Privacy Policy

This policy explains how I look after your personal information when you use juliuscounselling.co.uk, contact me, or work with me as a counselling or coaching client. I only collect what I need, I keep it safe, and I never sell it.

Who I am

I am Faith Julius, trading as Julius Counselling & Coaching Services, based in Leeds, United Kingdom. I am the "data controller" for your information under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018). That means I decide how and why your information is used.

  • Email: juliuscounselling@outlook.com

  • Phone, text or WhatsApp: 07512061001

If you have any question about this policy or your information, contact me using the details above.

Information I collect

The information I hold depends on how you deal with me.

If you visit the website

  • Technical data such as your IP address, browser type, device and the pages you view, collected through cookies and similar tools (see "Cookies and this website" below).

  • Any details you enter if you use a form, cart or booking feature on the site.

If you make an enquiry

  • Your name, email address and phone number, and the content of your message.

  • Which service you are interested in (counselling or coaching), and your preferred times.

  • Please keep early messages brief and avoid sharing sensitive details until we speak. Email, text and WhatsApp are not fully secure.

If you become a client

  • Your name, address, phone number, email address, GP practice and emergency contact details.

  • Session records: brief notes on what we discuss, your goals, agreements, and any risk or safeguarding concerns.

  • Appointment and payment records (dates, fees and payments received).

  • Health information, including medication, health issues and self-care, and anything else you choose to share about your beliefs, relationships, background or experiences.

Special category information. Counselling often involves information about your mental and physical health, and sometimes your religion, sexuality, ethnicity or other personal matters. UK law treats this as "special category" data and protects it more strictly. I only record what is needed for our work together.

Why I use your information

I use your information to reply to you, provide counselling or coaching safely and professionally, and meet my legal and professional duties. The law requires me to have a "lawful basis" for each use.

What I use it for

Lawful basis

Replying to enquiries and arranging a free consultation

Legitimate interests (responding to you), or steps taken at your request before a contract

Providing counselling or coaching, including keeping session notes

Contract (our agreement to work together)

Special category information, such as health details

Explicit consent, and provision of health or social care where it applies

Taking payments and keeping financial records

Contract, and legal obligation (tax and accounting)

Safeguarding, or where the law requires disclosure

Legal obligation, and vital interests

Professional supervision, insurance and complaints

Legitimate interests, with your information anonymised wherever possible

Running and securing the website

Legitimate interests, and consent for non-essential cookies

You can withdraw consent at any time by contacting me. This will not affect anything done before you withdrew, and it may limit what work I can safely do together with you.

I do not use your information for marketing unless you have asked to hear from me, and I do not use automated decision-making or profiling.

Confidentiality and its limits

What you tell me in sessions is confidential, and I will not share it without your permission except in the limited situations below. I explain these before we begin, and they are part of our written agreement.

I may need to share information, and will tell you first wherever it is safe and possible to do so, if:

  • I believe you or someone else is at serious risk of harm, including risk to children or vulnerable adults.

  • I am required to by law, for example a court order, or in relation to terrorism, money laundering or certain serious crimes.

  • You are in a medical emergency and sharing details with emergency services could protect your life.

I take these decisions seriously and share only the minimum that is needed.

Who I share information with

I do not sell your information or share it for marketing. I share it only with the people and services below, and only as far as needed.

  • My clinical supervisor. I discuss my work in supervision, as required by professional standards. I do not use your name or identifying details.

  • Your GP or other professionals. Only if you ask me to, or if there is a serious risk to safety (see above).

  • Service providers. Companies that help me run my practice, acting on my instructions: Squarespace (website hosting and any forms, cart or bookings), Microsoft (email), [video platform, e.g. Zoom or Microsoft Teams], and [payment provider].

  • Insurers, professional bodies and regulators. If you make a complaint or a claim, or if I need professional or legal advice about my work. I am a member of BACP, ACC and EMCC UK.

  • Accountants and HMRC. Financial records only, never session content.

  • Third parties who pay for sessions. If someone else pays for your sessions, I share only the information needed for invoicing.

  • My therapeutic executors. If I become suddenly ill or die, two therapeutic executors I have appointed, who are also bound by confidentiality, will contact you on my behalf. They can see only your contact details. Your details and paperwork then pass to my supervisor, who will talk to you about onward arrangements and then destroy all paperwork.

Some of these providers are based outside the UK, including in the United States. Where that happens, I rely on safeguards the law recognises, such as the UK's data bridge arrangements or standard contractual clauses, to keep your information protected.

Online sessions and messages. If we meet online, I use a private, password-protected setting and [I do not record sessions]. Please tell me if you would like to use a different way of meeting or contacting me.

Storage, security and retention

I keep your records securely and delete them when I no longer need them.

Security. Session notes are kept on paper in a locked cupboard. My phone, tablets and computers are protected by passwords and fingerprint or facial recognition, and my email is password protected. Only I have access to your records.

How long I keep records. Session notes are kept for seven years after our work ends, as the BACP and insurers require. If you were under 18 when we worked together, I keep them until you reach [25]. Financial records are kept for six years for tax purposes. Enquiries that do not lead to us working together are deleted after [12 months]. Once the seven years are up, paper records are destroyed by shredding.

If something goes wrong. If your information is lost or accessed without permission and this puts you at risk, I will tell you and report it to the Information Commissioner's Office within 72 hours where the law requires.

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • Be informed about how your information is used, which is what this policy does.

  • Access the information I hold about you and receive a copy.

  • Correct anything that is inaccurate or incomplete.

  • Erase your information, where I no longer need it and no legal or professional duty requires me to keep it.

  • Restrict or object to certain uses of your information.

  • Take your information with you in a portable format, in some cases.

  • Withdraw consent at any time where I rely on it.

To use any of these rights, contact me using the details above. I will reply within one month and will not charge a fee in most cases. I may need to confirm who you are first. Some of these rights are limited where I have a legal or professional duty to keep records, and I will explain if that applies.

Cookies and this website

My website is built and hosted on Squarespace, which uses cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, keep it secure, and understand how it is used. Essential cookies are always on. Analytics and other non-essential cookies are used only if you agree through the cookie banner, and you can change your choice at any time. You can also block cookies in your browser settings, although parts of the site may then not work properly. The website may link to other sites, such as my professional body. I am not responsible for their privacy practices, so please read their policies.

Complaints

I hope to resolve any concern directly, so please contact me first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

I will update this policy if my practice or the law changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated, and I will tell current clients about any important changes.