Policies & Privacy

Stephanie Martin Hypnotherapy Policies

Below are the policies which govern your use of this website and making bookings and payments for my hypnotherapy services.

Privacy Notice

I value your privacy as I do my own. The information below sets out how I collect, use and protect any personal data that you give to me. I may change this privacy policy from time to time by updating this Privacy Notice. If the changes are substantial I will make this clear on my website or I may contact you directly.

Statement of Intent

This policy sets out how Stephanie Martin at Stephanie Martin Hypnotherapy will use and protect the information that you provide when you use my services and my website.

It is my intention to ensure that any data you provide is managed respectfully, kept secure and only used for the purposes for which it has been provided.

This policy will be updated from time to time in line with prevailing legislation.

About the individuals whose data I collect

I collect data about individuals who:

• Enquire about and/or attend hypnotherapy sessions
• Enquire about and/or attend my hypnobirthing training
• Sign up to my newsletters and blog posts

What I do with this information

I hold data in both written and electronic form. Written data collected may include:

• From individuals if they enquire by telephone or text, in which case, I hand-write contact details and brief notes in order to make contact.
• From clients during the Initial Consultation and subsequent therapy sessions
• From clients during hypnobirthing training if and when necessary

Written data will be securely destroyed if not to be securely stored. Relevant data is transferred to electronic format for the purposes of recording attendance and book-keeping.

Electronic data is held in spreadsheets on password-protected laptops. Client data is anonymised.

For clients participating in the CORP research programme, I use the CORP specialist software to track client progress. Client data is anonymised before being stored in the CORP database. The anonymised CORP data is stored on my password-protected laptop and is periodically uploaded into a centralised ‘cloud’ of industry-wide data for research purposes.

Electronic data is also held within a proprietary Email Management System (eg Constant Contact) for the purposes of sending e-newsletters, and for notifying supervisees of supervision dates, and events, products and opportunities that may be of interest. It is transferred to spreadsheets on password-protected laptops to provide a backup.

Electronic data within emails, text messages, voicemails, social media direct messages is held securely using leading service providers, such as Gmail, Facebook etc, and is accessed via password-protected user accounts, lap tops and mobile phones.

Sharing your personal data

I may share your data with third-party service providers who assist with administering the service I provide to you, eg:

• Email Management System providers to help me communicate with you
• Payment Gateways to process financial transactions

These providers have access to your personal information so that they can perform their functions on my behalf, but they may not use it for other purposes. I am professionally obliged to report to relevant authorities if I have concerns that you may be cause harm to yourself, to others, or to me. To ensure best practice I may from time to time discuss your progress with a senior supervisor, in which case I would not divulge your identity.

With the above exceptions, I will never share your data with a third party without your express permission, unless legally required to do so. Times when I might seek your consent to share your data may include, making a referral to another therapist or medical practitioner.

General Data Protection Regulations

Under the General Data Protection Regulations which am effective from 25th May 2018 you have the following rights:

The GDPR includes the following rights for individuals:

• the right to be informed (which is why I have produced this policy).
• the right of access (if you wish to see your file then please make a request in writing to steph@stephaniemartinhypnotherapy.co.uk, the Data Processor. I will provide you with the information within 30 days of your request).
• the right to rectification (this is your right to request changes to any information I hold that is factually inaccurate. If you believe any of the information I hold about you is incorrect then please let us know as soon as possible and I will make the appropriate changes
• the right to erasure (given the nature of our work I am required to hold our details for a period of 7 years, after this your information will be securely destroyed.)
• the right to restrict processing (I will only use the information for the purposes that I have stated: most standards of confidentiality applied in professional contexts are based upon the Common Law concept of confidentiality where the duty to keep confidence is measured against the concept of “greater good”. If in the therapist's opinion there is good cause to believe that not to disclose would cause danger or serious harm to self, the therapist or others, your GP or other appropriate agencies may be contacted. Only information required to ensure safety of relevant parties would be disclosed. Information may have to be disclosed without consent for the prevention, detection or prosecution of a crime. The sharing of anonymous case histories with supervisors and peer support groups is not a breach of professional confidentiality
• the right to data portability: I will not share your information, other than in the situations described above, without your specific consent
• the right to object (I will not contact you for marketing purposes unless you have given specific agreement to do so)
• the right not to be subject to automated decision-making including profiling (I will not use your information for profiling purposes).

Cookies

Cookies are small files which ask permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive so that web traffic and be analysed for my website. Through this we can see which of my Website's pages are being viewed and are of interest. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can modify your setting to decline them if you prefer. If you choose to do this, you may find you cannot make full use of my Website.

Links to other Websites

Our Website may contain links to other Websites of interest. However, once you use these links please be aware that you have left our Website and I do not have any control over other Websites. I cannot therefore be held responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide when visiting such sites and these sites am not governed by our privacy policy. I advise therefore that you exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the Website in question.