Privacy Notice

Last updated: 15th August 2026

This Privacy Notice explains how Grace Counselling & Psychotherapy collects, uses, stores and protects personal information. It applies to people who visit this website, make an enquiry, arrange an introductory call or receive counselling from me.

1. Who I am

Grace Counselling & Psychotherapy is operated by Lauren Jenkins, a Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP). For the purposes of UK data-protection law, I am the data controller. This means I am responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is collected and used. You can contact me about this Privacy Notice or your personal information at:

Email:hello@gracecp.co.uk

Correspondence address:
Grace Counselling & Psychotherapy
Highfield House
Congleton Road
Stoke-on-Trent
Staffordshire
ST7 3SY

Please do not send highly sensitive or urgent information by ordinary email or through the website contact form. Grace Counselling & Psychotherapy does not provide an emergency or crisis service.

2. Who this notice applies to

My counselling service is for adults aged 18 and over. This notice applies to:

  • visitors to this website;

  • people who contact me or arrange an introductory call;

  • current and former clients;

  • other people who contact the practice in a professional capacity.

3. The information I collect

Depending on your contact with the practice, I may collect:

  • your name, age or date of birth, pronouns and contact details, including the telephone number agreed for telephone sessions;

  • information you submit through the website, by email, by telephone or through a booking form;

  • appointment, attendance and cancellation information;

  • brief counselling notes and information relevant to our therapeutic work;

  • information about your physical or mental health, personal history, relationships, family circumstances, identity and wellbeing;

  • information relating to risk, safeguarding or an emergency;

  • your Counselling Agreement and information about your communication or accessibility preferences;

  • invoices, payments and transaction information;

  • correspondence between us;

  • information needed to respond to a complaint, legal matter, insurance enquiry or professional concern; and

  • technical information collected when you use the website, such as your IP address, browser, network and device information, pages visited and cookie preferences.

Counselling information is likely to include special-category personal data, particularly information about physical or mental health. It may also include information revealing ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, political opinions, trade-union membership, or sexual orientation. I may also hold limited information about another person if you mention them during counselling. I will only use that information where it is relevant and proportionate.

4. Where your information comes from

Most personal information is provided directly by you when you:

  • contact me or complete an enquiry form;

  • arrange or attend an introductory call or counselling session;

  • communicate with me by email, telephone or video call; or

  • make a payment.

I may also receive limited information from the service providers used to operate my website, email, telephone and video-call services, or from my bank in connection with a payment.

5. Why I use your information

I use personal information to:

  • respond to enquiries and arrange introductory calls;

  • decide whether I can offer an appropriate service;

  • provide counselling safely and effectively;

  • manage appointments, cancellations, invoices and payments;

  • communicate with you about your counselling;

  • make reasonable adjustments and respond to communication preferences;

  • maintain brief, accurate and appropriate professional records;

  • identify and respond to safeguarding concerns or a serious risk of harm;

  • take part in confidential professional supervision;

  • comply with professional, legal, tax, insurance and regulatory responsibilities;

  • respond to complaints or establish, exercise or defend legal claims;

  • maintain the security and proper administration of the practice and website; and

  • understand and improve the accessibility and operation of the website and service.

I do not sell personal information and I do not use client information for unrelated marketing.

6. My lawful bases

Data-protection law requires me to identify a lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR. Where I process special-category information, I must also identify a separate condition under Article 9.

Article 6 lawful basis

Responding to an enquiry, arranging an introductory call and taking steps before counselling begins - Article 6(1)(b): contract — taking steps at your request before entering into a counselling agreement

Providing and administering counselling - Article 6(1)(b): contract — processing necessary to provide the service agreed with you

Maintaining appropriate records, protecting the practice, keeping systems secure, ensuring service safety and responding to complaints - Article 6(1)(f): legitimate interests — providing and managing a safe, ethical and accountable counselling practice

Keeping financial and tax records or meeting another legal requirement - Article 6(1)(c): legal obligation

Acting in a serious emergency - Depending on the circumstances, Article 6(1)(d): vital interests, Article 6(1)(c): legal obligation or Article 6(1)(f): legitimate interests

Operating and securing the website - Article 6(1)(f): legitimate interests

Using non-essential website analytics or similar technologies - Article 6(1)(a): consent, where consent is required

My legitimate interests include providing a safe and professionally accountable service, maintaining appropriate records, protecting clients and others from serious harm, securing practice systems and responding to complaints or legal claims. I consider whether these interests can be achieved in a less intrusive way and balance them against your rights and interests.

Special-category information

When I process health information or other special-category information for the provision of counselling, I ordinarily rely on:

  • Article 9(2)(h): provision of health or social care or treatment; and

  • Schedule 1, Part 1, paragraph 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

This processing is undertaken subject to professional confidentiality and the safeguards required by law.

Where necessary, I may also rely on:

  • Article 9(2)(f) for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or

  • Article 9(2)(c) to protect someone’s vital interests where they are physically or legally incapable of giving consent.

I do not generally rely on consent as my Article 6 lawful basis for providing counselling. Agreeing to counselling or giving permission for a particular disclosure is separate from consent as a data-protection lawful basis. Some records may still need to be retained after counselling ends for legal, insurance or professional reasons.

7. What happens if you do not provide information

You are not required to tell me everything about yourself. However, I need enough accurate information to decide whether I can offer an appropriate service and to provide counselling safely.

If necessary information is not provided, I may be unable to begin or continue counselling. We can always discuss why particular information is being requested.

8. Confidentiality and sharing information

Your information is treated confidentially. I will not normally disclose information about you without your knowledge or permission.

There are limited circumstances in which information may be shared, including:

  • where you ask me or give me permission to share it;

  • during professional supervision, where identifying information is omitted or minimised wherever possible;

  • where I reasonably believe there is a serious risk of harm to you or another person;

  • where a safeguarding concern arises;

  • where disclosure is required by law, a court order or another binding legal obligation;

  • for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;

  • with my professional indemnity insurer, legal adviser, accountant or professional body where reasonably necessary;

  • with emergency services or another appropriate professional where necessary to respond to an emergency; or

  • with service providers that process information to help me operate the practice.

Where it is safe and lawful to do so, I will try to discuss a proposed disclosure with you first. I will share only the information reasonably necessary for the purpose.

9. Services and organisations involved in processing

I use carefully selected services to operate the practice. These organisations may process personal information on my behalf or act as independent data controllers for their own purposes.

  • Google Workspace — practice email, calendar and secure electronic document storage;

  • Google Meet — online introductory calls and counselling sessions;

  • Squarespace — website hosting, website enquiry forms, booking features and website analytics;

  • my bank or payment provider — receiving and recording payments

  • my telephone network provider — receiving practice calls and voicemail, connecting outgoing telephone calls and processing basic call-routing information; and

  • professional advisers and bodies, where needed — including my supervisor, accountant, professional indemnity insurer, legal adviser, BACP, HMRC, the Information Commissioner’s Office and other regulators or authorities.

Your bank or payment provider will process payment information under its own privacy terms. I do not receive or retain full payment-card details where a payment provider processes a card payment.

Telephone counselling

Where we agree to hold a counselling session by telephone, I will call the telephone number you have provided at the agreed appointment time.

I do not record telephone sessions. Please do not record, transcribe, live stream or allow another person or an automated or AI service to listen to a session unless we have discussed this in advance and both agreed in writing. I will ask you to take the call somewhere private and may confirm your identity and a safe callback number at the start of the session.

Telephone and network providers may process basic communications data such as the telephone numbers involved, the date, time, duration and routing of a call under their own privacy terms. The practice does not receive or retain the content of telephone sessions from those providers. Any brief counselling note is handled in the same way whether the session takes place by telephone or video.

If a call is disconnected, I will normally call back once. If contact is lost after a credible indication of imminent serious harm, I may use the details you have disclosed, as described in section 8.

You can read the privacy information published by Google and Squarespace for more information about how they handle personal information.

10. International data transfers

Some technology providers may store or process information outside the United Kingdom. Where personal information is transferred internationally, I take reasonable steps to ensure that a lawful transfer mechanism and appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to approved standard contractual clauses.

Further information about a provider’s processing locations and safeguards is available in that provider’s privacy notice.

11. Website use, analytics and cookies

Squarespace hosts this website and may collect information needed to operate and secure it, including IP address, browser, network and device information and the pages you visit.

The website uses essential cookies and similar technologies where necessary for functions such as security, form operation and remembering privacy choices. These do not require consent where they are strictly necessary.

Squarespace analytics and any other non-essential analytics or performance cookies are used only in accordance with the choices available through the website’s cookie banner. Where consent is required, non-essential cookies will be restricted unless you choose to accept them. You can reject non-essential cookies and change or withdraw your choice through the website’s cookie settings. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that took place before withdrawal.

The website’s cookie banner provides more detailed and current information about the cookies in use. You can also control or delete cookies through your browser settings, although blocking essential cookies may affect how the website works.

12. How information is stored and protected

Practice information is stored using password-protected systems and devices. Measures used to protect it include:

  • two-step verification on relevant accounts;

  • device passwords or PINs and automatic screen locking;

  • encryption provided by the device or service;

  • restricted access to practice accounts;

  • separating client contact details from counselling notes where practicable;

  • using brief client identifiers on counselling notes where appropriate;

  • collecting only the information reasonably necessary; and

  • securely deleting or destroying information at the end of its retention period.

Online sessions are not recorded by me, and you should not record a session.

Although reasonable safeguards are used, ordinary email and internet-based communication cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure.

13. How long information is retained

I do not keep personal information indefinitely.

Type of information & Normal retention period:

Counselling records, including initial assessment information, agreements, attendance information, relevant correspondence, risk records and counselling notes - Seven years after the final counselling session

Initial enquiries that lead to counselling - Relevant information becomes part of the counselling record and is retained for seven years after counselling ends

Enquiries and introductory calls that do not lead to counselling - Six months after the last contact, unless there is a safeguarding, complaint, insurance or legal reason to keep it longer

Routine appointment and administrative emails - Up to 12 months after counselling ends. Information necessary for the counselling record may be retained with that record for seven years

Invoices, payment records and accounting information - At least five years after the 31 January tax-return submission deadline for the relevant tax year, or longer where required by HMRC

Website contact-form submissions - Deleted from the website system once transferred and dealt with, where the platform permits. The resulting enquiry is retained according to the enquiry periods above

Website analytics information - According to the settings and retention periods applied by the website provider and my configuration of the service; retained no longer than reasonably necessary for website administration and analysis

Complaints, safeguarding matters and legal or insurance records - For as long as reasonably necessary to address the matter and meet applicable legal, professional or insurance requirements

Information may exceptionally be kept longer where required by law, an insurer, a professional obligation, an ongoing complaint or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. When information reaches the end of its retention period, it is securely deleted or destroyed.

14. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the information and the lawful basis being used, you may have the right to:

  • be informed about how your information is used;

  • request access to the personal information held about you;

  • ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected;

  • ask for information to be erased in certain circumstances;

  • ask for processing to be restricted in certain circumstances;

  • object to processing based on legitimate interests;

  • receive certain information that you provided in a portable format where processing is automated and based on contract or consent;

  • withdraw consent at any time where consent is the lawful basis; and

  • complain about how your information has been handled.

These rights are not absolute. For example, information may need to be retained where there is a legal obligation or where it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

You have the right to object to processing based on my legitimate interests. If you object, I will consider your reasons and stop the processing unless there are compelling legitimate grounds to continue or the information is needed for legal claims.

Requests can be made by emailing hello@gracecp.co.uk. I may need to confirm your identity before releasing information. There is normally no charge, and I will usually respond within one month.

A request for counselling records will be considered carefully because a record may contain information about another person or information that requires additional safeguards before disclosure.

15. Automated decision-making

I do not use personal information to make solely automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

16. Concerns and complaints

Please contact me first if you have a question or concern about how your personal information has been handled:

Lauren Jenkins
Grace Counselling & Psychotherapy
Email:hello@gracecp.co.uk

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website:Make a complaint to the ICO

Grace Counselling & Psychotherapy is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

17. Changes to this Privacy Notice

I may update this Privacy Notice if my services, systems or legal obligations change. The latest version will be available on this website, with the date of the most recent update shown at the top.