Privacy Notice

Caroline Heron Counselling

Last updated: 21 August 2026

Your privacy is important to me. This privacy notice explains how Caroline Heron Counselling collects, uses, stores and protects personal information when you visit this website or contact me through the enquiry form.

I aim to handle your personal information respectfully, securely and in accordance with UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who is responsible for your information?

For the purposes of UK data protection law, Caroline Heron Counselling is the data controller responsible for your personal information.

If you have any questions about how your information is handled, or would like to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact me at:

Email: hello@carolineheroncounselling.co.uk

As my counselling practice operates online, I do not have a separate physical business premises for correspondence.

What information do I collect?

When you submit an enquiry through the enquiry form on this website, I may collect:

• your first and last name;

• your email address;

• your telephone number; and

• any information you choose to include in the optional message explaining why you are making an enquiry.

You do not need to provide detailed information about your circumstances in the enquiry form. In fact, I recommend that you keep the optional message brief and avoid including highly sensitive or confidential information at this stage.

I may also collect limited technical information automatically when you visit the website, such as information necessary for the website to function and basic information relating to your use of the site. I do not currently use Google Analytics or other analytics software to track visitors.

How will I use your information?

I use information provided through the enquiry form to:

• respond to your enquiry;

• communicate with you about counselling services;

• understand the nature of your enquiry sufficiently to determine whether I may be able to offer an appropriate service;

• arrange an initial conversation or counselling appointment where appropriate;

• keep an appropriate record of enquiries; and

• comply with my legal, professional and safeguarding responsibilities where necessary.

I will only collect and use information that is reasonably necessary for these purposes.

Information about your mental health or other sensitive information

If you choose to include information about your mental health, physical health, disability or other sensitive circumstances in your enquiry, this may constitute special category data under UK GDPR.

Special category information is subject to additional legal protections. I will only process such information where there is a lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR and an appropriate condition under Article 9 and the Data Protection Act 2018.

For counselling-related processing, I may rely on the relevant provisions relating to the provision of counselling and the protection of individuals, together with the professional and legal duties that apply to my practice.

I will not ask you to provide detailed clinical information through the initial website enquiry form. If further information is needed, I will normally discuss this with you directly and explain why it is required.

My lawful basis for using your information

Depending on the circumstances, I may process your personal information because:

• it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a counselling agreement;

• it is necessary for my legitimate interests in responding to genuine enquiries and managing my counselling practice, where those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests;

• I need to comply with a legal or professional obligation; or

• it is necessary to protect someone's vital interests in an emergency.

Where special category information is involved, an additional condition under Article 9 of the UK GDPR will also apply.

What happens when you submit the enquiry form?

The enquiry form is provided through Sessionly and is embedded into this website.

When you submit the form, the information you provide is transferred to Sessionly and made available to me through my Sessionly account so that I can respond to your enquiry.

Sessionly acts as a service provider that enables me to manage enquiries and my counselling practice. Its own privacy and data protection arrangements also apply to information processed through its platform.

I recommend that you do not include detailed information about your mental health, trauma, safeguarding circumstances or other highly sensitive matters in the initial enquiry form.

The enquiry form is intended simply to allow you to tell me who you are, how I can contact you and, if you wish, a brief indication of what you are looking for support with.

Who might I share your information with?

I do not sell, rent or otherwise trade your personal information.

Your information may be shared with organisations that provide essential services to my practice, where this is necessary and lawful. These may include:

• Sessionly, which provides the practice management and enquiry-form service;

• website and technology providers, where necessary for the operation and security of this website;

• professional advisers or insurers where necessary; and

• relevant authorities or professional bodies where I am legally or professionally required to disclose information.

I will not routinely share your counselling information with other people without your knowledge and, where appropriate, your consent.

There are circumstances where confidentiality cannot be absolute. For example, information may need to be disclosed where there is a serious and immediate risk of harm, a safeguarding concern, or a legal requirement to do so.

How long will I keep your information?

I will not keep your personal information for longer than is reasonably necessary.

If you make an enquiry but do not become a client

Information relating to an enquiry that does not result in counselling will normally be kept for 12 months from the date of the last contact, after which it will be securely deleted or anonymised where appropriate.

This allows reasonable time for follow-up communication and for me to maintain an appropriate record of enquiries.

If an enquiry involves a safeguarding matter, legal issue, complaint, insurance matter or other circumstance that reasonably requires longer retention, relevant information may be retained for longer where there is a lawful basis for doing so.

If you become a counselling client

If you proceed to counselling, information relating to you will be retained in accordance with my professional record-keeping policy and the applicable professional and insurance requirements for my practice, including the recommendations of my professional body, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and my insurer.

Further information about the handling and retention of counselling records will be provided as part of the counselling agreement and privacy information provided to clients.

How do I keep your information secure?

I take reasonable and appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.

Access to personal information is limited to what is reasonably necessary for the operation of my practice.

However, no method of transmitting or storing information online can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you may have rights including:

• the right to be informed about how your information is used;

• the right to request access to the personal information I hold about you;

• the right to ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected;

• the right to request deletion of your information in certain circumstances;

• the right to request restriction of processing in certain circumstances;

• the right to object to certain types of processing; and

• the right to data portability in circumstances where this applies.

Some of these rights are subject to exceptions and may not apply in every situation.

If you would like to exercise one of your rights, please contact me at:

hello@carolineheroncounselling.co.uk

I may need to ask for information to confirm your identity before responding to a request. This is to help protect your personal information from being disclosed to the wrong person.

Cookies

This website is created and hosted using Google Sites.

Google Sites and Google may use cookies or similar technologies necessary to provide, secure and operate the website. I do not currently use Google Analytics or other third-party analytics services to monitor or profile visitors to this website.

If this changes in the future, I will review my privacy and cookie arrangements and update this notice where necessary.

Children's information

My counselling practice may provide services to children and young people.

Where information relating to a child or young person is collected, I take particular care to ensure that it is handled appropriately, securely and in accordance with applicable data protection, safeguarding and professional requirements.

Where a parent or guardian makes an enquiry on behalf of a child, the information provided will be used for the purpose of responding to that enquiry and considering whether counselling may be appropriate.

The rights of children and young people in relation to their personal information will be considered according to their age, understanding and the circumstances involved.

Confidentiality and safeguarding

Counselling is a confidential service, and I take confidentiality seriously.

However, confidentiality has limits. There may be circumstances in which I have to share information without your consent, for example where I believe there is a serious risk of harm to you or another person, where there is a safeguarding concern involving a child or vulnerable person, or where I am required to disclose information by law.

Where it is appropriate and safe to do so, I will discuss any necessary disclosure with you.

Changes to this privacy notice

I may update this privacy notice from time to time if my practice, technology, services or legal obligations change.

The date at the top of this notice shows when it was last updated.

Contact

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

Caroline Heron Counselling

Email: hello@carolineheroncounselling.co.uk

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe your personal information has been handled unlawfully or your data protection rights have not been respected.

Further information about making a complaint is available from the ICO.