Nicola Wills - Counselling & Psychotherapy

Reviewed and updated 16th July 2026.

A copy of the most up to date version of this policy will be shared with you when you become a new client. The policy is reviewed and updated on my website regularly.

Introduction

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 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

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, and

• Your data protection rights.

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email at info@time2talkcounselling.net. 

‘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,  reference number is ZB592083.

My lawful basis for holding and using your personal information

UK 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. 

UK 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).

How I use your information

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 name, contact details, history of counselling and mental health concerns, any medication you are prescribed, a brief reason for seeking my services.

• 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 after 2 months. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.

While you are accessing counselling:

• Rest assured that everything you discuss with me is confidential. That confidentiality will only be broken if I am lead to believe there is a significant risk of harm. I will always try to speak to you about this first, unless there are safeguarding issues that prevents this.

• I will keep a record of your personal details and brief notes of our sessions to help the counselling services run smoothly. These details are saved digitally on secure and encrypted ISO-27001 certified servers.

• To record consent and for continuity of care I keep records of communications at key stages. For example, initial agreement, date and time of sessions, or to record you have received a copy of this privacy policy.

After counselling has ended:

• Once counselling has ended your records will be kept for 7 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 take care to anonymise data at all times.

Under 18s:

• UK GDPR rules around children's data is different. I am required to keep all data I hold about a child under 18 for 8 years after their 18th birthday (26th birthday). For more information about UK GDPR rules surrounding your child's data please visit - ICO guidance “Children and the UK GDPR”: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/childrens-information/children-and-the-uk-gdpr/

Third party recipients of personal data

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

I use WriteUpp practice management system to manage and store personal details, clinical notes, schedule appointments. This data is held for 7 years. Here is a link to WriteUpp’s privacy policy - https://www.writeupp.com/privacy. Their servers are encrypted ISO-27001 certified (international secure standard).

If payment for services is collected in person or via a link, this service is provided via Square. Here is a link to their Privacy Policy - https://squareup.com/gb/en/legal/general/privacy-no-account?country_redirection=true

My website is hosted by Squarespace. Here is a link to Squarespace’s Privacy Policy - https://www.squarespace.com/privacy. There is further information about the data collected when visiting my website below, and in my organisation I am the only administrator who can access any data, manage or amend any content or data collected by the website.

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 www.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 it, 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 always have the right to request further information, support or copies of your data, the Information Commissioner’s Office can support individuals to understand their data rights via www.ico.org.uk/for-the-public/

Data access requests

You can ask me at any time to view, delete or correct the personal information I hold about you.

To do this, please email info@time2talkcounselling.net or use the contact form on my website, stating your full name, our connection and specifically which data you would like to request to be accessed, deleted or corrected.

I will aim to respond as soon as possible, but within 1 month the date of your request. For complex cases, I will respond within 1 month, with an explanation of why i need more time to complete your request, up to a maximum of 2 months (3 in total from the original request).

I may need to request specific information from you to help me confirm your identity and ensure your right to access this data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to anyone who has no right to receive it. I may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up my response.

There will usually be no fee to access your personal data or to exercise any of the rights listed above. However, I may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to comply if the request is repetitive or excessive.

Complaints

If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data or any aspect of the service you receive, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by emailing info@time2talkcounselling.net or using the contact form on my website.

I will aim to respond to your complaint within 1 week (7 days). I will aim to open dialogue with you in the first instance to gain more information and work together to come to a resolution.

I welcome any suggestions for improving my services and data protection procedures.

If you feel unable to reach out to me in the first instance to raise a concern you can:

• For complaints around data: Contact the ICO, which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

• For complaints around counselling services: Contact the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy to complain about a members services or conduct: https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-us/protecting-the-public/professional-conduct/how-to-complain-about-a-bacp-member/

Breaches of data protection

In the event of any breach of my data protection policies, I will notify you and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) within 72 hours and will seek to rectify this immediately. I will also reach out to the individuals concerned (if identifiable) and share all the information I have around the breach without undue delay, and I will keep all individuals affected updated.

Use of cookies and website analytics

Visitors to my website:

When someone visits my website, Squarespace attempts to collect data knows as “cookies”. A “cookie” is a small file of letters and numbers that is downloaded on to your device when you visit a website. Cookies are used by many websites and can do a number of things, eg remembering your preferences, recording what you have put in your shopping basket, and counting the number of people looking at a website.

My website uses cookies to collect data that relates to performance and analytics. These provide performance information, such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This data helps me Identify unique visitors and tracks a visitors sessions on a site to assess page functionality and performance.

This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. I do not make, and do not allow Squarespace to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting my website. This data is held for up to 2 years.

I use legitimate interests as my lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website.

You can clear your cookies at any time in your browsers settings, or opt out when you visit my website using the banner pop-up on the page.