Privacy Policy

Privacy Notice

To provide you with the best possible service, I need to keep certain personal information, including your contact details and records of our counselling sessions. This privacy notice explains how I collect, use, store and protect your information from your initial enquiry through to after counselling has ended.

Your privacy is very important to me. I am committed to protecting your personal information and respecting your confidentiality. I work in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, as amended, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), where applicable. I also follow the ethical principles and professional guidance of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), including its Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions 2026.

This policy explains:

Why I collect and use your information and the lawful basis for doing so.
Whether you need to provide it.
How long I keep it.
Who I may share it with.
Whether I use automated decision-making or profiling.
Your data protection rights.

If you have any questions, please contact me through the contact page on my website or by emailing me.

Data Controller

The data controller is the person responsible for collecting, storing and using personal information. In this instance, the data controller is me, Amanda New. I am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), registration reference ZB604621. My contact details are available on my website's contact page.

My lawful basis for processing your information

Data protection law requires me to have a lawful basis for processing your personal information. Depending on the circumstances, I may rely on the performance of a contract, legitimate interests or a legal obligation.

Information about your health and wellbeing is classed as special category personal data and requires additional legal protection. I will ensure that an appropriate condition under data protection law applies when processing this information.

The lawful basis and additional condition I rely on will depend on the purpose for which the information is being used. I will only process information where there is an appropriate legal basis.

How I use your information

I collect and use personal information to respond to enquiries, arrange and manage appointments, provide counselling, maintain appropriate professional records, meet my legal and professional responsibilities, and manage payments and accounts.

I will not sell your information or use your counselling records for unrelated marketing purposes. I retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, subject to legal and professional requirements.

Initial contact

When you contact me to enquire about counselling, I may record your name and contact details, such as your email address or telephone number, so that I can respond and arrange an appointment.

If you decide not to proceed, I will normally delete your enquiry information within one month, unless there is a lawful reason to retain it for longer. You can ask me to delete it sooner.

Another person or organisation may contact me on your behalf. Where appropriate, I will explain how I obtained your information and how it will be used.

You do not have to provide contact details, but without a suitable way to contact you I may be unable to respond to your enquiry or arrange an appointment.

While you are accessing counselling

Contact details and appointments: I use your email address and telephone number to communicate about appointments and related administrative matters. If we agree, I may also use email to send information relevant to our counselling work. Please let me know if there are any concerns about contacting you by phone, email or voicemail.

Intake form and GP details: At our first appointment, I will ask you to complete a counselling intake form. This may include your name, address, date of birth, contact details and, where appropriate, your GP's details. Your intake form is stored in a locked filing cabinet accessible only to me. I do not routinely contact your GP about your attendance. If contact becomes necessary, I will normally discuss this with you beforehand, unless circumstances make this inappropriate or there is a legal or safeguarding reason not to do so.

Confidentiality: What you share in our sessions is treated as confidential. However, confidentiality is not absolute. Information may need to be disclosed where there is a legal requirement or where sharing is necessary and justified to address a serious risk of harm to you or another person, or a safeguarding concern. The disclosure of abuse, neglect or distress does not automatically mean that confidentiality will be broken. I will consider the individual circumstances, relevant law and my ethical responsibilities. Wherever possible and appropriate, I will discuss the proposed disclosure with you first and explain the reasons for it. Any information shared will be limited to what is necessary.

Professional supervision: As part of my professional responsibilities, I attend regular supervision to reflect on my work and maintain appropriate standards. I discuss client work in an anonymised form wherever practicable. If identifiable information needs to be shared, I will consider whether this is appropriately authorised or otherwise legally and ethically justified. My supervisor is also expected to respect confidentiality.

Counselling notes: I keep brief notes of our sessions to support our work together and maintain appropriate professional records. I aim to keep these relevant and proportionate. Notes are stored separately from your intake form in a locked filing cabinet accessible only to me. Although I use a client reference code to reduce the use of identifying details in my notes, these records may still be identifiable through the code.

Clinical will and continuity of care: I have a clinical will in place to support continuity of care and protect client confidentiality should I become unable to practise due to serious illness, incapacity or death. My clinical will identifies a designated person to contact clients where necessary and support them in considering alternative arrangements for counselling. This person will be expected to respect confidentiality and handle personal information securely. Access to client records will be limited to what is necessary for these purposes, and records will continue to be managed in accordance with applicable data protection law and my professional responsibilities. Counselling notes will not automatically be transferred to another counsellor.

After counselling has ended

I retain certain records after counselling ends for professional, legal and administrative reasons.

My current retention periods are:

Counselling notes: seven years after counselling ends.
Client identification details and reference code: the minimum information needed to link records, including your name and date of birth, for seven years after counselling ends.
Counselling intake form: one year after counselling ends.
Financial records: for the period required by applicable tax and accounting rules.

At the end of the relevant retention period, records will be securely destroyed or deleted unless there is a lawful reason to retain them for longer. These retention periods will be reviewed against applicable legal requirements and professional guidance.

Third-party recipients of personal information

I may share limited personal information where necessary to provide counselling or meet my legal and professional responsibilities. This may include sharing relevant information with my accountant for accounting purposes, my supervisor where justified, or service providers who support my website, email or IT systems.

I will not pass your contact details to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

If your counselling is arranged or paid for by an employer, organisation, parent or guardian, I may share necessary administrative information, such as attendance details for invoicing, where appropriate and lawful. The content of your sessions will remain confidential unless you have authorised disclosure or another legal and ethical justification applies.

I may also disclose information to relevant professionals, emergency services or authorities where necessary and justified to address serious risks or comply with a legal requirement.

Your rights

Under data protection law, you may have the right to request access to your personal information, ask for inaccurate information to be corrected, request deletion or restriction of processing, object to certain uses of your information, and receive certain information in a portable format where applicable. You may also withdraw consent where processing genuinely relies on your consent.

These rights are subject to legal conditions and exceptions. For example, I may need to retain certain information to meet legal obligations or establish or defend legal claims.

If I hold information about you, you can ask me what I hold, why I hold it, where it came from, who it may be shared with and how long it will be retained. You may also request a copy in an intelligible form.

To exercise your rights, please email amanda@anewcounselling.uk. I may need to verify your identity before responding.

You can find further information at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.

If you have concerns about how I handle your personal information, please contact me in the first instance. I welcome feedback and will consider your concerns carefully. You also have the right to complain to the ICO at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Data security

I take the security of your personal information seriously and take reasonable steps to protect it from loss, misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure. My current security measures include password protection for my email account, mobile phone and laptop, antivirus software, and a locked filing cabinet for paper records, accessible only to me.

No method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure. If a personal data breach occurs, I will take appropriate action in accordance with applicable data protection law.

Website visitors

Contact form and email: If you contact me through my website, the information you provide is sent to me by email so that I can respond. It may be processed or stored by my email provider or other relevant service providers. Although secure connections such as TLS can help protect information in transit, email cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure. Please avoid including detailed sensitive information in an initial enquiry.

Cookies, analytics and embedded services: My website may use cookies and analytics tools, including Google Analytics, to understand how visitors use the website and improve its operation. Non-essential cookies and similar technologies will be used in accordance with applicable requirements, including obtaining consent where required. The website may also include third-party services, such as Google Maps, which may collect information or use cookies under their own privacy practices. Where required, I will seek your consent before enabling these technologies. You can find further information about relevant providers through their own privacy notices and the cookie information available on my website.

Automated decision-making and profiling: I do not currently use your personal information to make decisions about you solely through automated processing, or to carry out profiling that has legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Contact

If you have any questions about this policy or how your personal information is handled, please contact me:

Amanda New
Email: amanda@anewcounselling.uk
Alternatively, please use the contact page on my website.

I am happy to discuss any concerns and explain how your information is handled.

Changes to this policy

I may update this policy to reflect changes in legislation, professional guidance or my practice. The latest version will be available on my website.

Last Updated: November 2026