Privacy Policy

 

Your privacy matters

The Life Of Your Choosing takes the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information seriously.

This privacy policy explains what information I collect, why I collect it, how I use and protect it, who I may share it with, and your rights in relation to your personal information.

Because I provide psychological therapy and coaching, I may process information about your physical and mental health. Health information is considered special category data under UK data protection law and is subject to additional protections.

This policy applies to information collected through this website, by email, telephone, during enquiries, and as part of therapy or coaching.

 

Who is responsible for your information?

The Life Of Your Choosing is responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is processed.

For privacy and data protection purposes, I am the data controller for the personal information I hold about you.

If you have any questions about how your information is handled, or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact me using the details on the Contact page.

 

What information do I collect?

Depending on how you interact with The Life Of Your Choosing, I may collect:

Contact information

This may include:

  • your name
  • email address
  • telephone number
  • correspondence with you
  • information you provide when making an enquiry or appointment

 

Therapy and clinical information

If you become a therapy client, I may collect information relevant to providing safe and appropriate care.

This may include:

  • your current concerns and difficulties
  • relevant personal and developmental history
  • mental and physical health information
  • information about previous treatment
  • information about medication
  • information provided by other healthcare professionals, where relevant and appropriately shared
  • assessment and formulation information
  • session notes and clinical records
  • information about progress and treatment

Not all of this information will be collected from every person.

I aim to collect information that is relevant and necessary for the work rather than collecting information simply because it is available.

Coaching information

If you use the neuroscience-informed coaching service, I may collect information relevant to understanding your goals, circumstances, patterns of behaviour and progress.

Coaching records are kept separately in purpose and scope from clinical therapy records where appropriate.

 

How I use your information

I use personal information where necessary to:

  • Respond to enquiries
  • Arrange and manage appointments
  • Provide therapy or coaching
  • Assess whether my services are appropriate for you
  • Maintain appropriate clinical records
  • Communicate with you about your appointments and care
  • Process payments and invoices
  • Review and improve the service
  • Meet professional, legal and regulatory obligations
  • Manage safeguarding or serious risk where necessary
  • Respond to legal requests or requirements

I do not sell your personal information.

I do not use your clinical information for marketing.

 

Lawful basis for processing

Personal information is processed in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and other applicable data protection legislation.

The lawful basis used will depend on the purpose for which the information is being processed.

This may include:

  • contract, where processing is necessary to provide an agreed service
  • legitimate interests, where appropriate for the operation and administration of the practice
  • legal obligation, where I am required to process or retain information by law
  • vital interests, where necessary to protect someone's life
  • health or social care provisions, where applicable to the provision and management of healthcare

Health information is special category data and requires an additional condition for processing under UK data protection law. I will only process this information where there is an appropriate legal basis and special category condition for doing so.

 

Confidentiality

Information shared during therapy is treated as confidential.

There are, however, circumstances where confidentiality may need to be limited.

This may include situations involving:

  • Serious and immediate risk to you or another person
  • Safeguarding concerns
  • Serious risk of harm
  • Legal requirements to disclose information
  • Professional or regulatory requirements

Where possible and appropriate, I will discuss significant disclosures with you before information is shared.

Confidentiality and its limits will also be discussed as part of the work.

 

The systems I use

I use specialist digital systems to help manage appointments, clinical records and online sessions.

Carepatron

I use Carepatron as part of the administration and management of clinical records.

This may include information such as appointments, client records, clinical notes, forms and other information relevant to your care.

Carepatron provides security and data-protection features designed to support healthcare practices, including encryption, access controls and audit logging. Carepatron states that its services support GDPR compliance and provides UK data-processing documentation for practices operating under UK GDPR.

Carepatron acts as a technology provider processing information on my behalf for relevant services. Its own privacy documentation also applies to its processing activities.

Bilateral Base

For online EMDR sessions, I may use Bilateral Base to provide secure video communication and bilateral stimulation tools.

Bilateral Base states that its platform is designed for professional EMDR use and uses encrypted communications and other security measures. It also states that it is designed to minimise the personal information collected about clients.

Bilateral Base does not make clinical decisions or provide treatment itself. The clinical work remains my responsibility.

If you have questions specifically about the security or privacy practices of either platform, I can provide information about the relevant provider's privacy documentation.

 

AI-assisted clinical notes

I may use AI-assisted features within Carepatron to help with clinical documentation.

This means that, where appropriate, information from a session or clinical record may be processed by an AI-assisted documentation feature to help generate, summarise or organise a clinical note.

AI does not replace my clinical judgement.

Any AI-generated documentation is reviewed by me and I remain responsible for the accuracy, appropriateness and final content of your clinical record.

Carepatron states that its AI tools are designed for documentation and administrative support rather than diagnosis, treatment decisions or clinical decision-making, and states that client data is not used to train its AI models.

AI-assisted documentation is not used to make automated decisions about your care.

If you have questions about the use of AI-assisted documentation, you are welcome to raise them with me.

 

Online sessions

When sessions take place online, information may be transmitted through the secure technology platform being used for that session.

You are also responsible for taking reasonable steps to protect your own privacy, such as joining sessions from a private space and using a secure internet connection where possible.

For EMDR sessions using Bilateral Base, the platform recommends using a quiet and private space and, where appropriate, headphones to reduce the risk of conversations being overheard.

 

Who might receive your information?

I may share personal information where necessary and appropriate with:

  • Technology providers who process information on my behalf
  • Payment or accounting providers where necessary
  • Other healthcare professionals involved in your care, where appropriate and with your consent where required
  • Professional advisers where necessary
  • Regulatory or legal authorities where I am legally required to provide information
  • Emergency or safeguarding services where necessary to protect someone from serious harm

I do not sell personal information or provide clinical information to advertisers.

I will only share information that is relevant and necessary for the purpose.

 

Information received from other people

In some circumstances, I may receive information about you from another source.

This could include a healthcare professional or another professional involved in your care.

Where information is received from another source, it will be handled in accordance with applicable data protection requirements and used only for appropriate purposes.

 

How long do I keep your information?

I retain personal and clinical information only for as long as it is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, taking account of:

  • legal and regulatory requirements
  • professional record-keeping requirements
  • the nature of the information
  • the type of service provided
  • any ongoing or potential legal requirements

Clinical records may therefore need to be retained for longer than ordinary enquiry or administrative information.

I periodically review the information I hold and securely delete or dispose of information when it is no longer required.

 

Keeping your information secure

I take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against:

  • Unauthorised access
  • Loss
  • Misuse
  • Alteration
  • Accidental disclosure
  • Destruction

Access to clinical information is restricted to those who need it for legitimate purposes.

No method of transmitting or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure. However, I take appropriate steps to reduce the risks associated with handling sensitive information.

 

Cookies and website information

This website may use cookies or similar technologies.

Some cookies are necessary for the website to function. Other cookies may be used to understand how visitors use the website or to support website functionality.

Where required, non-essential cookies will only be used in accordance with applicable consent requirements.

The specific cookies and analytics services used by the website may change over time. The website's cookie information should therefore be read alongside this privacy policy.

 

Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used, you may have rights under UK data protection law including:

  • The right to be informed about how your information is used
  • The right to access your personal information
  • The right to have inaccurate information corrected
  • The right to request deletion of information in certain circumstances
  • The right to restrict processing in certain circumstances
  • The right to object to certain processing
  • The right to data portability in certain circumstances
  • Rights relating to automated decision-making and profiling where applicable

Not every right applies in every situation. For example, information may sometimes need to be retained because of legal or professional obligations.

The ICO advises that privacy information should explain the purposes of processing, lawful bases, recipients, retention and applicable individual rights.

If you want to exercise one of your rights, please contact me.

 

Making a request about your information

If you would like to:

  • Ask what information I hold about you
  • Request a copy of your information
  • Correct inaccurate information
  • Ask about how your information is being used
  • Raise a concern about confidentiality
  • Exercise another data protection right

please contact me using the details on the Contact page.

I may need to verify your identity before providing information.

 

Complaints

If you have a concern about how your personal information has been handled, I would encourage you to contact me first so that I have an opportunity to address it.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you remain dissatisfied with how your information has been handled.

The ICO is the UK's independent supervisory authority for data protection.

You can find information about making a complaint through the ICO's website.

 

Changes to this privacy policy

I may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in the services I provide, the technology I use or applicable data protection requirements.

The current version will be published on this website.

Last updated: 28th September 2026

 

Contact

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how your information is handled, please get in touch.

The Life Of Your Choosing

Email: matthew@thelifeofyourchoosing.co.uk

Website: www.thelifeofyourchoosing.co.uk

 

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