Privacy Policy: How we use your information
This privacy policy tells you what to expect when Debbie Frost Counselling & Hypnotherapy Services collects personal information. It applies to information we collect about:
- Visitors to our website and social media pages
- People who use our services e.g. those looking for a therapy
- Complainants and other individuals in relation to a data protection or freedom of information complaint or enquiry
Visitors to our website
When someone visits www.debbiefrost.co.uk we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.
Website
We use third party services, Therapy Webgenie and WordPress.com, to publish our website and blog. We use their standard services to collect anonymous information about users’ activity on the site, for example the number of users viewing pages on the site, to monitor and report on the effectiveness of the site and help us improve it.
People who contact us via social media
If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be stored for three months. It will not be shared with any other organisations.
People who email us
We monitor any emails sent to us, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send is within the bounds of the law.
People who use our services
Clients and potential clients
I only hold information of individuals having therapy. I keep contact details of those who have made contact via the central number or website form until I have dealt with the enquiry. I only use these details to provide the service the person has requested.
People who make a complaint to us
When we receive a complaint from a person we make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint. We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide. We may have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.
We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for two years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle. Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.
Data complaints or queries
We try to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.
This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of this service’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the email address below.
Access to personal information
We try to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a request in writing to the email address below. If we do hold information about you we will:
- give you a description of it
- tell you why we are holding it
- tell you who it could be disclosed to
- let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form
Disclosure of personal information
In many circumstances we will not disclose personal data without consent. However when we investigate a complaint, for example, we may need to share personal information with other relevant bodies.
Changes to this privacy policy
We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 28th July 2021.
How to contact us
If you want to request information about our privacy policy you can email us:
debbiefrost23@googlemail.com