Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Safe Space Counselling is a private counselling practice operated by Trish Anderson, a BACP Registered Member (#409896), based in Theydon Bois, Epping, CM16.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you use this website or contact us about counselling services.

2. What information we collect

We may collect the following personal information:

• Contact information — your name, email address, and phone number when you submit our contact form or email us directly
• Message content — any information you choose to share in your message to us
• Session preferences — your preferred type of therapy session (e.g. face-to-face, online)
• Technical data — basic website analytics (pages visited, approximate location) collected via cookies (see our Cookie Policy)

We do not collect sensitive health or medical data through this website. Any clinical information shared during counselling sessions is governed by a separate therapeutic contract and our professional duty of confidentiality.

3. How we use your information

We use the information you provide to:

• Respond to your enquiry and arrange an initial consultation
• Contact you about appointments and counselling services
• Comply with our professional, ethical, and legal obligations as a BACP member

We will never use your information for unsolicited marketing, and we will never sell or share your data with third parties for commercial purposes.

4. Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

• Legitimate interests — to respond to enquiries and manage our practice
• Consent — where you have voluntarily provided information via our contact form
• Legal obligation — where we are required by law or professional regulation to retain certain records

5. Third-party services

Our contact form is processed by Formspree (formspree.io), a secure form-handling service. When you submit the form, your data is transmitted to Formspree's servers and forwarded to our email address. Formspree's privacy policy can be found at formspree.io/legal/privacy-policy.

This website uses Google Fonts to display text. Google may log your IP address when fonts are loaded. See Google's Privacy Policy for details.

We do not use advertising networks, social media tracking pixels, or any other third-party analytics beyond basic, anonymised website statistics.

6. How long we keep your data

Enquiry emails and contact form submissions are retained for up to 12 months after our last contact, or for the duration of any therapeutic relationship, in line with BACP guidance.

If you do not proceed with counselling, we will securely delete your contact details within 6 months of our last communication.

7. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Rectify any inaccurate information
• Erasure — request deletion of your data (subject to our legal obligations)
• Restrict how we process your data in certain circumstances
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Data portability — receive your data in a structured format

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at trish@safespace-counselling.uk. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. All email communications are encrypted in transit. We will notify you promptly if we become aware of any data breach that may affect your rights.

9. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we handle your data, please contact us in the first instance. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with a revised date. We encourage you to check back periodically.