Last updated: 17 May 2026
I am Sylvia Croot, trading as Counselling and Hypnotherapy With Sylvie. I am responsible for looking after your personal information. I take care to keep it secure, accurate, and up to date, and I only keep the information I need. I also take steps to protect it from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, or disclosure.
What information I collect
The information I collect may include your name, contact details, date of birth, emergency contact details, GP details where relevant, information you share when you first get in touch, appointment details, payment information, and notes made during or after counselling or hypnotherapy sessions. This may include sensitive information about your health, wellbeing, family circumstances, or other personal matters you choose to discuss.
Who I may share your information with
I will only share your information where this is necessary and appropriate. This may include sharing with your permission, with my clinical supervisor in a way that does not identify you where possible, with emergency services or other relevant agencies if there is a serious safety or safeguarding concern, where I am required to do so by law, or with professional service providers such as secure email, payment, storage, or practice management services where these are used to support my work.
What I use your information for
I use your information to provide the counselling or hypnotherapy services you ask for, and to manage appointments and related support.
I may also ask for your feedback about the service you received.
I also use your information to keep financial, professional, and practice records.
As part of good professional practice, I may discuss my work in supervision or training. Where I do this, I will make sure your information is anonymised so that you cannot be identified wherever possible. If you tell me that you do not want your information used in this way, I will respect that wherever I can.
Outside these situations, I will not share your personal information unless you have given permission or unless there is a serious safety concern or a legal requirement to do so.
I keep client records only for as long as I reasonably need them for professional, legal, insurance, safeguarding, and record-keeping purposes. In most cases, I keep adult client records for 7 years after counselling ends. If the client is under 18, I would usually keep the records until their 25th birthday. In some situations, I may need to keep records for longer or shorter periods where there is a good reason to do so.
My reason for using your personal information
I process your personal information in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. My lawful basis for using your personal information is that it is necessary for taking steps before entering into a counselling or hypnotherapy agreement with you, for providing those services, and for the legitimate interests of running my practice safely and properly. Because counselling records may include information about your physical or mental health, I may also process special category data. Where I do this, I rely on an additional condition under Article 9 of the UK GDPR, which allows the processing of health information if this is necessary for the provision of health or social care. I will ask for your explicit consent where that is more appropriate.
Your rights
Under data protection law, you have rights over your personal information. Some of these rights only apply in certain situations depending on the reason I am using your information.
You are able to ask for a copy of the personal information I hold about you.
You can request to correct information that is inaccurate or out of date.
You can ask me to delete your information, but this right does not apply in all cases. I may need to keep some records for legal, professional, insurance, or safeguarding reasons.
Where I rely on your consent to use your information, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect any use of your information that took place before you withdrew consent.
You are able to ask for your information in a format that can be passed to another service provider. This right only applies in limited circumstances.
You can ask me to limit how I use your information if there is a disagreement about its accuracy or how it is being used.
You can object to me using your information where I rely on legitimate interests. I may continue if I have a compelling reason to do so or if I need to keep or use the information in connection with legal claims.
How to contact me about your information
If you have any questions about how I use your information, or if you want to ask about your rights, please contact me directly. My email is sylviemytherapist@gmail.com or by phone on 07910 914437. You can contact me to ask for a copy of your information or request a correction. You can ask a question about how your information is used, or withdraw your consent where I rely on consent.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how I handle your personal information, you can raise this with me first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
You can find more information about making a complaint on the ICO website.