Privacy Notice
Contact details
Name: Stephen O’Connor
Phone Number: 07717913044
E-mail: info@stephenoconnortherapy.co.uk
Date of this notice: 17 September 2025
The type of personal information we collect
We collect and process the following information:
Name
Postal address
Email address
Phone number
Name of GP or GP surgery
Session notes (anonymised notes)
How we get your personal information and why we collect it
The information we process is collected via a digital or paper form you fill in when we start working together. We collect information to provide an effective and professional counselling service
We use the information that you have given us to:
confirm your identity
communicate with you (to arrange counselling sessions)
contact your GP or other professional in the event of a crisis or emergency
We may share this information with:
your GP - only in the event of a medical emergency (for example a psychotic episode).
a safeguarding professional - only where there is a safeguarding concern (for example a significant risk of self harm or harm to others).
a court - where they subpoena session notes in order to conduct a legal case
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:
Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting us at info@stephenoconnortherapy.co.uk
We have a contractual obligation - to deliver an effective and professional counselling service. This includes keeping anonymised session notes in order to develop our practice.
We have a legal obligation - certain records must be kept to meet legal requirements (for example in the event of a court case) and for tax purposes (for example invoices and transactions).
How we store your personal information
Your information is stored online in a secure Microsoft hosted One Drive business account.
We keep your information for 6 months after the end of counselling.
Business records (invoices and transactions) will be kept for 6 years as required by HMRC.
Session notes will be kept for 7 years after the last contact with the client as required by the BACP . We will then dispose this information by deleting it from the Microsoft system.
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
Please contact us at info@stephenoconnortherapy.co.uk or call us on 07717913044 if you wish to make a request.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at info@stephenoconnortherapy.co.uk
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 1231113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk