Privacy Policy

Who am I?

The trading name of this business is Bobbi Banks and my website address is: https://bobbibanks.com/

You can reach me at info@bobbibanks.com

Overview

This privacy policy outlines your rights, and my obligations to you, regarding the recording and storage of your personal information. You can find out what information I need to collect from you before, during and after the work we do together. I will also set out how I will look after your personal information, for how long I will store it, and who I will share it with. In addition, I will let you know what you are able to request from me with regard to this information.

Personal information and data

What is personal information?

The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) defines personal information as any information that can be used to identify a living individual. Individuals can be identified by various means including their name, address, telephone number or email address, for example.

Why do you want to process my personal information?

I need to process your personal information in order to fulfil my contractual obligations to you as a therapist and coach. For example, to assess whether I am able to offer you psychotherapy or coaching in the first place, and then to deliver effective treatment. Your personal information helps guide both my assessment process, and my clinical decision-making during psychotherapy. I will also use the information that I collect about you in order to develop a better website service. My contractual obligations to you as a therapist and coach are the lawful basis for my processing of your personal information.

What are the laws that protect my personal information?

The DPA and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require that all organisations that store personal information about people may only do so provided that the information is: processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner; collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes; adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary; accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; kept in a form that permits identification of information subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal information are processed; and processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal information.

How will you collect my personal information?

I will collect your personal information in the following ways: via my website www.bobbibanks.com, over the telephone, in writing via email, via my newsletter, and in person or online during our meetings.

How will you treat my personal information?

I will treat your personal information in a way that is compliant with the DPA and the GDPR. The lawful and proper treatment of your personal information is important to me, not least in order to maintain your confidence in me, but also to maintain the confidence of other clients and staff.

How will you store my personal information?

I will store your personal information both electronically and physically. Personal information is stored electronically on devices that are password and/or fingerprint I.D. protected, and in files that are further password protected and only accessible by me. Names and contact details are stored separately to other personal information (anonymised format). Information is stored physically using paper records held securely in locked storage in an anonymised format. These records are also only accessible by me.

How long will you store my personal information for?

According to the GDPR, your personal information should be stored for no longer than is necessary. In practical terms, I will usually store your information for a minimum of 5 years following the termination of your treatment. However, I may need to store your information for longer than this, for instance in order to defend myself in a claim situation, or to comply with my insurance terms and conditions.

What types of information will you collect about me?

I will collect several types of information about you and in several different ways.

1. Website

When you visit www.bobbibanks.com I will collect the following information about your visit: I.P. address, location, search engine, date, time, web pages visited, operating system, and device.

2. Cookies

If you leave a comment on the website you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit my login page, I will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, I will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. When you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

In the case of editing or publishing an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

The cookies on this website are related to Google Analytics.

Here is how to disable cookies in different Internet browsers:

3. Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site I collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

3. Web contact form

If you email me via the web form, I will collect the following information: name, email address, country, message, date and time, I.P. address, operating system, and device.

4. Online consultation

Before committing to provide you with counselling or coaching services, we will have a brief online consultation. During our call I may ask you to share your availability, the reason why you’re seeking therapy, and the issues that you would like to address.

5. While working together

Once we have agreed that therapy or coaching sessions with me are right for you, and your therapy or coaching commences, I will collect further information from you that may include: goals for therapy or coaching, G.P. contact or emergency contact details, current medication, network of support, financial and employment circumstances, health and physical issues, alcohol and drug use, appetite and sleep, family structure, overview of your family situation, and early memories of caregivers.

What is ‘special category’ information, and why do you need to process this too?

Special category information is defined by the GDPR as being information that is more sensitive than other personal information, and therefore requiring of higher levels of protection. Examples of this type of information could include information about your health, race, sexuality, sex life, or religion. In order to lawfully process special category information, I am obliged to identify a specific condition for processing it under Article 9 of the GDPR and communicate this to you.

With this in mind, the condition of the GDPR that I apply to the processing of your special category information is that it is ‘pursuant to contract with a health professional’. This means that, if you begin therapy or coaching with me, or ask me to assess whether or not you are eligible, then I will likely need to process some special category information about you. Usually, this is information about your mental health, and I need to process it in order to fulfil my contractual obligations to you in delivering safe, effective service.

What is a ‘data controller‘?

The GDPR defines a ‘data controller’ as the person in an organisation who ‘determines the purposes and means of processing personal data’.

Who else will you collect information about?

I collect and process information about the individuals with whom my business operates. These include clients, staff, suppliers and other business contacts.

Who will my personal information be shared with?

Some of your personal information may be shared with your G.P., or other healthcare professional, under certain exceptional circumstances. These include the requirements of a court of law, the threat of serious physical harm to you or to others, or during regular consultations with my professional supervisor. Some of your personal information such as website visits, telephone call data, or payment information, is shared with the website provider, mobile phone operator, or card payment provider respectively. These providers operate under their own privacy policies, and these can be provided upon request.

Can I ask for a copy of the personal information that you store about me?

Yes. The DPA gives you the right to find out what information that I store about you by requesting a copy of it. Any request that you make to obtain a copy of the personal information that I hold about you is called a ‘Subject Access Request’. You can email me and ask for a copy of the information that I hold about you – info@bobbibanks.com I must respond to your request without delay, and usually within one month at the latest. I may charge a fee for providing this information based on the administrative costs involved.

Can I request that you delete my personal information?

Yes. This is known in the new legislation as the Right to Erasure. You can request for your personal information to be deleted either verbally, or in writing. You can email this request to me at info@bobbibanks.com There may be an administrative charge for this. I may also have the right to refuse to comply with your request, for example in order to defend myself in a claim situation, or to comply with my insurance terms and conditions, and I will let you know my response to your request within one month of receiving it.

Can I object or complain about the processing of my personal information by Bobbi Banks?

Yes. Whilst I hope that the policy outlined above will be sufficient to reassure you of the security of your personal information, should you wish to object or complain about the way that your personal information is being handled by me, then do please feel free to communicate this to me at the earliest possible opportunity. I will do my best to address your concerns and take steps to try and resolve whatever issues you may raise.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Affiliate disclosure

Bobbi Banks is an affiliate of many online tools, services, and products. Links on this website may be affiliate links and Bobbi Banks may earn commissions for purchases that are made by visitors to the site. These are promotional links that can be used to track a visitor’s purchase and credit it to Bobbi Banks. This comes at no additional cost to you and my goal is to provide the very best reviews and recommendations. If you have any questions, please contact me. 

The content produced on this website and by Bobbi Banks is intended for informational and educational purposes only, it does not replace therapy. Reliance on any information on my website or in my courses is done so at your own risk. If you have any questions regarding this disclaimer, please contact info@bobbibanks.com

Social sharing

This website may offer social sharing features and other integrated tools (such as the Facebook “Like” button), which let you share actions you take on our website with other media services. Your use of these tools enables the sharing of information with the public, depending on the settings you establish with your social networks. For more information about the purpose and scope of data collection with social sharing features, please visit the privacy policies of the entities that provide these tools.

Advertising and Analytics Services Provided by Others

I may allow others to serve advertisements on my behalf across the Internet and to provide analytics services. These entities may use cookies, web beacons, and other technologies to collect information about your use of our website, including your IP address, web browser, pages viewed, time spent on pages, links clicked, and conversion information. This information may be used by Company and others to, among other things, analyse and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, deliver advertising and content targeted to your interests on our website and other websites to better understand your online activity.

For more information about interest-based ads, or to opt-out of having your web browsing information used for behavioural advertising purposes by companies that participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance, please visit www.aboutads.info/choices.

Security

Bobbi Banks takes reasonable measures to help protect information about you from loss, theft, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.