At a glance
The important points first.
Information is used to answer your enquiry, provide a safe service and meet professional or legal responsibilities.
Your intake form and therapy notes can contain sensitive information and are treated confidentially.
Your details are never sold and are not used for unrelated marketing without your choice.
You can ask what I hold about you and request correction, restriction or deletion where the law allows.
Who is responsible
Stephen Therapy is the data controller.
Stephen James Stanton, trading as Stephen Therapy, decides how and why your personal information is used. You can contact me about privacy at any time.
Stephen Therapy79 Parsonage Street, Heaton Norris, Stockport, SK4 1HYInfo@StephenTherapy.com07393 312163Information I collect
What I may hold about you.
When you first enquire
- Your name, email address and telephone number
- The contact method you use and your message
- Any relevant information you choose to share
If we decide to work together
- Age or date of birth, occupation and contact details
- Emergency contact and, where relevant, GP details
- Appointment, payment and communication records
- Brief session notes and your personalised recording
Information relevant to therapy
- Physical or mental health information
- Medication, treatment, diagnoses or allergies
- Your concern, history, goals and experiences
- Information needed to consider suitability and safety
When you use the website
- Basic device, browser and website-use information
- Cookie choices and analytics information, where permitted
- Security information used to prevent spam or misuse
Please only include information needed for your initial enquiry. More personal questions are asked later, through the intake process, if we decide to work together.
How and why I use it
Clear purposes and lawful reasons.
| Purpose | Why it is necessary | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Responding to an enquiry | To answer questions, arrange a call and take steps you request before deciding whether to work together. | Steps before a contract and legitimate interests |
| Providing the service | To assess suitability, prepare for sessions, keep brief records and provide agreed follow-up support. | Contract; explicit consent for relevant health information |
| Administration and payment | To manage appointments, payments, accounting and business records. | Contract, legal obligation and legitimate interests |
| Safety, complaints or legal claims | To protect people, respond to concerns and meet legal, insurance or professional requirements. | Legal obligation, legitimate interests or vital interests, as appropriate |
| Website operation and improvement | To keep the site secure, remember cookie choices and understand how it is used. | Legitimate interests for essential operation; consent for non-essential cookies |
I do not use automated decision-making or profiling to decide whether to offer you a therapy service.
Health and other sensitive information
Some information needs extra protection.
Information about physical or mental health is “special category data” under UK data protection law. I only ask for information that is relevant to the service, suitability or safety. Where I rely on explicit consent, this is requested clearly as part of the intake process and can be withdrawn for future use.
Withdrawing consent does not affect information already used lawfully and may mean I can no longer provide the service safely. Other limited legal conditions may apply where information is needed to protect life, establish or defend a legal claim, or meet a legal requirement.
Storage and retention
I keep information secure and not forever.
Paper records are kept securely and electronic information is protected by passwords and device security. Access is limited to me, except for the carefully controlled sharing described above. No online or physical storage can be guaranteed completely risk-free, but I take proportionate steps to protect confidentiality.
When information is no longer required, paper records are securely destroyed and electronic records are deleted.
Your rights
You can ask me about your information.
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:
- receive a copy of the personal information I hold about you
- have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected
- ask for information to be deleted or its use restricted
- object to certain uses, including direct marketing
- receive information you supplied in a portable format
- withdraw consent where consent is the basis being used
These rights are not absolute and sometimes records must be retained for legal, insurance or professional reasons. I may need to confirm your identity before responding.
Questions or complaints
Please contact me first.
Email Info@StephenTherapy.com if you have a question, want to exercise a right or wish to complain about how your information has been used. I will acknowledge a data protection complaint within 30 days and respond without undue delay.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or call 0303 123 1113.
This notice will be reviewed when the website, my working practices or data protection requirements change. The updated date at the top will show when it was last revised.