Privacy Policy for Menopause Unlocked
Last updated:14th July 2025
1. Introduction
Welcome to Menopause Unlocked, operated by Monarch Hypnotherapy. I am Deborah Townsend, a fully qualified hypnotherapist and sole trader. Your privacy is of paramount importance to me. This Privacy Policy explains how Menopause Unlocked collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data when you engage with my services, visit my website, or communicate with me.
I am committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information with the utmost care and respect, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
2. Who I Am
- Name: Deborah Townsend -Operating as Monarch Hypnotherapy for Menopause Unlocked
- Address: Monarch Hypnotherapy c/o Restore wellbeing, Place farm , Stuston
- Email: deborah@monarchhypnotherapy.co.uk
- Phone Number: 07736 573258
For the purposes of data protection law, I am the Data Controller for the personal data I process.
3. What Information I Collect and Why
I collect and process personal data to provide you with effective hypnotherapy services and to manage my business operations. The type of information collected depends on how you interact with Menopause Unlocked.
a) Information you provide directly to me:
- Contact Information: Name, address, email address, phone number.
- Purpose: To communicate with you, schedule appointments, send important updates, and manage your client record.
- Lawful Basis: Performance of a contract (to provide services), Legitimate Interests (for administrative purposes).
- Personal and Health Information (Special Category Data): Details about your physical and mental health relevant to your hypnotherapy sessions, medical conditions, prescribed medications, lifestyle factors, family situation, and the reasons you are seeking hypnotherapy for menopause. This may include sensitive information about your mental health, sex life (if relevant to your presenting issue), and other health-related data.
- Purpose: To provide you with safe, effective, and tailored hypnotherapy treatment for menopause, to assess your suitability for treatment, and to monitor your progress.
- Lawful Basis: Explicit Consent (for processing special category data), and/or Legitimate Interests (where necessary for the provision of healthcare, subject to professional secrecy obligations). You will be asked to provide explicit consent for the processing of your special category data when you become a client.
- GP Details: In some cases, and only with your explicit consent, I may request your GP's details for emergency contact or if I have a duty of care concern (e.g., if there's a risk of harm to yourself or others).
- Purpose: For emergency contact or duty of care purposes.
- Lawful Basis: Explicit Consent, Vital Interests (in emergency situations).
- Session Notes: Brief, anonymised (where possible) or coded notes taken during or after sessions.
- Purpose: To ensure continuity of care, track your progress, and provide the highest quality of support.
- Lawful Basis: Legitimate Interests (for effective professional practice and record-keeping required by professional bodies and insurance), Performance of a Contract.
b) Information collected automatically (e.g., via website):
- Usage Data: Information about how you access and use my website, such as your IP address, browser type, pages visited, time spent on pages, and referring website.
- Purpose: To improve my website, understand user behaviour, and for analytical purposes.
- Lawful Basis: Legitimate Interests (to improve website functionality and marketing).
- Cookies: Small data files stored on your device.
- Purpose: To enhance your Browse experience.
- Lawful Basis: Consent (via cookie banner). Please see my separate Cookie Policy for more details.
4. How I Store Your Personal Information
I am committed to ensuring the security of your personal data. I employ robust technical and organisational measures to protect your information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.
- Paper Records: Any physical notes (e.g., intake forms, session notes) are stored in a locked filing cabinet in a secure location.)
- Electronic Records:
- Client contact details and basic information may be stored on a password-protected computer and/or secure cloud-based systems (e.g., for booking management, email).
- Sensitive session notes are anonymised or coded where possible, and stored on password-protected devices or secure, encrypted cloud storage, with access restricted to me only.
- All devices used to access or store your data are password-protected, and regularly updated with security software.
- Emails and text messages containing personal information are kept to a minimum and deleted when no longer required, or transferred to secure client files.
5. How Long I Keep Your Personal Information
I retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
As a member of the National Hypnotherapy Society, I adhere to their guidelines regarding data retention. Typically, client records are held for 8 years after your final session. For clients who were under 18 at the time of their last session, records are held until their 25th birthday (or 26th birthday if they were 17 when treatment ended), in line with NHS guidelines.
After this retention period, your records will be securely disposed of (e.g., shredding paper records, permanently deleting electronic files).
6. Sharing Your Personal Information
I will never sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties.
Your personal information will be kept strictly confidential, with the following exceptions:
- Supervision: As part of my professional commitment to best practice and ongoing development, I engage in regular supervision. During supervision, I may discuss your case in an anonymised manner with a qualified supervisor. Your identity will not be revealed, and all discussions remain confidential.
- Duty of Care: In rare circumstances, if I believe there is a serious risk of harm to yourself or others, I may be legally or ethically obliged to break confidentiality and share relevant information with appropriate authorities (e.g., your GP, emergency services). This will always be done in line with my professional code of ethics and, where possible, after discussing it with you first.
- Legal Obligation: If required by law (e.g., a court order or warrant), I may have to disclose your information to legal or governmental authorities.
- Administrative Support: I may use third-party services for aspects of my business (e.g., online booking systems, payment processors, website hosting). I will ensure that any such providers are reputable, GDPR compliant, and have appropriate data protection measures in place. I will only share the minimum necessary information with them to provide their services.
7. Your Data Protection Rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Your right of access: You have the right to ask me for copies of your personal information.
- Your right to rectification: You have the right to ask me to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask me to complete information you think is incomplete.
- Your right to erasure (the right to be forgotten): You have the right to ask me to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to restriction of processing: You have the right to ask me to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to object to processing: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to data portability: You have the right to ask that I transfer the personal information you gave me to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
- Your right to withdraw consent: Where the lawful basis for processing your data is consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, I have one month to respond to you.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact me at:
deborah@monarchhypnotherapy.co.uk
07736 573258
8. How to Complain
If you have any concerns about my use of your personal information, you can make a complaint directly to me using the contact details above.
You can also complain to the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) if you are unhappy with how I have used your data.
The ICO's address: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
ICO Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
9. Changes to This Privacy Policy
I may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be available on my website, and I will notify you of any significant changes.