professional - between you and me. Contact details: Email: adam@sapheneia-therapy.net
How I use information:
Initial contact - When you contact me with an enquiry about my services, I will collect information to help me respond to your enquiry. This will include your name, email address, and phone number (optional).
If you decide not to proceed, I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within one year. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.
While you are accessing psychotherapy with me, your confidentiality is paramount, everything you discuss in sessions or other email / telephone contact is kept confidential.
That confidentiality will only be broken in the following instances:
• Where you give consent for the confidence to be broken.
• Where I am compelled by a court of law.
• Where the information is of such gravity that confidentiality cannot be maintained e.g., where there is risk of serious harm to self or others, or in cases of fraud and crime.
I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this. Ideally any contact to other services will be made in conjunction.
If we proceed with psychotherapy, I will keep a record of your personal details. This includes your name, date of birth, email address, phone number, home address, and GP practice and address.
This is to help sessions run smoothly, and in cases where there is risk of serious harm. These details are kept securely in a locked cabinet, and on a secure encrypted password protected device, they are not shared with any third party - except under the conditions outlined above.
In circumstances where there is risk of serious harm, I may also request information from a relevant professional (e.g., your GP). Wherever possible, such exchange of information would be with your explicit consent.
I will keep a record of date and time of each session and sometimes a brief hand-written note regarding the session, what we may have worked on. In addition, we may agree that you will fill out some therapy-related measures.
Session dates and times are kept digitally and stored on an encrypted hard drive, with secure Onedrive backup.
Hand written notes are stored within a locked cabinet. These notes are stored separately from your personal details and will not have any identifying details; however, they will be linked to your personal information by a client code (e.g., ‘2501’), ‘pseudonymised’.
I am in regular supervision and will discuss issues from my psychotherapy practice with my supervisor. At such times, I will take all possible measures to preserve your anonymity. My supervisor is bound by the same professional and ethical codes as I am.
For security reasons I do not retain text messages for more than one year. I do not use WhatsApp for receiving or sending messages. Any WhatsApp message received will be deleted.
If there is relevant information contained in a message, I will insert it into my notes. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after one year if it is not important. If necessary, I will insert it into my notes.
At the end of our work together:
When our work ends your personal details will be kept for seven years from point of contract end. They will then be securely destroyed.
Your rights:
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 https://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 to whom it may be disclosed
• Let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes. To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to adam@sapheneia-therapy.net.
Should you wish to view any notes I have made regarding sessions, I am happy to share these with you. I would suggest that this was done within a session and to have space to discuss your responses.
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.
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 https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Security:
I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to ensure it is kept secure. Hard copy data (personal information) will be stored in a locked filing cabinet. Digital data will be kept separately and only on a password protected encrypted device.
Visitors to this website:
When you visit this website, I use a third-party service, GoDaddy & Google 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 GoDaddy or Google analytics, 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. 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.
Cookies and tracking on this website
This website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience and to collect anonymous data about how visitors use the site.
· What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files placed on your device by websites you visit. They help the site remember your preferences and gather anonymous data such as which pages are visited and how often.
· Which cookies do I use?
I use Google Analytics via my web host (GoDaddy) to collect standard visitor statistics. These cookies do not identify individual users.
· Your choices:
You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to refuse or delete cookies if you prefer, but some parts of the website may not work properly without them.
Lawful Bases & data protection rights:
Under UK law, I must have a lawful basis for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about these on the ICO's website. Which lawful basis I rely on may affect your data protection rights - set out in brief below.
What information I collect, use, and why
· Names and contact details
· Addresses
· Gender
· Pronoun preferences
· Occupation
· Date of birth
· Marital status
· Transaction data (including details about payments)
· Health information (such as medical records or health conditions)
· Information relating to compliments or complaints
I collect or use the following personal information for the:
Operation of client accounts:
· Names and contact details
· Addresses
Comply with legal requirements:
· Name
· Contact information
· Client account information
· Any other personal information required to comply with legal obligations
Comply with legal requirements:
· Health information
Protect client welfare:
· Names and contact information
· Client account information
· Health information
Dealing with queries, complaints or claims:
· Names and contact details
· Address
· Payment details
· Account information
· Customer or client accounts and records
· Correspondence
· Health information· Your right of access - You have the right to ask me for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where I get personal information from and whom I may share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that I transfer the personal information you gave me to another organisation, or to you. You can read more about this right here.
· Your right to withdraw consent – When I use consent on a lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can read more about this right here.
If you make a request, I must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.
To make a data protection rights request, please contact me using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
The lawful bases for the collection and use of your data:
· Consent - I have permission from you after I gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
· Contract – I have to collect or use the information so I can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.
· Legal obligation – I have to collect or use your information so I can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.
· Legitimate interests – I am collecting or using your information because it benefits you, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
· Vital interests – collecting or using the information is needed when someone’s physical or mental health or wellbeing is at urgent or serious risk. This includes an urgent need for life sustaining food, water, clothing or shelter. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object and the right to portability.
The lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for the operation of client or customer accounts are:
· Consent
· Contract
· Legal obligation
The lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to comply with legal requirements:
· Consent
· Contract
· Legal obligation
· Vital interests
The lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to protect client welfare are:
· Consent -
· Contract
· Legal obligation
· Vital interests
The lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims are:
· Consent
· Contract
· Legal obligation
· Vital interests
Where I get information from:
· Directly from you
How long I keep information - see above
Others I may share information with:
· Emergency services
· Organisations I am legally obliged to share personal information with.
How to complain:
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Last updated:
27th June 2025