Privacy Policy

2. What Personal Information We Collect

At Our Family Therapy, we collect personal information that is necessary to respond to enquiries, arrange appointments, provide therapeutic services and meet our professional and legal responsibilities.

Depending on the services you access, this may include:

• Personal details: Your name, contact details, date of birth and relevant emergency contact information.

• Enquiry and booking information: Information you provide when contacting us or completing our website booking form, including the type of therapy you are seeking and a brief description of your support needs.

• Therapeutic information: Relevant personal history, relationships, family circumstances, emotional wellbeing, mental health information and other details you choose to share during therapy.

• Clinical records: Assessment information, session notes, therapeutic plans and relevant correspondence.

• Administrative information: Appointment records, invoices, payment information and communications relating to your therapy.

• Information about children and families: Where appropriate, information relating to children, parents, carers and other family members involved in therapeutic work.

• Professional referrals: Information provided by referring professionals or organisations, where appropriate and lawful.

Some information collected during therapy may be classified as special category personal data under UK GDPR, particularly information relating to physical or mental health.

We recognise the sensitive nature of this information and apply additional safeguards when handling it.

We aim to collect only information that is relevant and necessary for the purposes of providing our services.

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3. How and Why We Use Your Personal Information

Our Family Therapy processes personal information only where there is an appropriate lawful basis under UK GDPR.

We use personal information for the following purposes:

Responding to enquiries and arranging appointments

We use your contact details and enquiry information to respond to requests for therapy, discuss our services and arrange appointments.

Our lawful basis is generally taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.

Providing counselling and psychotherapy

We process relevant personal information to assess therapeutic needs, provide counselling and psychotherapy, maintain appropriate clinical records and manage the therapeutic relationship.

Our lawful basis is generally the performance of a contract.

Meeting legal and professional responsibilities

We may process personal information where necessary to comply with legal obligations, including applicable safeguarding and data protection requirements.

Protecting someone's safety

In exceptional circumstances, information may be processed or disclosed where necessary to protect someone's vital interests or meet another applicable legal requirement.

Special Category Personal Data

Therapy may involve processing sensitive information, including information about physical health, mental health, sexuality and other matters protected under Article 9 of UK GDPR.

Where applicable, we rely on Article 9(2)(h), which permits processing necessary for the provision of health or social care or treatment, subject to the relevant legal requirements and professional confidentiality safeguards.

Where another lawful condition is required, we will identify and apply the appropriate condition before processing the information.

We do not use sensitive therapeutic information for advertising or marketing purposes.

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4. Confidentiality and Sharing Your Information

At Our Family Therapy, confidentiality is a fundamental part of the therapeutic relationship.

We understand that clients may share deeply personal and sensitive information during counselling and psychotherapy. We treat this information with care, respect and professional discretion.

Professional Confidentiality

Information shared during therapy is treated as confidential and will not ordinarily be disclosed to third parties without your knowledge and an appropriate legal basis.

However, confidentiality is not absolute. There may be circumstances where information needs to be shared to meet safeguarding responsibilities, comply with legal requirements or protect individuals from serious harm.

Safeguarding

Where there are concerns about the safety or welfare of a child or vulnerable adult, it may be necessary to share relevant information with appropriate safeguarding professionals or statutory agencies.

Where appropriate and safe, we will aim to discuss this with you before sharing information.

Clinical Supervision

To support safe, ethical and effective therapeutic practice, therapists engage in professional clinical supervision.

Relevant aspects of therapeutic work may be discussed with a suitably qualified supervisor. Information is shared on a limited, need-to-know basis, with identifying details minimised wherever practicable.

Clinical supervisors are also subject to professional confidentiality obligations.

Court Proceedings and Legal Requests

Where therapy takes place alongside family court proceedings, care proceedings or other legal processes, confidentiality and information-sharing arrangements will be explained as part of the therapeutic agreement.

Information will not automatically be shared with solicitors, courts, local authorities or other professionals simply because they are involved in a client's circumstances.

Any disclosure will be considered in accordance with applicable legal obligations, valid consent where appropriate, court orders and professional ethical responsibilities.

Working with Couples, Families and Children

When providing relationship, family or children's therapy, confidentiality arrangements may differ from those applying to individual therapy.

We will explain the relevant boundaries, including how information may be shared within therapeutic work and the circumstances in which safeguarding or legal obligations may require disclosure.

Other Service Providers

Where necessary, limited personal information may be processed by trusted service providers supporting the administration and delivery of our services.

Appropriate data protection arrangements will be used where required.

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5. How We Store and Protect Your Personal Information

At Our Family Therapy, we recognise the importance of protecting personal information, particularly sensitive information shared during counselling and psychotherapy.

We use a combination of paper-based and electronic record-keeping systems.

Paper Records

Paper records are stored in a locked cabinet, with access restricted to authorised individuals.

Electronic Records

Electronic records may be maintained using password-protected devices, including a reMarkable tablet.

The reMarkable tablet used for therapeutic notes is not configured to automatically synchronise these notes with the reMarkable cloud.

Google Drive

Google Drive is used to store certain electronic documents and records.

Access to the Google account is protected by a password and two-step verification, using Google Prompt and telephone-based verification.

Information Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, accidental loss, inappropriate disclosure or misuse.

Access to confidential therapeutic information is restricted according to professional responsibilities and legitimate operational requirements.

We review our information-handling practices to support compliance with applicable data protection legislation.

Although we take precautions to protect personal information, no electronic storage or transmission method can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

6. How Long We Keep Your Personal Information

At Our Family Therapy, we retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, taking account of our professional, ethical and legal responsibilities.

Therapeutic Records

Our current standard practice is to retain therapeutic records for seven years following the end of therapy.

This period is subject to review where a different retention period may be necessary or appropriate.

Children and Young People

We currently apply the same standard seven-year retention period to children's and young people's therapeutic records.

We recognise that records relating to children may require longer retention, depending on the child's age, the circumstances of the therapeutic work and relevant professional or legal requirements.

Our retention arrangements for children's records are therefore subject to further review.

Court-Related and Safeguarding Records

Records relating to court proceedings, safeguarding concerns or other legal matters may need to be retained for longer where justified by applicable legal obligations or the circumstances of the case.

Secure Disposal

When personal information is no longer required, we take appropriate steps to securely delete electronic records or confidentially destroy paper records.

We periodically review the information we hold to determine whether continued retention is necessary.

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7. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

At Our Family Therapy, we respect your rights regarding the personal information we hold about you.

Under UK data protection legislation, you have the following rights, subject to applicable legal conditions and exemptions:

Right to Be Informed

You have the right to understand how and why your personal information is collected, used, stored and shared.

Right of Access

You can request access to personal information we hold about you, including relevant therapeutic records.

Requests will be considered in accordance with UK data protection legislation, including any applicable exemptions and the rights of other individuals.

Right to Rectification

You can request that inaccurate personal information is corrected or incomplete information is completed.

Right to Erasure

In certain circumstances, you can request that your personal information is deleted.

This right is not absolute, and some information may need to be retained to meet legal or other legitimate requirements.

Right to Restrict Processing

You may have the right to request that we limit how your personal information is used.

Right to Data Portability

Where the relevant legal conditions apply, you may request to receive certain personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.

Right to Object

You may have the right to object to certain types of personal information processing.

Rights Relating to Automated Decision-Making

You have rights concerning certain decisions made solely through automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

Making a Request

If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact:

Chandel Louise Railton-Clark
Our Family Therapy
Email: hello@ourfamilytherapy.co.uk

We will respond to requests within the timescales required by applicable data protection legislation, normally within one calendar month.

Raising a Concern

If you are unhappy with how your personal information has been handled, please contact us so that we can investigate your concerns.

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