How I protect your information
Privacy & Data Protection Notice
Your trust and privacy are at the heart of our work together. This notice explains how I handle your personal information and why. It's important that you feel informed and reassured. Melanie Rivera, MBACP (Registered), Integrative Therapist
About this notice
Melanie Rivera, trading as Your Wellbeing Matters, is the data controller. This means I am responsible for deciding how and why personal information is used and for handling it fairly, lawfully and securely.
I follow current UK data-protection law, including the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, together with relevant ICO guidance and my professional responsibilities as a BACP-registered therapist.
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Information I collect and why
I collect only the information reasonably needed to respond to enquiries, assess whether I can offer suitable therapy, provide the agreed service and manage the professional relationship.
This may include your name and contact details, GP and emergency-contact information, relevant health and background information, assessment details, brief therapy records, correspondence, appointments and payments. Health, mental-health and therapy information receives additional protection as special-category data.
I use this information to communicate with you, provide therapy, manage appointments and payments, maintain appropriate professional records, support safe practice and meet relevant legal, ethical and insurance obligations. Please avoid including detailed or sensitive personal information in an initial website enquiry.
While we are working together
Our conversations are confidential. I maintain brief, factual and relevant records to support the therapeutic work and continuity of care. Sessions are not recorded, photographed or screenshotted, and I do not use automated transcription, AI note-taking or automated analysis of session content.
I receive confidential professional supervision and use the minimum identifying information reasonably necessary. Information may also need to be shared where you have agreed, where this is necessary and proportionate in response to a serious safety or safeguarding concern, or where there is an applicable legal, regulatory or insurance requirement. Confidentiality and its limits are explained more fully in the Therapeutic Agreement.
Online and overseas therapy
Although, my professional indemnity insurance covers online therapy with clients worldwide. My service is ordinarily provided to clients physically located within the United Kingdom. On rare occasions, an established UK client may ask to attend an online session while temporarily overseas. Each request is considered individually, and continuation is not guaranteed.
A session will only proceed where I am satisfied that the relevant legal, ethical, clinical, insurance, data-protection, privacy and local emergency arrangements are appropriate. Where necessary, these arrangements will be discussed with the client and recorded in a separate Temporary Overseas Therapy Agreement.
Storage, sharing and security
Electronic information is protected using appropriate password-controlled, encrypted and access-restricted systems. Paper records are kept in secure locked storage and confidential material is securely destroyed when it is no longer required.
I do not sell client information or share it for unrelated marketing. Where necessary, trusted service providers may process limited information to support the practice. These currently include Zanda Health and integrated Zoom Telehealth, Proton Mail, Wix and relevant telephone, banking or payment providers. I select services with appropriate privacy and security safeguards and share only the information reasonably necessary.
Some providers or authorised subprocessors may process information outside the UK. Where this happens, I consider the applicable data-protection requirements and safeguards.
How long information is kept
Information is kept only for as long as it is reasonably needed for professional, legal, insurance and tax purposes.
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Enquiries that do not proceed: normally up to six months after the last meaningful contact.
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Client and therapy records: normally five years after the final session.
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Financial and tax records: normally six years after the end of the relevant financial year.
Information may occasionally need to be retained for longer where there is a safeguarding, complaint, legal or insurance reason. When a retention period ends, information is securely deleted or destroyed.
Your rights and concerns
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to access your personal information, ask for inaccurate information to be corrected, request erasure or restriction, object to certain uses, receive qualifying information in a portable format, or withdraw consent where a particular use depends on consent. These rights are important but are not absolute.
If you have a question, wish to exercise a right or are concerned about how your information has been handled, please email therapy@yourwellbeingmatters.co.uk or telephone 01202 125478.
I will acknowledge a data-protection complaint within 30 days and respond without undue delay. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Further information is available at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.
Website and cookies
Wix and enabled website tools may process limited technical and security information when you visit this website, such as your IP address, browser or device information, pages visited and cookie choices.
Strictly necessary technologies support security and essential website functions. Where consent is required, optional analytics or other technologies will be used in accordance with your cookie choices. You can review or change these choices through the website’s cookie settings.
