Privacy Policy
Your privacy is important to me. This privacy policy explains how I collect, use, store and protect your personal information when you contact me or work with me.
The data controller is Thea Martin. I am responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is processed.
I comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, and I am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
When you contact me
If you contact me through this website, by email, phone, text or other means, I will use the information you provide to respond to your enquiry and, where appropriate, to arrange an initial discovery call.
At this stage, I will normally only need basic information such as your name, email address and telephone number, together with anything you choose to tell me about why you are getting in touch.
If we decide not to work together, I will delete information relating to your enquiry when it is no longer necessary for me to retain it.
If you choose to work with me
If you decide to continue beyond an initial discovery call, I will provide you with a therapy agreement for your consideration. This sets out the practical arrangements for our work together, including matters relating to confidentiality and the handling of your personal information.
I will only collect and use information that is relevant and necessary for providing my service, managing our professional relationship and meeting my legal and professional responsibilities.
The information I may hold includes:
Basic information such as your name, email address and telephone number.
Information that you choose to share as part of our work together.
Notes and records relating to our sessions.
Information about interventions used, or considered, as part of our work together.
Emails, texts and other messages exchanged between us.
Information provided by a third party where this is relevant to your care, for example by a GP, healthcare professional or insurance company.
Some of the information you share with me may be considered special category data under the UK GDPR, particularly information relating to your physical or mental health.
How I use your information
I use your personal information to:
provide and manage the service we have agreed;
communicate with you about appointments and our work together;
keep appropriate clinical records;
respond to enquiries;
meet my legal, professional and insurance requirements;
maintain appropriate financial and accounting records; and
protect your safety, or the safety of others, where this is necessary.
For ordinary personal information, my lawful basis for processing will depend on the purpose for which it is being used and may include contract, legitimate interests or legal obligation.
Where I process information relating to your health or other special category information, I will also rely on an appropriate condition under Article 9 of the UK GDPR. This includes processing that is necessary for the provision of health or social care or treatment.
Confidentiality and sharing information
I treat the information you share with me as confidential.
There are limited circumstances in which information may need to be shared. These may include:
where you give me permission to share information with another professional involved in your care;
where there is a serious and immediate concern about your safety or the safety of another person;
where I am legally required to disclose information, for example under a court order; or
where disclosure is necessary to meet my legal or professional responsibilities.
Where appropriate, I may discuss aspects of my work with my professional supervisor. Any such discussion is conducted in accordance with professional confidentiality requirements and, information is anonymised so that you are not identifiable.
If information needs to be shared in circumstances where I believe there is a significant risk of serious harm, I will normally discuss this with you first wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so.
Where your information is stored
I take reasonable and appropriate steps to keep your personal information secure and to prevent it from being lost, misused or accessed without authorisation.
Emails and electronic information are stored using password-protected and, where provided by the service, encrypted systems.
Electronic devices used for my work are protected by passwords and/or biometric security and are only accessible by me.
Any handwritten clinical notes are anonymised using a coding system and stored securely in a locked filing cabinet.
Texts and WhatsApp messages exchanged with me are stored on my password- and biometric-protected phone.
Payment information is handled securely. Any card details that I may temporarily receive are not retained once the transaction has been processed.
Where I use third-party services such as online banking or SumUp, those organisations will process your information in accordance with their own privacy policies. Financial records are retained as necessary for accounting and legal purposes.
No method of electronic transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. However, I take reasonable steps to protect your information and to limit access to it.
How long I keep your information
I retain clinical and other relevant records for seven years following the end of our work together, unless there is a specific legal, professional or other legitimate reason for retaining them for longer.
Once information is no longer required, paper records are securely destroyed and electronic records are securely deleted.
Electronic devices used for my work are securely disposed of when they reach the end of their useful life.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal information. Depending on the circumstances, these include:
The right to access
You can ask for a copy of the personal information I hold about you.
The right to rectification
You can ask me to correct information that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.
The right to erasure
You can ask me to delete your personal information where there is no longer a lawful reason for me to retain it. This right is not absolute, and there may be circumstances where I am required to retain information, for example to meet legal or professional obligations.
The right to restrict processing
In certain circumstances, you can ask me to restrict how I use your information, for example while the accuracy of information is being checked.
The right to data portability
In certain circumstances, you can ask to receive personal information you have provided to me in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or ask for it to be transferred to another organisation where this is technically possible.
The right to object
You may have the right to object to certain types of processing, depending on the lawful basis I am relying on.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact me at thea@theamartin.co.uk.
I will normally respond to a data protection request within one month of receiving it. In some circumstances, this period can be extended in accordance with data protection law.
Cookies
This website is built using Squarespace and, like many websites, uses cookies and similar technologies.
Some cookies are necessary for the website to function properly, while others may be used to understand how visitors use the website and to improve its performance.
I use analytics cookies to understand how visitors use this website so that I can improve it. These don’t identify you personally. You can opt out at any time by blocking or deleting cookies in your browser settings, or by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
For more information about how Squarespace uses cookies, please see its cookie policy.
Third-party services
This website may contain links to websites or services operated by other organisations. If you follow one of these links, that organisation will have its own privacy policy and terms. I am not responsible for the privacy practices of external websites.
Questions or concerns
If you have any questions about how I collect, use or store your personal information, please contact me at thea@theamartin.co.uk, or use the Contact Me form on this website.
If you are unhappy with the way I have handled your personal information, please contact me in the first instance so that I have the opportunity to address your concerns.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection regulator.
Keeping this policy up to date
I may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes to my practice, the services I use or data protection requirements.
Last updated: October 2026