Please read this carefully before using our website or services. If you do not agree with these terms, you are advised not to use this website or services.

This Privacy Policy is effective from the 2nd March 2021.

Your use of this website is deemed to be an agreement with this Privacy Policy and our Terms and Conditions. Please do not continue to use our website or services if you do not agree to these terms. We may make changes to these terms without giving notice. Please check them from time to time and make note of any changes. 

Our registration details

Abode therapy is operated by Abode Therapy Ltd. which is registered in England and Wales under company number 12885677. Our company address is: 1 Vincent Square, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2PN

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) registration number: A8868501.

This privacy policy applies to www.abodetherapy.co.uk (referred to as “website”). 

About us

Abode Therapy Ltd. is a platform for the provision of therapy and assessment services. As a core part of our work, we need to collect personal information about you, so that we can properly engage with you and provide the best possible service to you. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, store and manage your data and your rights regarding that data. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your personal data is safeguarded and kept in accordance with data protection law. 

Definitions

• Abode Therapy Ltd. is the company behind Abode Therapy. 

• Abode therapy does not have a separate privacy policy. 

• Abode Therapy Ltd. is referred to as “we”, “us” and “our”, and you the user are referred to as “customer” “client”, “you” or “your”.

• We are a platform to connect you with accredited mental health professionals. The mental health professionals we are affiliated with are referred to as “therapist/s” or “clinician/s”;

• “Platform” means services provided using our website.

Topics

• What data do we collect?

• How do we collect your data?

• How will we use your data?

• How do we store your data?

• Marketing

• What are your data protection rights?

• What are cookies?

• How do we use cookies?

• What types of cookies do we use?

• How to manage your cookies

• Privacy policies of other websites

• Changes to our privacy policy

• How to contact us

• How to contact the appropriate authorities

What data do we collect?

We collect the following data:

• Identity data (includes title, first name, last name, usernames, date of birth, gender);

• Contact data (includes address, email address, telephone numbers, GP details);

• Transaction data (includes details about payments to and from you and details of services you have bought from us); 

• Technical data (includes internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in versions, operating systems and platform);

• Usage data (information about how you use our website and the services that you choose from our website e.g., packages);

• Marketing and communication data (includes your preferences on marketing communication, communication preferences)';

• Mental health data (includes information you may provide us when you complete a questionnaire about your mental health when booking your first appointment with us, which assists us with the issues you may need help with, and other information collected in therapy sessions).

We do not collect financial data as this is managed through Stripe, who have their own privacy policy (https://stripe.com/gb/privacy). 

How do we collect your data?

You directly provide us with most of the data we collect. We collect data and process data when you:

• Register online or place an order for any of our products or services (including making a booking for therapy);

• Email us (we keep copies of these, which are held according to this Privacy Policy);

• Telephone calls (data relating to the call may be retained by us on the basis of legitimate business needs or our need to fulfil our contractual obligations to you);

• Social media (if you send us a direct message, the details may be retained by us as relevant to our legitimate business interest or as required for legal purposes);  

• Voluntarily complete a questionnaire or provide feedback on any of our surveys or via email;

• Use or view our website via your browser's cookies (see section below on cookie use);

We may also receive your data indirectly from the following sources:

• Automatically through your interaction with our website (information may automatically be received about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. This is collected via cookies and other similar technologies which remember your preferences. See our information below on cookies for further details). 

How will we use your data?

We collect your data so that we can:

• Perform the contract that we are about to or have entered into with you; 

• Provide you with access to our site and manage this access;

• Comply with a legal obligation (e.g., notifying you of a change in our privacy policy);

• To administer and protect our website (e.g., troubleshooting, system maintenance etc.);

• Ask you to leave a review or complete a survey;

• To make suggestions and recommendations to you about services from us that we think you might be interested in (you will only receive this if you have requested services from us and not opted out of receiving this marketing. We have a mailing list which you may opt out of. 

We will only use your data where the UK law allows us to. UK law requires us to have a “legal basis” for processing your personal data. These legal bases are:

• To perform a contract that we are about to enter into or have  with you;

• To comply with a legal or regulatory obligation;

• Where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests (and where we believe your interests and fundamental rights do not override these).  

We may use your data in some of the ways outlined in the table below:

 

How do we store your data?

We securely store your data within the European Economic Area (EEA) on servers that are GPR compliant. Some of your data may be processed by staff operating outside the EEA, for example people who work for us or by one of our third-party suppliers. This may include processing of your identity and payment information by providers of payment services, such as Stripe, who have a separate privacy policy (https://stripe.com/gb/privacy). 

We will keep your personal identification data for a maximum of seven years after the last date of service from us, unless data is legitimately required by us, such as providing you with the marketing of our services (with your consent). 

Once this time period has expired, we will delete your data, unless it is legitimately required to be kept for reasons that we have a legal basis for. 

Disclosure of your data 

Third parties

We will get your express consent before we share your personal data with a third party for marketing purposes.

We may also share your personal data with the following third parties:

• Psychologists listed on the Abode Therapy website, to ensure they can fulfil the contract we have entered into with you for fulfilling our services.

• Third parties who are completing services on our behalf including billing, sales, IT support, analytics, data storage, validation, security, fraud prevention, payment processing, legal services. These third parties will be able to access your personal data but are not permitted to share your personal data.

• Third parties if required to do so by law, in connection with any legal proceedings or in order to establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights, or if legally permitted.

• Other third parties with your explicit consent.

As outlined in our Terms and Conditions, in exceptional circumstances we may need to use your personal information to contact your GP or emergency contact. This will only be done when we have a duty of care or are required to do so by law. 

Supervision

Our therapists may be required by their regulatory or accrediting bodies to have professional supervision with another therapist. This is common practice to maintain professional accreditation and does not involve the disclosure of any personal identifying information. Supervision is conducted in accordance with the healthcare professionals (HCPC) code of conduct. 

Therapy notes and Zoom/Telephone Sessions

Our therapists may keep summary notes of their therapy sessions for their own records. They are responsible for ensuring that confidentiality is protected at all times and that the client is not identifiable from the notes. The notes must comply with the requirements of each therapist’s regulatory or accrediting body. 

Please see confidentiality and consent for more information on therapy confidentiality. This will also be verbally explained in your first therapy appointment with one of our therapists.

We will never record phone or Zoom sessions without your consent. Zoom have their own Privacy policy which we recommend reading: https://zoom.us/privacy. 

Data processors

As a Data Controller that processes personal data, we abide by regulations stated under data protection law, including but not limited to the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Dr Samantha Rennalls acts as our Data Protection Officer and is responsible for issues relating to data protection. You can contact us about data protection issues by emailing samantha@abodetherapy.co.uk or welcome@abodetherapy.co.uk. 

We use external third parties to process certain data. These include: Acuity scheduling (https://www.squarespace.com/privacy) to book appointments, and Stripe (https://stripe.com/gb/privacy) to process payments. Both have their own privacy policies.

Marketing

Our Company would like to send you information about products and services of ours that we think you might like. 

If you have agreed to receive marketing, you may always opt out at a later date.

You have the right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes.

If you no longer wish to be contacted for marketing purposes, please email us at welcome@abodetherapy.co.uk.

What are your data protection rights?

We would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:

• The right to access - You have the right to request copies of your personal data. 

• The right to rectification - You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that we complete information you believe is incomplete.

• The right to erasure - You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.

• The right to restrict processing - You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.

• The right to object to processing - You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.

• The right to data portability - You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at our email: welcome@abodetherapy.co.uk

Or write to us: 1 Vincent Square, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2PN

Use by children

Our website and services are designed for adults. Therefore, our online services that collect personal data should not be accessed by individuals under the age of 18. We request that individuals under the age of 18 do not provide any personal data to us. If we discover that an individual under this age has provided data to us, we will delete the child’s personal data that is in our possession. 

Cookies

What are cookies?

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behavior information. When you visit our websites, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology.

For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org.
How do we use cookies?

We use cookies in a range of ways to improve your experience on our website, including understanding how you use our website. 

What types of cookies do we use?

There are a number of different types of cookies, however, our website uses:

• Functionality - We use these cookies so that we recognize you on our website and remember your previously selected preferences. These could include what language you prefer and location you are in. A mix of first-party and third-party cookies are used.

• Advertising - We use these cookies to collect information about your visit to our website, the content you viewed, the links you followed and information about your browser, device, and your IP address. 

How to manage cookies

You can set your browser not to accept cookies, and the above website tells you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result.

Privacy policies of other websites

The Abode Therapy website contains links to other websites. Our privacy policy applies only to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, you should read their privacy policy.

Changes to our privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and place any updates on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated on 2nd of March 2021.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about our privacy policy, the data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Email us at: welcome@abodetherapy.co.uk

Or write to us: 1 Vincent Square, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2PN

Abode Therapy Ltd. Is a company incorporated and registered in England and Wales with company number 12885677 whose registered office is 1 Vincent Square, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2PN.

How to contact the appropriate authority

Should you wish to report a complaint or if you feel that, after contacting us, we have not addressed your concern in a satisfactory manner, you may contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which is the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk).