Privacy Policy
This privacy notice is designed to help you understand what kind of information I collect from you and how I will process and use this information. You have a right to know what data is held about you, and this privacy notice will tell you what I do with that information.
I, Iga Sielenko, offer counselling and psychotherapy as a self-employed service provider, under the name ‘Therapy with Iga’. I am the Data Controller of this site and, in accordance with the Data Protection Act (2018), General Data Protection Regulation (2016) and my registration with the Information Commissioner’s Office, I am required to provide you with details of how I collect, store and use the information collected.
Acceptance of this privacy notice is deemed to occur upon your first use of www.therapywithiga.com (“this site”). If you do not accept and agree with this privacy notice, you must stop using this site.
Information collected from this site
The data collected for enquiries is your name, your preferred phone number and your email address. In response, I may also request information on your availability, therapeutic issues, gender, and other details that I think are relevant to processing your request. Data given in an enquiry from a potential client (e-mails, mobile texts and voicemails) are password protected on mobile phone and laptop devices and will be kept for up to 12 months if therapy does not commence. If therapy commences, information will be kept in accordance with the BACP Code of Ethics and financial accounting best practice. By submitting your data, you are agreeing to receive the information you have requested, such as initial consultation or session scheduling communications.
Data on this site
This website uses Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Search Console to understand how people find this site, the number of people using this site and how they navigate this site. Google’s use and ability to share information collected about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy.
When you visit this website your IP address will be recorded. This address will be matched against public and proprietary IP address databases to provide information about your visit. This information may identify the organisation to whom the IP address is registered but not individuals. In some limited cases, for example, single-person companies, it may be possible to identify personal data from publicly available ICANN data.
This site also uses cookies - small text files placed on your computer to make websites work efficiently and to provide information about people’s use of the site. Cookies are stored temporarily during your browsing session and are deleted from your device when the browser is closed. Most cookies are tracked anonymously to feed GA4 and learn how to improve your experience on the site. By using your browser controls, you are always in control of the cookies this site stores. More information on how to control cookies can be found on the Your Online Choices website.
What information I share
I do not sell your personal information to third parties. I only use your personal information for the purposes explained in this notice, including responding to enquiries, providing therapy services, managing client records, understanding website use, and, where you have chosen to sign up, sending mailing list updates.
Our work together will be confidential except for very specific limited counselling reasons when I may need to share your data. All professional psychotherapists and counsellors work to professional codes of ethics and good practice. Regular supervision is a requirement from all professional psychotherapy and counselling organisations. I will, from time to time, discuss some aspects of our work in supervision, but your identity will not be disclosed. This takes place to monitor the professional consistency and ethical standards of our work. Under very rare circumstances, if I believe there was a serious risk of harm to either yourself or another person, I would be legally obliged to break confidentiality. If I thought it was necessary to contact your GP or any other professional concerned with your care, I would discuss this with you first. Your data will not be submitted to any other company without your prior consent, other than when required to do so by law, or with those data processors used for business operations, who process your data under my control. I use a small number of service providers to help run my website, manage communications, understand website use, manage mailing list subscriptions and process payments. These providers may process personal information on my behalf or as part of providing their services.
How long your data is kept
Data given in an enquiry from a potential client will be kept for up to 12 months if therapy does not commence. If therapy does commence, I am required to keep financial records for tax returns for 7 years. If you choose to continue with counselling, I will keep brief client notes, stored securely and separately from personally identifiable information wherever possible. I store personally identifiable information (e.g. name, telephone number, address and email address) separately from session notes, all of which are retained for up to 7 years after your last session.
How I keep your information safe
All information you provide to me is stored as securely as possible. Physical paper correspondence, your assessment (intro call) notes are kept in a locked cabinet in my house. Electronic data is stored on a password-protected laptop in a password-protected document. Emails are kept on a password-protected laptop and password-protected iPhone for the duration of the counselling and then deleted. For email correspondence, I use Gmail, which encrypts messages in transit. The transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure and I cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to me by email. Any transmission is at your own risk, so please consider the level of personal information you share by email. Some personal data, such as emails or IP address information, may be processed outside the UK or EEA by the services I use. Where this happens, those providers state that they use appropriate safeguards for international data transfers. More information is available through Google’s privacy information, Meta’s privacy information and the Data Privacy Framework.
Your rights
You have the right to ask me to provide a copy of the information held by me in my records, to require me to correct any inaccuracies in your information, and to ask me to update or remove information where appropriate. If you would like to do this or have any further concerns, please contact hello@therapywithiga.com. Where I rely on your consent to process your personal information, you may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting me. Please note that I may still need to keep some information where I have a legal, professional or legitimate reason to do so. You also have the right to make a complaint about how I handle your personal information. Please see the section below for details on how to make a data protection complaint.
Data protection complaints
If you have any concerns about how I have used, stored, shared or handled your personal information, you can make a data protection complaint by contacting me at hello@therapywithiga.com. Please include your name, contact details and a brief explanation of your concern so I can look into it properly. I will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days of receiving it. I will then take appropriate steps to look into your complaint and respond without undue delay. This may include making appropriate enquiries and keeping you informed while I consider your complaint. Where needed, I may ask you for further information so I can understand and respond to your concern. If you are not satisfied with my response, you have the right to raise your concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Changes to this notice
Any changes to this privacy notice will be placed here and will supersede this version. It is suggested that you read this page each time you use the website to ensure that it still meets with your approval.
Contacting me
If you would like me to update or remove information held on you, please contact hello@therapywithiga.com. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, would like further information on how your data is used, how the security of your data is maintained, or if you want to know what information I have collected about you (a “Subject Access Request”), please make contact via hello@therapywithiga.com. You may be requested to provide some form of identity verification to ensure your personal data is safeguarded.