Privacy Policy

How will my data be stored?

In May 2018 the Data Protection Act was replaced by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Mark James Barrett is GDPR registered. The changes to the Data Protection Act were made to ensure that your personal, confidential and sometimes sensitive data, is always held privately and securely.  Any data you give to Mark must be processed in a way that you agree with. GDPR exists to protect your rights as a consumer. It applies to your identifiable data, e.g. your name and address & any reason you might have for visiting Mark. It also covers any session records, text messages or emails between you and Mark.

 

How long will you hold my information?

Mark is a member of the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). This membership means he is bound by their regulations regarding the length of time he must hold onto your information. The CNCHC states that Mark must hold onto your data for 8 years after your final session. The rule regarding children is slightly different in that the CNHC stipulates that a child’s data must be held until their 25th birthday. The exception to this rule applies to young adults whose treatment ends when they are 17 years old.  Mark must keep their records until they reach their 26th birthday. Client records will be destroyed in the January after the dates given above. This falls inline with NHS regulations regarding retention of data. 

 

What if I would like my data to be destroyed before this date?

Under the GDPR rules, you can request the deletion of any or all of your records at any time. Simply write to Mark, requesting that your records be destroyed and once he has confirmed your identity, he will do so immediately. There is no charge for this service. Mark will then make sure that all of your paper records are destroyed in a cross shredding machine. Any electronic data that Mark may be holding, such as emails or text messages will be permanently deleted from the devices on which they have been stored.  NB. Mark will need to save the written deletion request you sent him,but would destroy any other data.

 

Am I able to see or get a copy of the information held by you?

In line with GDPR, if you send Mark a request in writing, specifying the data you wish to see,he will supply you with a copy of your data within 30 days.  Mark will have to confirm your identity before sending you the information.  Again, there will be no charge for this service. NB.  Mark’s insurance company’s legal team may wish to verify any information he sends out.  What are the reasons for collecting this information?  Mark is committed to offering the highest quality support and service to his clients. In order to do so he has to collect the following information:

 

 - An idea of what you would like to achieve by coming for hypnotherapy

 - A brief outline of any medical information

 - Some brief session notes

 - Your contact details

 - YourGP contact details

 - CORP research data*

 - Basic information about your important others

 

This information allows Mark to tailor treatment to individual needs and provide continuity within the sessions, thus giving the best chance of a successful out come to the therapy.  It allows Mark to refer to the content of earlier sessions and previous discussions, and build an understanding relationship between him and his clients. Mark will only use your contact details/address and GP’s details with your explicit consent. See the client agreement and initial consultation sheet.

 

*The CORP research programme collects unidentifiable information for the purposes of producing scientifically measured outcomes for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy.

 

How will Mark store my information securely?

 - Paper session notes – Mark stores all paperwork within locked cabinets.

 - Text messages – Mark’s work phone is secured with face recognition and/or a passcode.

 - Emails – Mark’s email account requires a user name and password.

 - CORP research data-accessed via a password protected programme on a password protected laptop. 

 

Are discussions within the Hypnotherapy Sessions confidential?

Everything you discuss with Mark during your sessions remains strictly confidential. On occasion, it may be necessary for Mark to discuss elements of your sessions with his supervisor to ensure that he is helping you in the most effective way.  However, no identifying features about you will be disclosed during these discussions. Mark’s supervisor is also registered with GDPR. 

 

What if I see Mark outside of a Hypnotherapy Session?

Mark is obligated by GDPR to protect your confidentiality at all times. So, for this reason, although he will acknowledge you - unless you wish otherwise - it would be ideal if any further conversation alluding to your treatment could be avoided. However, if you wish to discuss your therapy with other people, that is your choice and you are welcome to do so.

 

Will Mark discuss information about me with other Health and Social Care Professionals? Mark is only able to contact other health and social care professionals with your written consent. Should he write to your GP, to notify them that you have entered into a therapeutic relationship with him, or to notify them that your therapy has been satisfactorily concluded, Mark would require your signature in line with GDPR requirements.  Mark does have a “Duty of Care” towards his clients, so the only exceptions to this would be if he believed that you were about to harm yourself or others.  In such an occurrence, Mark is required to inform the relevant authorities.  However, Mark would always discuss this with you before taking any action. Legally, Mark would also have to provide the police with information as set out in a warrant or court order, should that situation arise.  Who is the Data Controller and what is their ICO Registration Number?  The Data Controller is Mark James Barrett, 5, Riverdale Avenue, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF3 4LF. This policy was last updated 15th March 2010. It may be updated at any time, so please check back regularly to ensure that you're aware of the latest version.

 

ICO Registration number

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General Privacy and Cookies Policy

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1.     Introduction

1.1    We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and service users.

1.2    This policy applies where we are acting as a data controller with respect to the personal data of our website visitors and service users; in other words, where we determine the purposes and means of the processing of that personal data.

1.3    We use cookies on our website. Insofar as those cookies are not strictly necessary for the provision of our website and services, we will ask you to consent to our use of cookies when you first visit our website.

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2.     How we use your personal data

2.1    In this Section 2 we have set out:

(a)    the general categories of personal data that we may process;

(b)    the purposes for which we may process personal data; and

(c)    the legal bases of the processing.

2.2    We may process data about your use of our website and services ("usage data"). The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use. The source of the usage data is our analytics tracking system. This usage data may be processed for the purposes of analysing the use of the website and services. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely monitoring and improving our website and services.

2.3    We may process your account data ("account data"). The account data may include your name and email address. The source of the account data is you or your employer. The account data may be processed for the purposes of operating our website, providing our services, ensuring the security of our website and services, maintaining back-ups of our databases and communicating with you. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.

2.4    We may process your personal data that are provided in the course of the use of our services ("service data"). The source of the service data is you or your employer. The service data may be processed for the purposes of operating our website, providing our services, ensuring the security of our website and services, maintaining back-ups of our databases and communicating with you. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.

2.5    We may process information contained in any enquiry you submit to us regarding goods and/or services ("enquiry data"). The enquiry data may be processed for the purposes of offering, marketing and selling relevant goods and/or services to you.

2.6    We may process information relating to our customer relationships, including customer contact information ("customer relationship data"). The customer relationship data may include your name, your employer, your job title or role, your contact details, and information contained in communications between us and you or your employer. The source of the customer relationship data is you or your employer. The customer relationship data may be processed for the purposes of managing our relationships with customers, communicating with customers, keeping records of those communications and promoting our products and services to customers. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper management of our customer relationships.

2.7    We may process information relating to transactions, including purchases of goods and services, that you enter into with us and/or through our website ("transaction data"). The transaction data may include your contact details, your card details and the transaction details. The transaction data may be processed for the purpose of supplying the purchased goods and services and keeping proper records of those transactions. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps, at your request, to enter into such a contract and our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.

2.8    We may process information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our email notifications and/or newsletters ("notification data"). The notification data may be processed for the purposes of sending you the relevant notifications and/or newsletters.

2.9    We may process information contained in or relating to any communication that you send to us ("correspondence data"). The correspondence data may include the communication content and metadata associated with the communication. Our website will generate the metadata associated with communications made using the website contact forms. The correspondence data may be processed for the purposes of communicating with you and record-keeping. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business and communications with users.

2.10  We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others.

2.11  We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, or obtaining professional advice. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper protection of our business against risks.

2.12  In addition to the specific purposes for which we may process your personal data set out in this Section 2, we may also process any of your personal data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

2.13  Please do not supply any other person's personal data to us, unless we prompt you to do so.

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3.     Providing your personal data to others

3.1    Financial transactions relating to our website and services may be handled by our payment services providers. We will share transaction data with our payment services providers only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing your payments, refunding such payments and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments and refunds.

3.2    In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this Section 3, we may disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. We may also disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.

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4.     Retaining and deleting personal data

4.1    This Section 4 sets out our data retention policies and procedure, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal data.

4.2    Personal data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.

4.3    We will retain your personal data as follows:

(a)    personal data will be retained for a maximum period of ten years following collection.

4.4    In some cases it is not possible for us to specify in advance the periods for which your personal data will be retained. In such cases, we will determine the period of retention based on the following criteria:

(a)    the period of retention of personal data will be determined based on specific requirements.

4.5    Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 4, we may retain your personal data where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

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5.     Security of personal data

5.1    We will take appropriate technical and organisational precautions to secure your personal data and to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal data.

5.2    We will store all your personal data on secure servers, personal computers and mobile devices, and in secure manual record-keeping systems.

5.3    Data relating to your enquiries and financial transactions that is sent from your web browser to our web server, or from our web server to your web browser, will be protected using encryption technology.

5.4    You acknowledge that the transmission of unencrypted (or inadequately encrypted) data over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet.

5.5    You should ensure that your password is not susceptible to being guessed, whether by a person or a computer program. You are responsible for keeping the password you use for accessing our website confidential and we will not ask you for your password (except when you log in to our website).

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6.     Amendments

6.1    We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.

6.2    You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this policy.

6.3    We may notify you of significant changes to this policy by email.

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7.     Your rights

7.1    In this Section 7, we have summarised the rights that you have under data protection law. Some of the rights are complex, and not all of the details have been included in our summaries. Accordingly, you should read the relevant laws and guidance from the regulatory authorities for a full explanation of these rights.

7.2    Your principal rights under data protection law are:

(a)    the right to access;

(b)    the right to rectification;

(c)    the right to erasure;

(d)    the right to restrict processing;

(e)    the right to object to processing;

(f)     the right to data portability;

(g)    the right to complain to a supervisory authority; and

(h)    the right to withdraw consent.

7.3    You have the right to confirmation as to whether or not we process your personal data and, where we do, access to the personal data, together with certain additional information. That additional information includes details of the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned and the recipients of the personal data. Providing the rights and freedoms of others are not affected, we will supply to you a copy of your personal data. The first copy will be provided free of charge, but additional copies may be subject to a reasonable fee.

7.4    You have the right to have any inaccurate personal data about you rectified and, taking into account the purposes of the processing, to have any incomplete personal data about you completed.

7.5    In some circumstances you have the right to the erasure of your personal data without undue delay. Those circumstances include: the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed; you withdraw consent to consent-based processing; you object to the processing under certain rules of applicable data protection law; the processing is for direct marketing purposes; and the personal data have been unlawfully processed. However, there are exclusions of the right to erasure. The general exclusions include where processing is necessary: for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information; for compliance with a legal obligation; or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

7.6    In some circumstances you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Those circumstances are: you contest the accuracy of the personal data; processing is unlawful but you oppose erasure; we no longer need the personal data for the purposes of our processing, but you require personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; and you have objected to processing, pending the verification of that objection. Where processing has been restricted on this basis, we may continue to store your personal data. However, we will only otherwise process it: with your consent; for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person; or for reasons of important public interest.

7.7    You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation, but only to the extent that the legal basis for the processing is that the processing is necessary for: the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of any official authority vested in us; or the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party. If you make such an objection, we will cease to process the personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

7.8    You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (including profiling for direct marketing purposes). If you make such an objection, we will cease to process your personal data for this purpose.

7.9    You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes on grounds relating to your particular situation, unless the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest.

7.10  To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is:

(a)    consent; or

(b)    that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract,

and such processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.

7.11  If you consider that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so in the EU member state of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement.

7.12  To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal information is consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.

7.13  You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by written notice to us.

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8.     Third party websites

8.1    Our website includes hyperlinks to, and details of, third party websites.

8.2    We have no control over, and are not responsible for, the privacy policies and practices of third parties.

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9.     Personal data of children

9.1    Our website and services are targeted at persons over the age of 18.

9.2    If we have reason to believe that we hold personal data of a person under that age in our databases, we will delete that personal data.

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10.   Updating information

10.1  Please let us know if the personal information that we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated.

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11.   About cookies

11.1  A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

11.2  Cookies may be either "persistent" cookies or "session" cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.

11.3  Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

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12.   Cookies that we use

12.1  We use cookies for the following purposes:

(a)    authentication - we use cookies to identify you when you visit our website and as you navigate our website.

(b)    status - we use cookies to help us to determine if you are logged into our website.

(c)    shopping cart - we use cookies to maintain the state of your shopping cart as you navigate our website.

(d)    personalisation - we use cookies to store information about your preferences and to personalise our website for you.

(e)    security - we use cookies as an element of the security measures used to protect user accounts, including preventing fraudulent use of login credentials, and to protect our website and services generally.

(f)     analysis - we use cookies to help us to analyse the use and performance of our website and services.

(g)    cookie consent - we use cookies [to store your preferences in relation to the use of cookies more generally.

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13.   Cookies used by our service providers

13.1  Our service providers use cookies and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.

13.2  We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our website. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of our website. Google's privacy policy is available at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

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14.  Managing cookies

14.1  Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:

(a)    https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome);

(b)    https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences (Firefox);

(c)    http://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/ (Opera);

(d)    https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer);

(e)    https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411 (Safari); and

(f)     https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge).

14.2  Blocking all cookies will have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.

14.3  If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features on our website.