This notice explains how Stillpoint Counselling collects, uses, and stores your personal information when you access our counselling services. We take the security and confidentiality of your data seriously, and handle it in line with UK data protection law. This notice should be read alongside our Terms & Conditions.
 

1.  Who We Are

Stillpoint Counselling is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this notice.

Key Facts
Data Controller:  Stillpoint Counselling
ICO Registration No.:  ZC204298
Records Platform:  WriteUpp — ISO-certified, cloud-based practice management software
Retention (Adult Clients):  7 years following your last contact with us
Retention (Under 18s at Time of Therapy):  Until their 25th birthday, or 8 years after last contact if later
Access Requests:  In writing to info@stillpointne.co.uk

2.  Information We Hold About You
To provide counselling safely and effectively, we may collect and hold:

• Your contact details — name, phone number, and email address

• Emergency contact and next of kin details, where you choose to share them

• Your GP's name and surgery details, if relevant to your care

• Session notes, including themes explored and goals we agree together

• Anything you share that relates to your safety or someone else's

• Payment and invoicing records

• Emails, messages, and other correspondence between us

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3.  How We Use Your Information
We use your information to:

• Plan, deliver, and review your counselling sessions

• Manage bookings, invoices, and any changes to your sessions

• Meet our professional obligations under the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions

• Keep appropriate records of our work together, including for anonymised clinical supervision

We rely on your consent, given when you agree to our Terms & Conditions, together with our legitimate interest in keeping appropriate professional records, as the lawful basis for processing your information. Where information relates to your health, this is treated as special category data and processed with your explicit consent, for the purpose of providing you with therapeutic care.

4.  Where Your Information Is Kept
We keep session records and administrative information on WriteUpp, a secure practice management platform built for healthcare and counselling providers. WriteUpp holds ISO certification and operates in line with UK GDPR standards. Access to your file is limited to your counsellor and, where relevant, their clinical supervisor.

5.  Who We Share Your Information With
We keep your information private, and only ever share it:

• With your clear, written permission

• Where we are legally required to, for example following a court order

• Where we believe there is a genuine risk to your safety, someone else's safety, or the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult

• With our clinical supervisor, who holds the same duty of confidentiality we do

Further detail on the circumstances in which confidentiality may need to be set aside is set out in our Terms & Conditions.
 

6.  How Long We Keep Your Information
Records for adult clients are kept for 7 years following your last contact with us. Records for clients who were under 18 at the time of therapy are kept until their 25th birthday, or for 8 years following their last contact with us if this is later. After this time, your information is securely and permanently destroyed.

7.  Your Rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access a copy of the personal information we hold about you

• Have inaccurate information corrected

• Ask us to delete your information, in certain circumstances

• Restrict how your information is used

• Object to particular uses of your information

• Receive your information in a portable format, or have it transferred elsewhere

• To exercise any of these rights, please write to us at info@stillpointne.co.uk. We will respond within one calendar month, in line with our legal obligations.

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8.  Keeping Your Information Secure
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including secure, password-protected systems and restricted access to records.

9.  Complaints
If you have any concerns about how we handle your personal information, please contact us in the first instance at complaints@stillpointne.co.uk, or refer to our Complaints Policy. You are also entitled to raise concerns directly with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

10.  Changes to This Notice
We may update this notice from time to time, to reflect changes to our practice or to the law. The current version is always available from your counsellor on request.