Privacy Notice

Colin Wilfred Chapman — Integrative Counsellor

Last updated: 19/10/2026

This notice explains what personal information I collect when you contact me or work with me as a counselling client, why I hold it, how I keep it safe, and the rights you have over it. I've tried to write it in plain language. If anything here is unclear, please ask — you're welcome to.

Who I am

My name is Colin Wilfred Chapman, an integrative counsellor working in Shoreditch, central London, and online. I work as a sole practitioner, which means I am the "data controller" for the information I hold about you — I decide how and why it is used, and I'm responsible for looking after it.

  • Contact: hello@colinwchapmantherapy.com

  • Professional registration: Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP), membership number 421883. You can verify this on the BACP register at bacp.co.uk.

  • ICO registration: I am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office as a data controller, reference ZC276117.

I work within the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions.

What information I collect

Depending on how we work together, I may hold:

  • Contact details — your name, email address, and phone number.

  • Information you share when you get in touch — for example, a brief description of what you'd like help with, sent through my website contact form, by email, or when booking an introductory call.

  • Session records — brief, securely stored notes I keep about our work together, to support good, continuous care. These may include information about your health, circumstances, and wellbeing.

  • Appointment and payment information — dates and times of sessions, and records that payment has been made. I do not see or store your full card details; payments are handled securely by my payment provider (see below).

Some of this is special category data — information about your health and emotional wellbeing. This is given extra protection under data protection law, and I treat it with particular care.

Why I hold it, and my legal basis

I collect and use your information in order to provide you with counselling, to arrange and manage our sessions, and to meet my professional and legal obligations as a counsellor.

Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, my lawful bases are:

  • For general contact and administration: that it is necessary for our agreement to work together (Article 6(1)(b)), and my legitimate interest in running my practice (Article 6(1)(f)).

  • For the health information involved in counselling: that it is necessary for the provision of health or social care (Article 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR, together with Schedule 1, Part 1, paragraph 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018).

How your information is stored and kept secure

I take the confidentiality of your information seriously.

  • My client records and booking information are held securely through Konfidens, a practice-management system designed for mental health professionals. Konfidens stores data encrypted on servers within the European Economic Area (Frankfurt, Germany), with access controls and security measures appropriate to health data.

  • Payments are processed securely by a regulated payment provider. I do not store your card details.

  • Any limited information held outside these systems (for example, emails) is kept securely and shared with no one without your consent, except as set out below.

Who your information is shared with

I do not sell your information or share it for marketing. Your information may be shared only in these limited circumstances:

  • Service providers who help me run my practice securely — such as my booking and records system (Konfidens), my payment provider, and Squarespace, which hosts my website and stores messages sent through my contact form — who act on my instructions and are bound by their own data protection obligations.

  • Clinical supervision. Like all ethical counsellors, I discuss my work in regular clinical supervision to make sure I'm practising safely and effectively. Where your material is discussed, it is kept anonymised as far as possible, and my supervisor is also bound by confidentiality.

  • Where I am required to by law, or where there is a serious risk of harm. In rare situations I may need to share information without your consent — for example, if there is a serious and imminent risk to your life or someone else's, or where the law requires it (such as certain safeguarding or legal obligations). Wherever possible, I would discuss this with you first. The limits of confidentiality are something we can talk through at the start of our work.

How long I keep your information

I keep client records for as long as is necessary to provide your care and to meet my professional and insurance obligations. In line with guidance for counsellors, this is normally around seven years after our work together ends (longer where the law requires it, for example for records relating to someone under 18). After that, records are securely deleted.

Your rights

Under data protection law, you have the right to:

  • Access the information I hold about you.

  • Ask me to correct anything that is inaccurate.

  • Ask me to delete your information, where there is no legal or professional reason for me to keep it.

  • Object to or ask me to restrict certain uses of your information.

  • Receive a copy of certain information in a portable format.

To exercise any of these, just contact me at hello@colinwchapmantherapy.com. I'll normally respond within one month.

If you are ever unhappy with how I have handled your information, I would genuinely want to hear about it so I can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

If you need urgent help

I am not an emergency or crisis service, and I'm not able to respond to messages immediately. If you need support right now, these services can help, day or night:

  • Samaritans — call 116 123 (free, 24 hours). For anyone struggling to cope, in distress, or feeling that life is not worth living.

  • Shout — text SHOUT to 85258 (free, 24 hours). A text-based service, if you'd rather not speak to someone on the phone.

  • NHS 111 — call 111 and choose the mental health option, for urgent but non-emergency help.

  • In an emergency — if you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E.

Changes to this notice

I may update this notice from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last revised.

If you have any questions about this notice or how your information is handled, please contact me at hello@colinwchapmantherapy.com.