Legal
Privacy Policy
Last updated: April 2026
1. Who We Are
This privacy policy applies to Caroline's Creative Counselling, operated by Caroline Maguire, a sole practitioner providing counselling services online and in West Sussex.
Data controller: Caroline Maguire
Email:
Website: carolinescreativecounselling.com
ICO Registration Number: ZB737178
Caroline is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as required under UK data protection law.
2. What Information We Collect
We may collect and hold the following personal information:
- Your name and contact details (email address, phone number)
- Information you share in your initial enquiry or contact form
- Session notes and clinical records (held separately and securely)
- Payment information (handled directly; no card details are stored)
- Technical data such as IP address and browser type when you visit this website
Special category data (such as information about your health or mental wellbeing) is collected only as necessary to provide counselling services, and is treated with the highest level of care.
3. How We Use Your Information
Your information is used to:
- Respond to your enquiries and arrange sessions
- Provide and maintain counselling services
- Keep clinical records as required by professional ethical guidelines (BACP)
- Fulfil legal or safeguarding obligations where applicable
We do not use your information for marketing purposes, and we do not sell or share your personal data with third parties, except where required by law or where you have given explicit consent.
4. Legal Basis for Processing
We process your personal data under the following lawful bases:
- Contractual necessity — to provide the counselling services you have requested
- Legitimate interests — to respond to enquiries and manage our practice
- Legal obligation — where we are required to retain records by law or professional regulation
- Explicit consent — for any processing not covered above, which you may withdraw at any time
5. How Long We Keep Your Data
Contact enquiries that do not result in counselling sessions are deleted within six months of the last correspondence.
Clinical records for clients who have completed counselling are retained for a minimum of seven years following the end of therapy, in line with BACP guidelines and professional indemnity requirements. After this period, records are securely destroyed.
6. How We Protect Your Data
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. Session notes and clinical records are stored securely and are accessible only to Caroline Maguire.
This website is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Please refer to Cloudflare's privacy policy for information about how they handle technical data.
The contact form on this website uses Web3Forms to process submissions. Please refer to Web3Forms' privacy policy for details.
7. Confidentiality
Everything you share in counselling sessions is confidential. There are limited exceptions to this, consistent with BACP ethical guidelines:
- Where there is a serious risk of harm to you or others
- Where disclosure is required by law (for example, by a court order)
- Where safeguarding concerns arise involving a child or vulnerable adult
In these circumstances, disclosure would ordinarily be discussed with you first unless doing so would put you or others at risk.
8. Your Rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data
- Erasure of your data in certain circumstances
- Restriction of processing in certain circumstances
- Portability of your data in a structured format
- Object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis for processing
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.
9. Cookies
This website uses only essential cookies required for the site to function. We do not use tracking, advertising, or analytics cookies. For more information, please see our Cookie Policy.
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 date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
11. Contact
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your data, please
contact us at