Your Data & Privacy

Your privacy matters

Counselling is personal, and I understand how important it is to know that information you share with me will be treated with care.

This page explains what personal information Tiny Therapist may collect, why I need it, how it is kept secure, how long it is kept and the rights you have over your information.

Tiny Therapist is operated by Nerine Kadwill, who is responsible for the personal information held by the practice.

Information I may collect

When you contact me or begin counselling, I may need to collect information such as your:

name and contact details;
address and date of birth;
emergency contact and GP details;
appointment and payment information;
information provided during your initial assessment;
signed counselling agreement and related client paperwork;
brief counselling notes;
relevant information about your physical or mental health, medication, previous counselling or involvement with mental health services, where this is necessary and relevant to your counselling.

I aim to collect only the information genuinely needed to provide a safe and appropriate counselling service.

Why I use your information

I use personal information to:

respond to enquiries and arrange appointments;
assess whether counselling is appropriate for you;
provide and manage your counselling;
communicate with you about appointments and practical arrangements;
maintain appropriate professional records;
manage payments and financial records;
meet professional, legal and safeguarding responsibilities where applicable.

For personal information needed to arrange and provide counselling, the main lawful basis I rely on is that processing is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a counselling agreement and to provide the service we have agreed.

Counselling can involve information about your physical or mental health and other sensitive personal information. Where relevant special-category information needs to be processed to provide counselling, I ask for your explicit consent as part of the client paperwork.

In some circumstances, information may also need to be processed to meet a legal obligation, protect someone's vital interests or establish, exercise or defend legal claims, where the law permits this.

Confidentiality

What you discuss in counselling is confidential.

I may discuss aspects of my work in professional supervision. This is an important part of safe and ethical counselling practice. Your real name is not used in supervision, and my supervisor does not have access to your client records.

There are limited circumstances where confidentiality may need to be broken, for example where there is a serious risk of harm, a safeguarding concern, a legal obligation or a valid court order.

Where it is appropriate and safe to do so, I would aim to discuss this with you first.

How your information is kept

Electronic counselling records are stored in my password-protected OneDrive, with two-factor authentication enabled.

Paper client records are kept in a locked filing cabinet, and I hold the key.

My business mobile phone is protected by biometric security and is for my use.

I take reasonable steps to keep client information secure and to limit access to it.

Email, telephone and WhatsApp

You can contact Tiny Therapist by email, telephone or WhatsApp.

Please avoid including detailed or highly sensitive personal information in an initial email or WhatsApp message. These methods are primarily intended for enquiries, appointments and other practical communication.

WhatsApp Business may be used for practical arrangements, but counselling itself is not conducted through WhatsApp messages.

For online counselling I use Google Meet. Counselling sessions are not recorded.

How long I keep information

Counselling records are normally retained for one year after counselling ends and are then securely destroyed or deleted.

Routine emails, text or WhatsApp messages and contact information that are no longer required are normally deleted within one month.

Some financial information may need to be retained for longer where this is required for tax, accounting or other legal purposes.

Paper records are securely shredded when their retention period ends, and electronic records are deleted.

Sharing your information

I do not routinely share your personal information with other organisations.

I use service providers where necessary to operate the practice, including services used for secure electronic storage, communications, online counselling and website hosting. These providers may process limited personal or technical information in providing their services.

Information may also be shared where this is necessary to protect someone from serious harm, for safeguarding purposes, where I am legally required to disclose it, or where necessary in connection with legal claims.

Professional supervision is confidential and does not involve giving my supervisor access to your client records.

This website

The Tiny Therapist website is designed to collect as little personal information as reasonably possible.

There is no online enquiry form, booking system or client account on the website. If you choose to contact me, you do so using the email, telephone or WhatsApp contact options provided.

Tiny Therapist uses limited website statistics to understand how the website is being used and whether sources such as search engines, directories and social-media campaigns are bringing visitors to the website. This may include information such as pages visited, referral source, campaign information and general technical information about website use.

This information is used in aggregate to help me understand whether the website and Tiny Therapist's marketing are effective. It is not used to identify individual prospective clients, create advertising profiles, track people across other websites or record sensitive counselling information.

The website is configured to avoid non-essential tracking cookies. Tiny Therapist does not use advertising or remarketing technologies such as Meta Pixel.

The website's hosting provider may process limited technical information, including IP addresses, browser and device information, requested pages and timestamps, where necessary to deliver, secure, monitor and maintain the website.

Links to services such as email, telephone and WhatsApp may take you to another application or service. Once you leave the Tiny Therapist website, that service may process information under its own privacy arrangements.

Your rights

Data-protection law gives you rights over your personal information. Depending on the circumstances, these may include the right to:

ask for a copy of the personal information I hold about you;
ask me to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
ask for your information to be deleted in certain circumstances;
ask me to restrict how your information is used in certain circumstances;
object to certain uses of your information;
receive certain information in a portable format where the right applies;
withdraw consent where processing is based on your consent.

These rights do not all apply in every situation, but I will explain the position if you make a request.

If you withdraw consent to the processing of special-category information, this does not affect processing that has already lawfully taken place. Where that information is necessary to provide counselling safely and appropriately, withdrawing consent may mean that I am unable to continue providing the service.

Questions, requests or concerns

If you have a question about how your personal information is handled, want to exercise one of your data-protection rights, or want to raise a concern, please contact:

Nerine Kadwill
Tiny Therapist
privacy@tinytherapist.co.uk

I will take concerns about your information seriously and aim to resolve them directly with you.

You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data-protection regulator.