CAROLYN HITCHCOCK – PRIVACY POLICY

Welcome to Carolyn Hitchcock’s privacy policy (https://carolynhitchcock.co.uk/).

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy will inform you about how we look after your personal data when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

It contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal information. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

I collect, use and am responsible for certain personal information about you. When I do so I am subject to data protection laws which apply across the European Union and the United Kingdom and I am responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

By providing us with your data, you warrant to us that you are over 13 years of age.

1. Important Information and Who We Are

Purpose of this Privacy Policy

This privacy policy aims to give you information on how we collect and process your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you fill in our contact form, sign up to receive information from us, purchase a product or service or take part in a competition.

This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements the other policies and notices and is not intended to override them.

Controller

Carolyn Hitchcock is the controller and responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as “I”, “me”, “my”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy).

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact us using the details set out below.

Contact Details

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact us. Our full details are:

Carolyn Hitchcock

Email address: hello@carolynhitchcock.co.uk

Website: https://carolynhitchcock.co.uk/

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). However, I care deeply about your data protection rights and would appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact me using the details above in the first instance.

Your Duty to Inform Us of Changes

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-Party Links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy or notice of every website you visit.

2. The Data We Collect About You

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier, title, date of birth and gender.
Contact Data includes billing address, delivery or postal address, email address and telephone numbers.
Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us.
Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
Profile Data includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services.
Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature.

Special Categories of Personal Data (Sensitive Data)

Given the nature of therapy services, we want to be especially clear about our approach to sensitive personal data:

Sensitive data refers to data that includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data, and criminal convictions and offences.

As a therapeutic service provider, we understand the sensitive nature of our work, and we want to clarify that:

We do not collect any sensitive data about you through our website.
Any sensitive information shared during therapy sessions is subject to strict professional confidentiality standards and is not stored on our website.
Information shared during therapy sessions is kept separate from website data and is maintained according to professional therapy standards and relevant healthcare regulations.

3. How Is Your Personal Data Collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you (where applicable):

apply for our products or services;
create an account on our website;
subscribe to our service or publications;
request marketing to be sent to you;
enter a competition, promotion or survey; or
give us some feedback or contact us.

Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with my website, I may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. I collect this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies. Please see my cookie policy for more details.

Analytics. We may receive technical personal data about you from analytics providers such as Google.

We may receive Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services.

4. How We Use Your Personal Data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
To keep you updated about our products and services where you have consented to this. We shall send this information to you by email. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us and by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ button in our emails.

Marketing

I strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. My lawful ground for processing your personal data to send you marketing communications is either your consent or my legitimate interests (namely to grow my practice).

Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, I may send you marketing communications if (i) you made a purchase or asked for information about my services or (ii) you agreed to receive marketing communications and in each case you have not opted out of receiving such communications since. Under these regulations, if you are a limited company, I may send you marketing emails without your consent. However, you can still opt out of receiving marketing emails from me at any time.

Promotional Offers from Us

I may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what I think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how I decide which services and offers may be relevant for you (I call this marketing).

You will receive marketing communications from me if you have requested information from me or purchased services from me and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

Third-Party Marketing

I will get your express opt-in consent before I share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.

Opting Out

You can ask me or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting me at any time.

Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to me as a result of a service purchase, service experience or other transactions.

Cookies

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see our cookie policy.

Change of Purpose

I will only use your personal data for the purposes for which I collected it, unless I reasonably consider that I need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose.

Please note that I may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

5. Disclosures of Your Personal Data

I may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in this privacy policy:

External Third Parties such as service providers, professional advisers, HMRC and regulators; and
Third parties to whom I may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of my practice or my assets. If a change happens to my practice, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.

I require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. I do not allow third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with my instructions.

Additional Safeguards for Therapy Clients

For clients receiving therapy services through carolynhitchcock.co.uk, I want to emphasize that:

Information shared during therapy sessions is subject to strict confidentiality standards in line with professional therapy guidelines and relevant healthcare regulations.
Notes and information from therapy sessions are kept secure and separate from general business operations.
We only share information from therapy sessions when required by law (such as in cases of imminent harm) or with your explicit consent.

6. International Transfers

I do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

7. Data Security

I have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, I limit access to your personal data to those contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on my instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

I have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where I am legally required to do so.

8. Data Retention

How Long Will You Use My Personal Data For?

I will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes I collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. I may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if I reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, I consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which I process your personal data and whether I can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

By law I have to keep basic information about my clients (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data) for six years after they cease being clients for tax purposes.

If you are not a client I shall retain your data for 2 years following your last engagement with me.

For therapy clients, we maintain records in accordance with professional therapy standards and relevant healthcare regulations, which may require longer retention periods for clinical records.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see ‘Request erasure’ below for further information.

In some circumstances I may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case I may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

9. Your Legal Rights

Under certain circumstances, you have the following rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data:

Request access to your personal data.
Request correction of your personal data.
Request erasure of your personal data.
Object to processing of your personal data.
Request restriction of processing your personal data.
Request transfer of your personal data.
Right to withdraw consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

No Fee Usually Required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

I may change this privacy policy from time to time – when I do I shall inform you via my website.

11. Special Provisions for Therapy Services

As a provider of therapeutic services through carolynhitchcock.co.uk, I adhere to additional ethical and legal standards:

Confidentiality: Information shared during therapy sessions is treated with the utmost confidentiality in accordance with professional therapy standards.
Exceptions to Confidentiality: We are legally required to break confidentiality in certain circumstances, such as when there is imminent risk of harm to yourself or others, suspected abuse of children or vulnerable adults, or when required by a court order.
Professional Standards: We follow the ethical guidelines and professional standards set forth by relevant therapeutic regulatory bodies.
Session Records: Brief notes of therapy sessions are kept secure and separate from other business records.

Last updated: March 2025