Privacy Policy
1. Introduction
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1.1 We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and clients.
1.2 This policy applies where we are acting as a data controller with respect to the Personal Data of such persons; in other words, where we determine the purposes and means of the processing of that personal data.
1.3 We use cookies on our website. Insofar as those cookies are not strictly necessary for the provision of our website and services, we will ask you to consent to our use of cookies when you first visit our website.
1.4 Each therapist at Acorn Psychotherapy is individually responsible for your Personal Data (and is individually registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”)), but for the purposes of this Privacy Policy all of the therapists at Acorn Psychotherapy will be referred to collectively as “Acorn Psychotherapy”, “we”, “us” or “our”. For more information about us, see Section 13.
1.5 Please note that this Privacy Policy mainly concerns your use of our website, and further details relating to clinical notes can be found in our Privacy Statement which is provided to all clients.
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2. Credit
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2.1 This document was created using a template from Docular (https://seqlegal.com/free-legal-documents/privacy-policy).
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3. The personal data that we collect
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3.1 Personal Data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. In this Section 3 we have set out the general categories of Personal Data that we process.
3.2 We may process data enabling us to get in touch with you ("contact data") which you have provided through the contact form on our website. The contact data may include your name, email address, telephone number and postal address. The source of the contact data is you.
3.3 We may process information contained in or relating to any communication that you send to us or that we send to you ("communication data"). The communication data may include the communication content and metadata associated with the communication. Our website will generate the metadata associated with communications made using the website contact forms.
3.4 We may process data about your use of our website and services ("usage data"). The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use.
3.5 We may process special category personal information in the course of the use of our services (“sensitive personal data”). The Sensitive Personal Data may include information regarding your health which you provide to us.
3.6 Please do not supply any other person’s personal data to us.
3.7 Please exercise your own discretion and caution and think carefully before directly or indirectly supplying us with Personal Data through our website or otherwise.
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4. Purposes of processing and legal bases
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4.1 In this Section 4, we have set out the purposes for which we may process Personal Data and the legal bases of the processing.
4.2 Operations - We may process your Personal Data for the purposes of operating our website, providing our services, and generating invoices, bills and other payment-related documentation. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website, services and business.
4.3 Relationships and communications - We may process contact data for the purposes of managing our relationships, communicating with you by email, SMS, post, fax and/or telephone, providing support services and complaint handling. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely communications with our website visitors and service users, the maintenance of relationships, and the proper administration of our website, services and business.
4.4 Record keeping - We may process your Personal Data for the purposes of creating and maintaining our databases, back-up copies of our databases and our business records generally. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely ensuring that we have access to all the information we need to properly and efficiently run our business in accordance with this policy.
4.5 Insurance and risk management - We may process your Personal Data where necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks and/or obtaining professional advice. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper protection of our business against risks.
4.6 Legal claims - We may process your Personal Data where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others.
4.7 Legal compliance and vital interests - We may also process your Personal Data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
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5. Providing your personal data to others
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5.1 We may disclose your Personal Data to our insurers and/or professional advisers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, or obtaining professional advice.
5.2 In addition to the specific disclosures of Personal Data set out in this Section 5, we may disclose your Personal Data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. We may also disclose your Personal Data where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.
5.3 We do not share your Personal Data with any third parties for marketing purposes.
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6. Retaining and deleting personal data
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6.1 This Section 6 sets out our data retention policies and procedures, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of Personal Data.
6.2 Personal Data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
6.3 We will retain your Personal Data as follows:
(a) contact data will be retained for up to the longer of: seven years from the ending of your sessions; seven years after any complaint or claim against us is resolved; or such time as our professional body and/or professional indemnity insurance providers require.
(b) communication data will be retained for up to the longer of: seven years from the ending of your sessions; seven years after any complaint or claim against us is resolved; or such time as our professional body and/or professional indemnity insurance providers require.
6.4 Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 7, we may retain your Personal Data where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
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7. Your rights
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7.1 In this Section 7, we have listed the rights that you have under data protection law.
7.2 Your principal rights under data protection law are:
(a) the right to access - you can ask for copies of your Personal Data;
(b) the right to rectification - you can ask us to rectify inaccurate personal data and to complete incomplete Personal Data;
(c) the right to erasure - you can ask us to erase your Personal Data;
(d) the right to restrict processing - you can ask us to restrict the processing of your Personal Data;
(e) the right to object to processing - you can object to the processing of your Personal Data;
(f) the right to data portability - you can ask that we transfer your Personal Data to another organisation or to you;
(g) the right to complain to a supervisory authority - you can complain about our processing of your Personal Data; and
(h) the right to withdraw consent - to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your Personal Data is consent, you can withdraw that consent.
7.3 These rights are subject to certain limitations and exceptions. You can learn more about the rights of data subjects by visiting https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/.
7.4 You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your Personal Data by written notice to us, using the contact details set out below.
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8. About cookies
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8.1 This website uses cookies. A cookie is a small text file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalised web experience. Cookies are placed on your machine to help the site provide a better user experience.
8.2 Cookies may be either "persistent" cookies or "session" cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.
8.3 Cookies may not contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal data that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.
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9. Cookies that we use
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9.1 We use cookies for the following purposes:
(a) analysis - we use cookies to help us to analyse the use and performance of our website and services; and
(b) cookie consent - we use cookies to store your preferences in relation to the use of cookies more generally.
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10. Cookies used by our service providers
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10.1 Our service providers use cookies and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.
10.2 We use Google Analytics. Google Analytics gathers information about the use of our website by means of cookies. The information gathered is used to create reports about the use of our website. You can find out more about Google's use of information by visiting https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ and you can review Google's privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.
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11. Managing cookies
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11.1 Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:
(a) https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647 (Chrome);
(b) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop (Firefox);
(c) https://help.opera.com/en/latest/security-and-privacy/ (Opera);
(d) https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer);
(e) https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/manage-cookies-and-website-data-sfri11471/mac (Safari); and
(f) https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4468242/microsoft-edge-browsing-data-and-privacy (Edge).
11.2 Blocking all cookies will have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.
11.3 If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features on our website.
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12. Third Party Links
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This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
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13. Amendments
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13.1 We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.
13.2 You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this policy.
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14. Our details
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14.1 This website is owned and operated by Kathryn Perry and Yang Peng.
14.2 You can contact us:
(a) using our website contact form;
(b) by telephone, on the contact number published on our website; or
(c) by email, using the email address published on our website.
This website is hosted by Wix and you can find details of their privacy policy here https://www.wix.com/about/privacy.