Privacy Policy (GDPR)
What Information Do I Collect & Your Rights under GDPR
Although this may vary between clients, here is the information that I tend to collect during the initial consultation:
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Your Name and address
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Date of Birth
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Relationships and Occupation
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Telephone numbers / Email address
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Medical conditions relevant to the sessions
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Prescribed medication
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Details of your GP for me to contact in case of emergency
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Any other information you feel you would like to share
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Session notes and summary.
I collect and process personal data only where it is necessary to provide safe, effective, and professional therapy services. This includes:
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Responding to enquiries and booking appointments
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Providing tailored hypnotherapy treatment
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Maintaining clinical records to ensure continuity of care
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Meeting legal, ethical, and professional obligations
The lawful bases I rely on under GDPR are:
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Consent – where you have given clear permission
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Contract – where processing is necessary to deliver agreed services
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Legitimate Interests – for the effective running of the practice, provided your rights are not overridden
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Legal Obligation – where required to comply with applicable laws
Processing activities may include collecting, storing, reviewing, updating, and securely deleting personal data.
You have the right to:
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Access the personal data we hold about you
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Request correction of inaccurate data
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Request deletion of your data (where applicable)
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Restrict or object to processing
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Withdraw consent at any time
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Lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
How is my information being held
Your information in being held securely. Hardcopy documents are all stored in a locked cabinet; text messages on my phone are secured with a pin code; emails are protected as my laptop requires a user name and password; electronic documents containing personal or sensitive information are saved in password protected folders.
Your personal data will not be shared with third parties unless:
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You have given explicit consent
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It is required by law
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It is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of others
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We do not sell or distribute your personal data for marketing purposes.
How long will you hold my information
As per psychotherapy guidelines, I will hold your data for seven years after your final session. After that, any paper documents will be shredded and any computer documents will be deleted.
Under GDPR you can make a request in writing to me, for all your records to be deleted. In this case all your paper records would be shredded and any electronic data such as emails or text messages would be permanently deleted from the devices they are stored on. I would have to save the request for deletion you made but would not keep any other documents.
Data Minimisation and Privacy Balance
I am committed to balancing the need for information with your right to privacy. This means:
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Only collecting the minimum amount of data required
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Avoiding intrusive or excessive data collection
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Regularly reviewing the data we hold to ensure it remains relevant
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Ensuring that any data collected has a clear and justified purpose
I aim to minimise any impact on your privacy while maintaining high professional standards of care.
Is what we discuss kept confidential
Confidentiality is a very important part of the therapeutic process. Everything we talk about during our sessions are strictly confidential between you and me. In some rare circumstances, I may discuss elements of our sessions with your GP or other medical practitioners who are supporting you. However this would only be done with your signed consent.
As a form of good practice, I undertake peer supervision. During these sessions, I may discuss elements of our sessions in a safe environment that is strictly confidential. To protect my clients’ privacy, I refer to them by a pseudonym and never disclose any details that may identify them.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please email me at charlotte@mindkindhypnotherapy.co.uk