Privacy Notice

Secure Connections is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting the personal information you share with us.

This Privacy Notice explains what information we collect, how we use it, how we keep it safe, and your rights in relation to your personal information.

Secure Connections is operated by Sarah Dimond trading as Secure Connections who is the data controller responsible for your personal information.

If you have any questions about how your information is used, please contact:

Email: sarahdimondtherapy@gmail.com

1. What information do we collect?

Depending on how you interact with Secure Connections, we may collect:

Your name and contact details, such as your email address and telephone number.
Information you provide when you contact us through our website, by email or by telephone.
Information provided when arranging or attending counselling sessions.
Information relevant to the counselling or therapeutic support you receive.
Information about your circumstances, experiences, relationships and wellbeing where this is relevant to the work we are undertaking together.
Information relating to children or other family members where this is relevant to the therapeutic work.
Payment and invoicing information where applicable.
Information contained within correspondence between you and Secure Connections.
Technical information about your use of our website, including information collected through cookies where applicable.

Some of the information collected during counselling may be considered special category data under UK data protection law because it may reveal information about your health or wellbeing. We take particular care with this information and only collect and use information that is relevant to providing our service.

2. How do we use your information?

We use your personal information to:

Respond to enquiries and requests for information.
Arrange and manage appointments.
Provide counselling and therapeutic services.
Maintain appropriate professional records.
Communicate with you about your appointments and our work together.
Process payments and maintain financial records where applicable.
Meet our professional, legal and regulatory responsibilities.
Maintain the safety and wellbeing of clients and others.
Respond to complaints or concerns.
Improve and manage our website and services.

We will only collect information that is relevant and necessary for these purposes.

3. Our legal basis for using your information

Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for collecting and using personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on:

Contract – where processing your information is necessary to provide the services you have asked us to provide.
Legitimate interests – where processing is necessary for the effective and secure running of Secure Connections and does not unfairly override your rights and interests.
Legal obligation – where we are required to process or retain information to comply with the law.
Consent – where we have asked for your consent to use your information for a particular purpose.

Where we process special category information, such as information concerning health or wellbeing, we will also rely on an appropriate additional condition under data protection law.

4. Confidentiality

Confidentiality is an important part of counselling and therapeutic work.

Information you share with Secure Connections will normally be treated as confidential and will not be shared with other people without your knowledge and, where appropriate, your consent.

There are, however, circumstances where confidentiality may need to be limited. These may include:

Where there is a serious concern about your safety or the safety of another person.
Where there is a serious concern about the safety or welfare of a child or vulnerable person.
Where we are required to disclose information by law.
Where information needs to be shared to prevent or respond to serious harm.
Where disclosure is necessary to obtain appropriate professional, legal or regulatory advice.
Where information is discussed with a professional supervisor as part of safe and ethical counselling practice.

Where possible and appropriate, we will discuss any proposed disclosure with you beforehand.

However, there may be circumstances where we cannot do this, for example where doing so could increase the risk of harm or where we are legally prevented from doing so.

These limits to confidentiality will also be discussed with you as part of the counselling agreement.

5. Professional supervision

As part of maintaining safe and ethical practice, counselling work may be discussed with a professional supervisor.

Where supervision is used, information will be shared on a confidential and proportionate basis and identifying details will normally be removed or minimised wherever possible.

Our supervisor is expected to maintain appropriate confidentiality.

6. Who might we share your information with?

We will not sell your personal information.

We may share information where this is necessary and lawful with:

Our professional supervisor.
Professional or regulatory bodies where there is a legitimate or legal reason to do so.
Relevant professionals or services where this is necessary to protect health or safety and there is a lawful basis for doing so.
Service providers who help us operate our business, such as secure email, appointment booking, payment or IT providers.
Legal or other professional advisers where necessary.
Public authorities or law enforcement agencies where we are legally required to provide information.

We will only share information that is necessary and appropriate for the particular purpose.

7. How we keep your information secure

We take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.

This may include:

Password-protected devices and accounts.
Secure electronic storage.
Keeping paper records securely where applicable.
Restricting access to personal information.
Using reputable service providers with appropriate security measures.
Taking care when communicating sensitive information by email or other electronic means.

No method of transmitting or storing information can be guaranteed to be completely secure. However, we take appropriate steps to reduce the risks to your information.

8. How long do we keep your information?

We only keep personal information for as long as we reasonably need it for the purposes for which it was collected, including meeting legal, professional, accounting and insurance requirements.

Once a client finishes working with us, all data regarding them is stored securely for 7 years (for clients under 18, this is 7 years from their 21st birthday).

Once the relevant retention period has expired, information will be securely deleted or destroyed.

Different types of information may be kept for different periods.

9. Emails, text messages and other communications

If you contact Secure Connections by email, telephone or text message, we may retain relevant information from that communication where it is necessary for the provision of our services, professional record keeping or another lawful purpose.

We do not use text messaging or email as a substitute for counselling sessions or emergency support.

Emails and text messages with be deleted once a client finishes working with Secure Connections unless it is deemed necessary to keep these for legal reasons.

10. Online counselling

Where counselling is provided online, we may use Zoom or Google Meets.

Online sessions involve additional considerations relating to privacy and technology. Information about the platform's own privacy practices can be found in its privacy policy.

You will also be asked to take reasonable steps to protect your own privacy, such as choosing a private and secure location for sessions.

11. Website and cookies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies.

Some cookies are necessary for the website to function. Other cookies, such as analytics or marketing cookies, may require your consent before they are used.

You can find further information about the cookies used on our website in our Cookie Policy.

12. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have rights in relation to your personal information. Depending on the circumstances, these may include the right to:

Ask what personal information we hold about you.
Request a copy of your personal information.
Ask us to correct inaccurate information.
Ask us to delete information in certain circumstances.
Ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances.
Object to certain uses of your information.
Withdraw consent where we are relying on consent to process your information.
Request that your information is transferred to another organisation where the right to data portability applies.

These rights are not absolute and there may be circumstances where we are legally entitled or required to retain or use information.

If you would like to exercise one of these rights, please contact us using the details at the beginning of this notice.

13. Making a complaint

If you have concerns about the way Secure Connections has handled your personal information, please contact us in the first instance so that we can try to resolve your concern.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe that your personal information has not been handled appropriately.

Information about making a complaint can be found on the ICO website.

14. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes to our services, the way we process personal information or changes in legal or regulatory requirements.

The latest version will always be made available on the Secure Connections website.

Last updated: 17th August 2026