Privacy Policy

Who we are

This Privacy Policy explains how Cherry Tree Therapy Centre Ltd collects, uses, stores and protects your personal information.

Cherry Tree Therapy Centre Ltd
2 Station Parade
Cherry Tree Rise
Buckhurst Hill
Essex
IG9 6EU

Websites:

www.sexaddictioncounselling.co.uk
www.cherrytreetherapycentre.co.uk

Email: info@cherrytreetherapycentre.co.uk

Cherry Tree Therapy Centre Ltd is the data controller for the personal information covered by this Privacy Policy.

What personal information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with Cherry Tree and the services you enquire about or use.

This may include:

• Your name and contact details
• Information relevant to your enquiry or request
• The type of counselling, support group, workshop or other service you are interested in
• Information needed to manage your participation in a group, workshop or other Cherry Tree service
• Payment and transaction information where relevant
• Administrative communications with Cherry Tree
• Any other information you choose to provide to us

Health and other sensitive information

When you contact us about counselling, support groups, workshops or other therapeutic services, you may choose to provide information about your emotional or mental wellbeing, relationships, experiences of betrayal, sexual or relational experiences, compulsive sexual behaviours, pornography use, or other circumstances relevant to the support you are seeking.

Some of this information may be classed as special category personal data under UK GDPR, particularly information relating to health or sex life.

Where we ask for sensitive information, we will explain why it may be helpful. Unless we tell you that particular information is necessary for us to provide a service safely or appropriately, you can choose how much you wish to share and may leave optional questions unanswered.

We only collect and use sensitive information where it is relevant and proportionate to the service being provided or requested and where we have an appropriate lawful basis and special category condition for doing so.

Clinical records

Cherry Tree Therapy Centre Ltd does not generally hold the clinical session notes of self-employed therapists working with or from the Centre.

Most therapists working with Cherry Tree are self-employed practitioners and are responsible for maintaining their own clinical records in accordance with their professional, legal and insurance requirements.

Where Cherry Tree is directly responsible for the provision of a clinical service, such as our low-cost counselling service, different arrangements may apply and relevant information will be handled in accordance with our clinical and data protection responsibilities.

Information submitted through Cherry Tree enquiry, intake, support-group or workshop forms is held by Cherry Tree and is separate from an individual therapist's clinical notes.

How we collect your information

We may collect personal information when you:

• Contact us by telephone, email, website or another communication method
• Complete a form on one of our websites
• Make an enquiry about counselling or another service
• Ask us to help you find an appropriate therapist
• Join or enquire about a support group
• Register for a workshop or event
• Use a service provided directly by Cherry Tree
• Make a payment to Cherry Tree
• Request information about our services
• Opt in to receive marketing or newsletter communications
• Communicate with our administrative or clinical team

How we use your information

We may use your personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries
• Provide information about our services
• Help match you with an appropriate therapist
• Manage referrals
• Arrange or confirm appointments
• Manage participation in support groups, workshops and other services
• Help facilitators understand the experiences and support needs of people joining our groups
• Process payments where applicable
• Communicate important administrative or service-related information
• Meet safeguarding, insurance, professional or legal obligations
• Manage, evaluate and improve the services we provide
• Send marketing or newsletter communications only where you have opted in to receive them

We do not sell your personal information or share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

Using anonymised information to improve our work

From time to time, we may invite people using particular Cherry Tree services to allow their responses or feedback to be used anonymously to help us better understand people's experiences and improve our work.

For example, participants in our betrayal support groups may be invited to allow their anonymised responses to contribute to our understanding of the experience of betrayal, the process of healing and what people find helpful.

Where we ask for permission to use information in this way, participation is entirely optional. Choosing not to give permission will not affect your ability to join a group or access other Cherry Tree services.

Where information is used for this purpose, names, contact details and other identifying information will not be included. Anonymised responses may be combined with those of other participants to help us identify common experiences, themes and patterns and to inform the development of our groups, workshops, training and other services.

Once information has been fully anonymised so that an individual can no longer be identified, it is no longer personal data.

Therapists and third parties

With the exception of services for which Cherry Tree has direct clinical responsibility, therapists working with Cherry Tree are generally self-employed practitioners and independent data controllers.

This means therapists are responsible for how they collect, use and store information relating to their own clients. We encourage you to read your therapist's own privacy policy.

Where necessary, Cherry Tree may share limited personal information with a therapist for the purpose of responding to your enquiry, arranging services or facilitating a referral.

We also use trusted service providers to help us operate our services, including systems for contact management, accounting, payments and administration. These organisations process information only as necessary to provide their services to us and are subject to appropriate data protection requirements.

Our lawful bases for processing personal information

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal information.

Depending on the circumstances and the purpose for which we are using your information, we may rely on:

• Consent – where you have given us clear permission to use your information for a particular purpose
• Contract – where processing is necessary to provide a service to you or to take steps at your request before providing a service
• Legitimate interests – where processing is reasonably necessary to respond to enquiries, manage referrals, administer our services and operate Cherry Tree effectively, provided your rights and interests do not override those interests
• Legal obligation – where we are required to process or retain information to comply with the law

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect processing that has already taken place.

Special category personal data

Certain information relating to health, sex life and other sensitive matters is given additional protection under UK GDPR and is known as special category personal data.

Where Cherry Tree processes special category personal data, we identify both an appropriate lawful basis under Article 6 UK GDPR and an appropriate condition for processing under Article 9 UK GDPR and, where applicable, the Data Protection Act 2018.

The appropriate lawful basis and special category condition will depend on the purpose for which the information is being processed.

We will only collect and use this information where it is necessary, relevant and proportionate to that purpose. Where consent is the appropriate basis for a particular use, we will ask for it clearly and separately.

How we store and protect your information

We take reasonable measures to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access, disclosure or misuse.

Personal information is stored using password-protected systems and, where available and appropriate, two-factor authentication.

Systems we use may include:

• HubSpot – for managing enquiries, contact records, forms, service communications and opt-in marketing communications
• FreeAgent – for accounting and financial records
• Stripe – for payment processing
• Cherry Tree Booking System – for room bookings and associated administration

Where we use third-party service providers, we take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate data protection arrangements are in place.

Some service providers may process information outside the UK. Where this occurs, we take appropriate steps to ensure personal information continues to receive the protections required by UK data protection law.

How long we keep your information

We do not keep personal information for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, subject to any legal, insurance, safeguarding or professional requirements.

As a general rule, Cherry Tree retains relevant personal information for seven years following your last contact with the Centre, where this is necessary to meet our insurance and record-keeping requirements.

Different retention periods may apply to particular types of information where appropriate.

Clinical records held by independent therapists are retained separately in accordance with their own professional, legal and insurance obligations.

Where information has been fully anonymised so that an individual can no longer be identified, it may be retained for service evaluation, learning and development purposes.

Marketing communications

We will only send you marketing or newsletter communications where you have chosen to receive them or where we are otherwise legally permitted to do so.

Joining a support group, making a counselling enquiry or completing an intake form does not automatically subscribe you to our general marketing or newsletter communications.

You can unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time using the unsubscribe option in our emails or by contacting us.

We may still contact you with administrative or service-related information where this is necessary in connection with a service you have requested or are using.

Cookies and analytics

Our websites use cookies and analytics tools, including Google Analytics, to help us understand how people use our websites and improve their functionality and content.

Where required, non-essential cookies and analytics technologies are used only with your consent.

You can manage your cookie preferences through the options provided on our websites.

Further information is available in our Cookies Policy.

Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, data protection law gives you rights including:

• Right of access – to ask for copies of your personal information
• Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• Right to erasure – to ask us to delete your personal information in certain circumstances
• Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit how we use your information in certain circumstances
• Right to object – to object to certain types of processing
• Right to data portability – to ask us to transfer certain information to you or another organisation
• Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time

Not all rights apply in every circumstance.

If you would like to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact:

info@cherrytreetherapycentre.co.uk

We will normally respond within one month.

How to complain

If you have concerns about how Cherry Tree Therapy Centre Ltd collects, uses, stores or shares your personal information, please contact us in the first instance.

Email: info@cherrytreetherapycentre.co.uk

We will investigate data protection concerns promptly and fairly and will keep you informed where appropriate.

If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection regulator.

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Information Commissioner's Office

Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your personal information, please contact:

Cherry Tree Therapy Centre Ltd
info@cherrytreetherapycentre.co.uk