Privacy Notice
Your privacy is important to me. This notice explains how I collect, use, store and protect personal information in the course of running my psychotherapy practice. It applies whether you contact me through my website, by email or telephone, attend an initial consultation, or become a therapy client.
It covers information collected before, during and after therapy, including personal details, clinical records, correspondence, appointments and payments. It also explains how information may be used in clinical supervision, for professional or legal responsibilities, and in exceptional circumstances involving safety or safeguarding.
The notice also covers information collected when you visit my website, including the use of cookies.
My aim is to be clear about how your information is handled, while respecting the privacy and trust that are central to the therapeutic relationship.
Who I am
I am Nick Lee MBACP - Nick Lee Therapy is the data controller for the personal information I collect and hold.
I am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
ICO registration number: ZC073261
Email: nick.lee-therapy@outlook.com
If you have any questions about how I use or protect your personal information, you can contact me using the email address above.
What information I collect
The information I collect will depend on where we are in our work together.
When you first contact me, I may collect:
your name
your email address
your telephone number, if you provide it
your preferred method of contact
information you choose to provide about why you are considering therapy.
If we decide to work together, I may also collect and hold:
information needed to arrange and manage our sessions (including appointment records)
relevant GP and emergency contact information
information relating to payments
relevant personal information that you share with me during our work
brief clinical notes relating to our sessions
relevant correspondence between us
information relating to your health, wellbeing or safety where this is relevant to our work together.
Some of the information you share with me may be particularly sensitive, including information about your physical or mental health. Under data protection law, this is known as special category data and receives additional protection.
I aim to collect and retain only the information that is relevant and necessary for our work together and for the safe and professional running of my practice.
When you first contact me
You may contact me through the contact form on this website or directly by email or telephone.
I only need enough information at this stage to respond to your enquiry and arrange an initial conversation if appropriate. You do not need to provide detailed or highly sensitive information when you first contact me.
My website and contact form are provided through Squarespace. Information submitted through the website may therefore be processed by Squarespace before being passed to me.
My professional email account is provided through Microsoft Outlook, so information sent to me by email may be processed and stored by Microsoft as part of providing that service.
If you decide not to proceed with therapy, I will retain information relating to your enquiry for up to six months and will then securely delete it, unless there is a legal, professional or safeguarding reason for retaining particular information for longer.
My lawful basis for using your information
Data protection law requires me to have a lawful basis for collecting and using personal information.
When you contact me because you are considering therapy, and while we are working together, I will use personal information where this is necessary to take steps towards entering into, or to fulfil, our therapeutic agreement.
I also have a legitimate interest in collecting and using limited personal information where this is necessary to operate my psychotherapy practice safely, effectively and professionally. This includes maintaining appropriate clinical and administrative records, managing the service, responding to queries or concerns, supporting continuity of care, and appropriately considering and responding to concerns about a client's wellbeing or safety.
After therapy has ended, I have a legitimate interest in retaining appropriate records for a limited period. This enables me to meet my professional and insurance responsibilities and, where necessary, respond to concerns, complaints or legal claims relating to the therapy I have provided.
Where I process special category information, such as information concerning your physical or mental health, I will only do so where I also have an appropriate condition under data protection law for processing that information.
While we are working together
If we decide to work together, I will keep the information reasonably necessary to provide psychotherapy and manage our therapeutic relationship.
I keep brief clinical notes about our sessions. These are intended to provide an appropriate record of our work rather than a detailed account of everything discussed.
Emails and messages will not normally form part of your clinical notes unless they contain information that is relevant to our therapeutic work, your safety or wellbeing, or needs to be retained for another professional or legal reason.
I will keep clinical and administrative information securely and restrict access to it.
Confidentiality, wellbeing and safety
What you discuss with me in therapy is confidential.
There are, however, limited circumstances in which I may need to share information without your consent. These may include situations where I have serious concerns about your safety or wellbeing, the safety of another person, safeguarding concerns, or where I am required to disclose information by law.
Wherever possible and appropriate, I would discuss this with you before sharing information.
There may be exceptional circumstances, particularly where there is a serious or immediate safety or safeguarding concern, where it may not be appropriate or possible to discuss a disclosure with you beforehand.
If information does need to be shared, I will consider carefully what is necessary and proportionate and aim to disclose only the information relevant to the particular concern.
I will explain confidentiality and its limits more fully when we begin working together.
Clinical supervision
Regular clinical supervision is an important part of safe and ethical psychotherapy practice.
I discuss aspects of my clinical work with a suitably qualified clinical supervisor. This helps me reflect on my work and provide therapy safely and effectively.
I protect your identity when discussing my work in supervision and will not ordinarily provide information that directly identifies you. My clinical supervisor is also bound by professional confidentiality.
How long I keep your information
If you make an enquiry but do not go on to become a client, I will normally retain information relating to your enquiry for up to six months, after which it will be securely deleted.
If you become a client, I will retain appropriate clinical and administrative records for six years after our work together ends.
This allows me to maintain an appropriate record of the therapy provided and, where necessary, respond to professional, insurance or legal matters that may subsequently arise.
At the end of the retention period, your records will be securely deleted or destroyed unless there is a legal, professional, safeguarding or insurance reason for retaining particular information for longer.
You may ask me to delete your information before the end of the relevant retention period. The right to erasure is not absolute, however, and there may be circumstances in which I have an appropriate lawful reason to retain some or all of the information.
Who I may share information with
I do not sell your personal information and I will not use information you provide to me as a therapy client for marketing.
In providing and administering my practice, some personal information may be processed by organisations that provide services to me. These include:
Squarespace, which provides and hosts my website and contact form
Microsoft, which provides my professional Outlook email service
any secure payment, accounting, appointment or practice-management services I use.
Where another organisation processes information on my behalf, I take reasonable steps to use services that provide appropriate safeguards for personal information.
I may also share relevant information where necessary with another healthcare professional, emergency or safeguarding service, professional body, insurer, legal adviser or other authority where there is an appropriate professional or legal reason for doing so.
Any such disclosure will be considered carefully and, where appropriate, limited to the information necessary for the purpose.
Keeping your information secure
I take reasonable steps to protect the security and confidentiality of the information I hold.
Electronic information is stored using password-protected devices and services with appropriate security measures. Access to client information is restricted.
Any paper records containing personal information will be stored securely.
I take care to keep identifying and clinical information appropriately protected and regularly review how I store and handle personal information.
No method of electronic communication or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure, so I encourage you not to send highly sensitive information by email or through the website contact form unless necessary.
Your rights
Data protection law gives you a number of rights concerning your personal information. Depending on the circumstances, these may include the right to:
ask what personal information I hold about you and receive a copy
ask me to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete
ask me to delete your personal information
ask me to restrict how your information is used
object to certain uses of your information
ask for certain information to be transferred to you or another organisation.
These rights are not absolute. Whether a particular right applies can depend on the type of information involved, why I am processing it and whether I have a legal or professional reason for retaining it.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, or have questions about the information I hold about you, please contact me at nick.lee-therapy@outlook.com.
If you have a concern
If you have concerns about how I have collected, used or stored your personal information, please contact me in the first instance and I will try to address your concerns.
You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection regulator.
Visitors to my website
My website is hosted by Squarespace. Squarespace may process technical information required to operate, maintain and secure the website and may use cookies and similar technologies.
Where my website uses non-essential cookies or analytics, these will be managed in accordance with applicable data protection and cookie requirements.
If you submit the contact form, the information you provide will be processed through Squarespace before being passed to me.
Cookie Notice
This website uses cookies and similar technologies. Cookies are small files stored on your device that help websites function and can also provide information about how a website is being used.
Some cookies are necessary for this website to work properly. These essential cookies do not require your consent.
The website may also use non-essential cookies, including analytics cookies, to help me understand how visitors use the site. Non-essential cookies will only be used where you have chosen to allow them.
When you first visit the website, you can choose to accept cookies, decline all non-essential cookies, or manage your cookie preferences. You can change your preferences afterwards using the cookie settings available on the website.
This website is hosted by Squarespace, which provides the website and may place cookies or similar technologies on your device. Squarespace also provides website analytics. Where these involve non-essential cookies, they are restricted unless you choose to allow them.
You can use the Manage cookies option on the website to see the categories of cookies in use and control your preferences.
Changes to this privacy notice
I may update this privacy notice from time to time, for example if the way I run my practice changes, I begin using different service providers, or relevant legal or professional requirements change.
The current version will always be available on this website.
Last updated: September 2026