Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy
This privacy policy sets out how Counselling Couples uses and protects any information that you give “us” when you use this website.
“We” are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.
“We” may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 29th April 2018.
We may sometimes ask you to give us information about yourself and your family circumstances so we can make sure you receive the appropriate services. This policy explains what happens with this information.

Gaining your consent
When you contact Counselling Couples, we’ll tell you how your information will be used, and that it may be necessary to share this with other services and organisations.
If you do not want us to share your information, you should let us know. However, there are times when we may still need to share it, for example:
as part of our duty to protect a child, a vulnerable adult, yourself or the public, for the prevention and detection of a crime or if we are required to do so by a court of law.

What information do we record?
The information we request from you may include personal or sensitive information, such as:
Personal information
First name or given name
Family name or surname
Address
Telephone numbers
Date of birth
Sensitive personal information
Gender, and marital status
Physical or mental health conditions
Criminal offences (including alleged offences)
Brief session notes

What do we use it for?
We may also use some of the information you provide us with for other reasons, such as to:
Help us plan services for your future
Maintain records
Respond to any enquiries you make
Administer any events in which you participate or wish to participate in
Meet our statutory obligations, for example visits by our own regulators
Identify and protect those at risk of harm
Ensure the accuracy of our records
Prevent and detect crime
Protect you and other people.

Information security
We recognise that the information you provide may be sensitive and we will respect your confidentiality.
We keep information about you confidential. This means we store it securely and control who has access to it. We will not share any information where we are not legally required to do so.
We will only share such information as necessary, and where we are satisfied that the other organisation is entitled to receive it and will keep your information secure.

Corrections and concerns
If you believe that information we hold about you is incorrect or out of date, or if you have concerns about how we are handling your personal information, please contact us and we will try to resolve those concerns.
If you wish to have your personal information deleted, please let us know and we will take reasonable steps to delete it (unless we need to keep it for legal, auditing or internal risk management reasons).
If we become aware of any concerns or problems concerning our privacy practices, we will take these issues seriously and work to address them.

Right to access information
Under GDPR regulations you have a right to access the information we have about you. We have an obligation to provide you this within 30 days. If you wish to see the data we hold about you this can be done by contacting the Data controller via email. This gives a date and time stamp to ensure that our obligations to you are met professionally and efficiently.

Data controller
At Counselling Couples the named data controller is Simon Hawkins. We are responsible for collecting and processing your personal information. Processing includes the organisation, retrieval, consultation, use and deletion or destruction of information and its disclosure to other agencies.
The information you provide will be processed mainly in connection with the administration of our services. A full list of what information we control and process and for what purposes is set out in our notification with the Information Commissioner’s Register of Data Controllers. Our registration number is ZA342219. You can view our registration, and specifics on the ICO website at www.ico.org.uk

Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information that you provide whilst visiting such sites; and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

If you have difficulty understanding this information or want to ask more questions, please contact us on 0786 062 2971 or You can also contact us in writing to:

Counselling Couples
55 Kittiwake Drive,
Portishead,
Bristol,
BS20 7PL

Counselling Couples is part of The South West Psychotherapy Group