Privacy Policy | Halcyon Counselling

Your privacy matters. This policy explains clearly what information we collect, why we collect it, and how it is protected. It relates solely to your use of the Halcyon Counselling website (halcyoncounselling.com) and does not cover the handling of personal information shared during counselling sessions, which is governed by a separate client agreement. If you have any questions about this policy, please get in touch.

1. Who we are

Halcyon Counselling is a private counselling practice operated by Julie Sherman. For the purposes of UK data protection law, Julie Sherman is the data controller — the person responsible for deciding how your personal information is used.

Contact email: julie@halcyoncounselling.com
ICO Registration Number: ZA741597

2. What information we collect

Enquiry and contact forms

When you submit an enquiry through our website, we collect the information you provide in the form, which may include:

Your name
Your email address
Your telephone number (optional)
The content of your message
Your preferred session type (e.g. individual, couple)

This information is submitted via Formspree, a third-party form handling service. Formspree stores submissions securely and forwards them to Julie's email. Formspree's privacy policy is available at formspree.io.

Website analytics

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand how visitors use our website — which pages are visited, where visitors come from, and what devices they use. Cloudflare Web Analytics does not use cookies and does not collect any personally identifiable information. No consent is required and no data is shared with advertisers. Cloudflare's privacy policy is available at cloudflare.com.

3. How we use your information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

To respond to your enquiry and arrange an initial consultation

We will never use your information for marketing purposes or share it with third parties for commercial reasons.

4. Legal basis for processing

Under UK GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:

Legitimate interests — responding to enquiries submitted through our contact forms

5. How we share your information

Your information is treated with the strictest confidence. We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.

In limited circumstances, information may be shared:

Formspree — contact form submissions are processed by Formspree as described above
Cloudflare — our website is hosted and delivered via Cloudflare's infrastructure. Cloudflare may process anonymised technical data as part of this service

6. How long we keep your information

We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary:

Enquiry data — if you enquire but do not proceed to counselling, your contact details will be deleted after 3 months

If we move forward together then we will provide further details in our full privacy policy.

7. How we protect your information

We take the security of your personal information seriously:

Our website is served over HTTPS (encrypted connection) at all times via Cloudflare
Email communications containing sensitive information are handled with care. If you have concerns about email security, please raise this with Julie directly

8. Cookies

This website does not use tracking cookies. Cloudflare Web Analytics, our analytics tool, is cookie-free and collects no personally identifiable information. You will not see a cookie consent banner on this site because none is required.

9. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right of access — you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Right to rectification — you can ask us to correct inaccurate information
Right to erasure — you can ask us to delete your data, subject to our legal and professional obligations
Right to restriction — you can ask us to restrict how we use your data in certain circumstances
Right to object — you can object to processing based on legitimate interests
Right to data portability — you can request your data in a portable format where applicable

To exercise any of these rights, please contact Julie at julie@halcyoncounselling.com. We will respond within one month.

10. Complaints

If you have concerns about how your data is handled and are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. When we do, the "Last updated" date at the top of this page will change. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of this website following any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact Julie Sherman at:

Email: julie@halcyoncounselling.com