Your privacy is very important to me, and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose it was given to me. I adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and the Data Use and Access act 2025.
This privacy notice tells you what I will do with your personal information from initial point of contact through to after your therapy has ended, including:
• Why I am able to process your information and what purpose I am processing it for
• Whether you have to provide it to me
• How long I store it for
• Whether there are other recipients of your personal information
• Whether I intend to transfer it to another country,
• Whether I do automated decision-making or profiling.
• Your data protection rights.
• How you can make a complaint about my handling of your personal information and how I will respond to that complaint.
• AI and it’s use in my practice
I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy, and you can contact me via xxxxx
‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is me.
I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office with the registration number:
My postal address is: 17a Dunstable Road, Toddington. LU5 6DP
My phone number is: 07442 376779
My email address is: jessica@wildorchidwellbeing.co.uk willsjessicam@gmail.com
The GDPR states that I must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. There are different lawful bases depending on the stage at which I am processing your data. I have explained these below:
If you have had therapy with me and it has now ended; I will use legitimate interest as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information.
If you are currently having therapy or if you are in contact with me to consider therapy, I will process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of our contract.
The GDPR also makes sure that I look after any sensitive personal information that you may disclose to me appropriately. This type of information is called ‘special category personal information’. The lawful basis for me processing any special categories of personal information is that it is for provision of health treatment (in this case counselling) and necessary for a contract with a health professional (in this case, a contract between me and you).
Initial Contact
When you contact me with an enquiry about my counselling services I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry.
This will include an intake sheet holding your contact details such as your name and contact details.
It will also include your presenting issues and why you have chosen to come to therapy, any diagnosis you’ve put down, and physical health conditions you might have, as well as any medication you are taking or substances you take such as alcohol, marijuana etc.
Alternatively, your GP or other health professional may send me your details when making a referral or a parent or trusted individual may give me your details when making an enquiry on your behalf.
If you decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within one month from our last contact with one another. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.
Prior to our first session I will send you an agreement to read and sign with details the terms and conditions of our work together. I will ask you to fill out your registered doctor and your emergency contact details.
While you are accessing counselling
Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken under the following circumstances:
- You tell me you intend to kill yourself
- You tell me you intend to harm, kill or abuse another person
- You tell me you are harming a child or animal through neglect or through other means
- You tell me you intend to commit an act of terrorism
I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevent this.
I will keep a record of your personal details to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are kept securely in password protected data storage which is in a locked office. I do keep written personal notes of each session, and when working with an agency online clinical notes which are protected by password encrypted access.
For security reasons I do not retain text messages for more than three months. If there is relevant information contained in a text message, I will keep such information stored in my data storage. Likewise, any email correspondence will be deleted after three months if it is not important. If necessary, I will keep important information in my data storage as well.
After Counselling has ended
Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for seven years from the end of our contact with each other and are then securely destroyed. If you want me to delete your information sooner than this, please tell me.
I sometimes share personal data with third parties, for example, where I have contracted with a supplier to carry out specific tasks. In such cases I have carefully selected which partners I work with. I take great care to ensure that I have a contract with the third party that states what they are allowed to do with the data I share with them. I ensure that they do not use your information in any way other than the task for which they have been contracted.
There are circumstances where I may be compelled to by law or a court order to disclose information without your consent. These may include:
- Where there is a serious risk of harm to you or another person
- Where there are safeguarding concerns relating to a child or vulnerable adult
- Where there is a serious risk of injury to you or another person
- Where I am compelled to by a court order.
If I am seriously ill, die or otherwise am unable to have further contact with you, my supervisor may get in contact with you, to help you transition from me to another therapist.
Your Rights
I try to be as open as I can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. You have a right to ask me to delete your personal information, to limit how I use your personal information, or to stop processing your personal information. You also have a right to ask for a copy of any information that I hold about you and to object to the use of your personal data in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters
If I do hold information about you I will:
• give you a description of it and where it came from;
• tell you why I am holding its, tell you how long I will store your data and how I made this decision;
• tell you who it could be disclosed to;
• let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
You can also ask me at any time to correct any mistakes there may be in the personal information I hold about you.
To make a request for any personal information I may hold about you, please put the request in writing addressing it to
If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by writing or emailing to the contact details given above. I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures.
If you want to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information you can contact the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
If you are unhappy with how I have handled your personal information, you may make a complaint by contacting me at:
When I receive a complaint, I will:
- Acknowledge and investigate the complaint within 30 days.
- Record and securely store the complaint
- Review the circumstances, including relevant records and information
- Investigate the matter promptly and without delay.
I will then provide you with a written response explaining the outcome of my investigation and any actions and changes I will take where appropriate.
If you remain dissatisfied with my response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the information commissioner’s office (ICO).
Website: https://ico.org.uk
I take the security of the data I hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to make sure it is kept secure. The Data I store on my NAS can only be accessed by me or by someone with permission from me such as a supervisor or clinical will executor in the event of my being incapacitated or my death, it is otherwise invisible to anyone else. Beyond that the data storage itself is password protected, with the password being securely locked away by a filing cabinet.
I do not use artificial intelligence systems to process or analyse client’s personal data or therapy content.
All client records and communication are managed directly by me and stored securely using appropriate safeguards in line with the UK data protection law.