Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

RB Counselling is a professional counselling service operated by Raymond, based at 587A Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7GS. We are the data controller for the personal information we collect through this website and our counselling services.

Contact:
Email: R.B.Counselling@outlook.com
Phone: 07939 908197

2. What Information We Collect

We may collect and process the following personal data:

• Contact form submissions: First name, last name, email address, phone number, and your message.
• Appointment bookings: Name, contact details, and reason for seeking therapy.
• Website usage data: Anonymous analytics data including pages visited, time on site, and general location (city level). This is collected via Google Analytics using anonymised IP addresses.
• Cookies: Essential cookies for website functionality and analytics cookies (see Section 7).

Special category (health) data: The enquiry form includes a free-text message field. As this is a counselling and therapy practice, the information you choose to share may include sensitive details — for example about your mental or physical health, relationships or wellbeing — which is treated as "special category data" under Article 9 of the UK GDPR. You do not need to include such details to make contact, but where you do, we process them solely to respond to and support your enquiry, relying on your explicit consent (see Section 4). Detailed clinical information shared during therapy sessions is handled separately under our clinical confidentiality agreement.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

• To respond to your enquiries and contact form submissions.
• To arrange and manage counselling appointments.
• To communicate with you about your therapy sessions.
• To improve our website and services through anonymous analytics.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we process your personal data on the following bases:

• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): When you submit a contact form or agree to cookies.
• Explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a)): Where your enquiry includes special category (health) information, we rely on the explicit consent you give by ticking the consent box and submitting the form, to process that information for the purpose of responding to you. You can withdraw this consent at any time by contacting us.
• Contractual necessity: To provide counselling services you have requested.
• Legitimate interests: To improve our website and services, where this does not override your rights.

5. How We Store and Protect Your Data

Your data is stored securely using industry-standard encryption. Contact form submissions are stored in a secure database hosted by Supabase (EU-based servers). We retain your enquiry data for up to 12 months after your last contact, unless you request earlier deletion.

Clinical notes and therapy records are stored separately and securely in accordance with NCPS ethical guidelines, and are retained for the period required by professional standards (typically 7 years for adults).

6. Sharing Your Data

We do not sell, trade, or share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. Your data may be shared with:

• Google Analytics: Anonymous, aggregated website usage data.
• Supabase: Secure database hosting for contact form submissions.
• Resend: Email delivery provider used to notify the therapist when you submit an enquiry, so we can respond to you.
• RoseyCo / Elevateo: Our website and digital services provider, acting as a data processor under a written data processing agreement, who maintains the website and enquiry system on our behalf.
• Professional or legal obligations: Only where required by law or to protect safety (e.g., safeguarding concerns), in line with NCPS ethical guidelines.

All processors act under written data processing agreements and may only use your data to provide their service to us, not for their own purposes. Enquiry notifications are sent to the therapist's professional email account so that your message can be responded to. Where a provider (such as our email delivery service) processes limited data outside the UK or EU, this is covered by appropriate safeguards, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

7. Cookies

This website uses the following cookies:

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling analytics cookies will not affect the functionality of this website.

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectify inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erase your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
• Restrict processing of your data.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Data portability — receive your data in a structured, common format.
• Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at R.B.Counselling@outlook.com. We will respond within 30 days.

9. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Information Commissioner's Office
Website: ico.org.uk
Helpline: 0303 123 1113

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.