Privacy policy

This policy explains what happens to the personal information you share through this website. It is written in plain English. If anything is unclear, please email info@alexbickford-psychotherapy.com.

Who is responsible for your information

Alex Bickford, trading as Alex Bickford Psychotherapy, is the data controller for information collected through this website. You can contact me at info@alexbickford-psychotherapy.com.

What this website collects

This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics or tracking scripts. The only personal information it collects is what you choose to type into the enquiry form on the contact page: your name, email address, an optional phone number, your preferred session format, and your message.

Please do not include detailed personal or clinical information in the form. Anything of that kind is better discussed on our introductory call.

Why I use it, and the legal basis

I use the information you send solely to reply to your enquiry and, if you wish, to arrange an introductory call and your first session. The legal basis for this is that the processing is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)), and my legitimate interest in responding to people who contact me (Article 6(1)(f)).

Who else handles it

• Web3Forms relays your message to my email inbox. Web3Forms is based in India and runs on infrastructure hosted by Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare and Hetzner. It keeps its own copy of form submissions for up to three years, after which it is deleted automatically, and transfers of UK data are covered by Standard Contractual Clauses under its Data Processing Agreement.
• CleanTalk and Akismet automatically check submissions for spam. To do this, Web3Forms shares the sender’s email address and IP address with them. Neither service is otherwise involved in handling your message.
• IONOS hosts my email account, where your message arrives and is kept.
• Vercel hosts this website. It records visitor IP addresses in its server logs for security purposes, under Vercel’s privacy policy, and is certified under the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework for transfers of UK data to the US.

How long I keep it

If we do not go on to work together, I delete your enquiry from my own inbox within six months. Web3Forms, which relays the message to me, separately keeps its own copy for up to three years before deleting it automatically, in line with its own retention policy described above. If we do go on to work together, your details become part of your client record, which is handled under the separate confidentiality and record-keeping agreement we go through together at the start of therapy, in line with the BACP Ethical Framework.

Your rights

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information I hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict how it is used, and to receive it in a portable format. To exercise any of these rights, email info@alexbickford-psychotherapy.com.

If you are unhappy with how I have handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Links to other websites

The resources page links to organisations such as Mind, Samaritans, Shout and the Centre for Mental Health. Their websites have their own privacy policies, which I do not control.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version will be published on this page with an updated date.