Privacy policy
This policy explains how I look after personal information when you use this website, contact me, or come for counselling. It was last updated on 13 October 2026.
Who I am
I am Yasmin Jessup, MBACP, a counsellor and psychotherapist working as Aurea Counselling & Psychotherapy in Altrincham. I am the data controller for the personal information described here.
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. My membership number is 01001632. I work within the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions.
I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. My registration number is ICO:00015885210.
You can contact me at enquires@aureacounsellingandpsychotherapy.co.uk or on 07541 134200.
This website
This is a simple website. It does not have an enquiry form, an account, or a booking system. It does not use advertising or analytics cookies, and the pages themselves do not store information about you. I do not use this website to make automated decisions about you.
The typefaces are loaded from Google Fonts. When you open a page, your browser asks Google for those files. Google may receive your IP address and basic details of that request, and may process that technical information outside the UK. Google’s own policy is at policies.google.com/privacy.
The service that delivers the website may keep short technical logs, such as an IP address and the page requested, so the site can stay secure and working. I do not use those logs to identify you.
What I keep
If you email me, call me, or we speak on a free 20-minute introductory call, I receive the details you choose to share. That may include your name, email address, phone number, and anything you tell me about what has brought you to counselling.
If we work together, I keep what I need to provide counselling and to meet my professional responsibilities. That includes your contact details, session arrangements, a record of fees paid, and brief confidential notes of our work. Notes are factual and only as full as they need to be. They can include things you tell me about other people. I do not contact those people, and I do not share that information casually.
What you tell me can include information about your mental or physical health, feelings, or personal history. UK data protection law treats health information, and some other sensitive details, as special category data. I protect it with particular care.
Email is a practical way to get in touch, but it is not a completely private system. It is better not to send detailed personal history by email if you would rather talk about it in a session.
Why I am allowed to use it
I use your information to reply to you, to arrange an introductory call, to provide counselling, to keep our work safe, and to meet my professional, insurance and tax responsibilities. I do not use it for marketing.
If you contact me about counselling, I use your information because you have asked me to take steps before we might agree to work together. If we work together, I use it because that is necessary for our agreement.
Where you share information about your health or other sensitive matters, I also rely on the reason in data protection law that allows care to be provided by a professional who is bound by a duty of confidentiality. That duty comes from the BACP Ethical Framework.
Agreeing to counselling is not the same as consent under data protection law. I do not rely on consent as my reason for keeping counselling records. I still need to keep them for a period after we finish, even if you later ask me to delete them.
After our work ends, I keep the record so I can meet my professional and insurance duties, and so I can respond if there is a complaint or a legal claim. If the law requires me to share or keep information, I do that because of a legal obligation.
How I look after it
I keep client information securely, on paper or on a device, and I limit access to what is needed. Face-to-face sessions are in a private room in Altrincham. If we meet online, I use a private video service and I will tell you which one before we use it. Please join from a private space.
I do not sell personal information.
Confidentiality
What you share in counselling is confidential. I will not tell other people that you are coming to see me, and I will not pass on what you say unless one of the situations below applies.
I may need to share information if:
- I believe there is a serious risk of harm to you or to someone else
- I am concerned that a child or an adult at risk is not safe
- a court or the law requires it
- you ask me to, or you agree that I should
Where I can do so safely, I will talk with you before I share anything. If there is an immediate risk of serious harm, I may need to contact the police or social services first.
As a BACP registered member I have regular clinical supervision. I discuss my work so that I practise safely. I share only what is needed, and I do not use your name unless there is a clear reason to. My supervisor is also bound by confidentiality.
If I become too ill to contact you, or if I die, a colleague who is bound by confidentiality holds my clinical will. They would contact you only to tell you, and to look after any records that still need to be kept. They would not read your notes for any other reason.
Who else sees information
I only share information where it is needed:
- Email sent to me is handled by my email provider, so that messages can be delivered and stored. Some email and video services store information on their own systems, which can be outside the UK. I use services that are expected to protect it to a standard comparable with UK law.
- Calls use your phone network and mine.
- If we meet online, the video service processes the technical information needed to connect us.
- My professional insurer may need relevant information if there is a complaint or a claim. That does not include routine sharing of session notes.
- If you complain to the BACP, I may need to share information that is relevant to that complaint.
- I keep a simple record of fees and dates for the practice and for tax. Those records do not contain the content of our sessions. HM Revenue & Customs can require payment records.
- I would share information if a court or the law required it, including where someone is at risk of serious harm.
How long I keep it
If we do not go on to work together, I keep your enquiry only for as long as I need it to reply and to deal with any follow-up. I aim to delete those messages within a year.
If we work together, I keep your counselling record during therapy and for seven years after it ends. That period matches the usual requirement of professional insurance, and it covers the time in which a complaint or a claim could be made. I then destroy the record securely. I keep it for longer only if the law requires it.
I keep payment records for six years, which is the usual period for UK tax. They do not include what we talk about in sessions.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask me:
- for a copy of your information
- to correct it if it is wrong
- to delete it, in some circumstances
- to limit how I use it
- to object to my using it, where I rely on legitimate interests
- for a copy of information you provided, in a portable form, where that right applies
These rights have limits. I may need to keep notes while I have a professional, insurance or legal duty to do so, even if you ask me to delete them. I may also remove information about other people, or limit what I send, if disclosing it would be likely to cause serious harm to you or to someone else.
Please email enquires@aureacounsellingandpsychotherapy.co.uk if you want to use any of these rights. I may need to confirm who you are. I will respond within one month.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how I have looked after your information, please contact me first. I would welcome the chance to put things right.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. My ICO registration number is ICO:00015885210.
If you are concerned about my counselling practice, you can raise that with me, or with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Changes
If I change this policy, I will update this page and the date at the top.