Last updated: July 2026
Introduction
Your privacy matters to me. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information Verity Psychological Therapy collects, why it is needed, how it is protected and the rights you have in relation to it.
It applies to people who:
I handle personal information in accordance with applicable UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Who is responsible for your information?
The data controller is:
Amy Hart, trading as Verity Psychological Therapy
Practice address:
Wassell Grove Business Centre
Wassell Grove Lane
Hagley
DY9 9JH
Email: amy@
Information Commissioner’s Office registration number: 00014231087
Please contact me using the email address above if you have any questions about how your information is used.
Information I may collect
Depending on your relationship with the practice, I may collect:
Your name, date of birth, pronouns, address, email address and telephone number.
Contact details for a parent, guardian, GP, emergency contact or another professional involved in your care.
Information about your physical or mental health, personal history, current circumstances, relationships, medication, previous treatment, risk and reasons for seeking therapy.
Assessment information, therapy notes, agreed goals, questionnaires, safety plans and records of appointments.
Information provided through emails, telephone calls, text messages, website forms, consultations or therapy sessions.
Payment information and records of invoices, fees and transactions. I do not normally need to store full bank account or payment-card details.
For clients under 18, information provided by a parent, guardian, school, GP or another professional.
Technical information generated when you use the website, such as your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited and cookie preferences.
How information is collected
Most information is provided directly by you when you complete a form, send an email, telephone me, attend a consultation or participate in therapy.
Information may also be received from a parent, guardian, GP, school, health professional, insurer, employer or referral service. Where somebody else provides your information, I will make this Privacy Policy available to you as soon as reasonably possible.
Some technical information is collected automatically when you use the website through essential cookies or, where you have consented, analytics tools.
Why I use your information
I may use personal information to:
Respond to enquiries and arrange consultations.
Assess whether my service is suitable for your needs.
Provide psychological therapy and review your progress.
Manage appointments, cancellations, payments and invoices.
Communicate with you, your parent or guardian, or other agreed professionals.
Maintain accurate clinical and administrative records.
Manage risk and meet safeguarding responsibilities.
Respond to complaints, concerns, insurance matters or legal claims.
Maintain the security and proper operation of the website and practice.
Comply with professional, legal, regulatory, tax and insurance obligations.
Lawful basis for using information
The lawful basis used will depend on the information and why it is being processed.
Information may be processed because it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a therapy agreement or to perform the agreement once therapy begins.
Some information is used because Verity Psychological Therapy has a legitimate interest in operating a safe, ethical and properly administered therapy practice. This includes maintaining appropriate records, responding to enquiries, protecting legal rights and improving website security.
Information may also be processed where there is a legal or regulatory obligation or where you have provided consent, such as for optional communications or non-essential website cookies.
Therapy information normally includes health information, which is classed as special-category personal data. This information may be processed where it is necessary to provide health care or treatment by a professional who is subject to confidentiality. Other conditions may apply in particular circumstances, including explicit consent, protecting somebody’s vital interests, safeguarding or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Confidentiality and sharing information
I do not sell or rent personal information.
Information is only shared where there is a clear professional, contractual or legal reason to do so. This may include sharing limited information with:
My clinical supervisor, usually without unnecessary identifying details.
Your GP, emergency contact or another professional, with your agreement where appropriate.
Health, social care, safeguarding, crisis or emergency services where there is a serious safety or safeguarding concern.
A court, law-enforcement body, regulator or other organisation where disclosure is legally required.
Professional advisers such as my insurer, legal adviser or accountant where this is necessary and appropriate.
Trusted technology providers that help operate the practice, including Squarespace, Google Workspace, Google Meet, email, calendar, banking and secure record-management services.
Technology providers act under their own contractual and data-protection responsibilities. They are only given access to information needed to provide their service.
Where it is safe and practical, I will usually discuss a proposed disclosure with you first. There may be situations where doing so would increase risk, compromise a safeguarding response or conflict with a legal requirement.
International data transfers
Some technology providers may store or process information outside the United Kingdom.
Where this happens, I will use providers that offer appropriate data-protection arrangements and rely on recognised safeguards, such as UK adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.
Clinical supervision
Clinical supervision is an important part of safe and ethical therapy practice.
I may discuss aspects of my work with an appropriately qualified supervisor. I will avoid sharing information that identifies you unless it is necessary for your safety, professional advice or the effective management of a concern. My supervisor is also required to maintain confidentiality.
Website forms and email
Information submitted through the website or sent by email travels through internet and email systems. Reasonable security measures are used, but no internet-based communication method can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Please avoid sending highly sensitive or urgent clinical information through a general website form. The website form and email address are not monitored continuously and must not be used in an emergency.
Cookies and website analytics
This website may use essential cookies that are needed for it to function correctly.
It may also use non-essential analytics cookies to understand how visitors use the website and help improve its content. Non-essential cookies should only be activated after you have provided consent through the website’s cookie banner.
You can accept, reject or change your cookie preferences through the cookie controls provided on the website. You can also manage cookies through your browser settings.
How long information is kept
Information is not kept for longer than reasonably necessary.
If you make an enquiry but do not begin therapy, your enquiry and related correspondence will normally be deleted within six months of our last contact, unless there is a clear reason to retain it for longer.
Adult therapy records will normally be retained securely for seven years after the final therapy session. This supports professional, insurance and legal responsibilities.
Where the client was under 18, records may be retained until their 25th birthday or for seven years after the final session, whichever is later, where this is necessary because of their age, safeguarding responsibilities or potential legal and insurance requirements.
Financial and tax records may be kept for the period required by HM Revenue and Customs.
Information connected to a complaint, safeguarding matter, legal claim or insurance matter may be kept for longer where this is reasonably necessary.
Once the relevant retention period has ended, information will be securely deleted or destroyed.
How information is protected
Reasonable organisational and technical measures are used to protect personal information. These include password protection, device security, secure accounts, access controls and separating clinical information from unnecessary identifying information where practicable.
Access is limited to people who have a genuine professional or operational need to see the information.
If a data breach creates a risk to your rights or safety, I will take appropriate action and notify you and the Information Commissioner’s Office where required.
Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:
Ask for a copy of the personal information held about you.
Ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected.
Ask for information to be erased.
Ask for the use of information to be restricted.
Object to certain uses of your information.
Ask for information to be transferred in a commonly used format.
Withdraw consent where consent is the basis being relied upon.
Not all rights apply in every situation. For example, some information may need to be retained because of professional, safeguarding, insurance or legal obligations.
Requests should be sent to amy@
Children and young people
Children and young people have privacy and data-protection rights of their own.
I will explain confidentiality and the use of information in a way that is appropriate to the young person’s age and understanding. Information may also be provided to a parent or guardian where they are arranging or funding therapy.
A parent or guardian will not automatically receive full access to everything discussed in therapy. Decisions about sharing information will take account of the young person’s understanding, wishes, safety, safeguarding responsibilities and applicable law.
Complaints about the use of your information
Please contact me first if you have a concern about how your information has been handled:
amy@
I will take your concern seriously and try to resolve it.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulator responsible for data protection.
Automated decision-making
Verity Psychological Therapy does not use personal information to make solely automated decisions about whether therapy will be offered or how treatment will be provided.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy will be reviewed regularly and may be updated when the practice, technology, professional guidance or law changes.
The current version will always be published on this website with its most recent review date.
