Privacy Policy
Effective date: October 26th 2026.
We respect your privacy. This policy explains how we look after information about you when you visit our website, contact us or use our therapy services. Our therapy services are for adults aged 18 and over.
Who we are
Mind & Meaning Therapy Ltd is responsible for how your personal information is used. Therapy is provided by Mark Shipton on behalf of the company.
You can contact us about privacy at hello@mindandmeaning.co.uk or through mindandmeaning.co.uk. Our registered address is 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ. Our company number is 16216177.
What information we collect
Depending on your contact with us, we may collect:
- Your name, contact details, date of birth and communication preferences.
- Information about your health, wellbeing, personal circumstances and reasons for seeking therapy, including assessment answers and brief therapy notes.
- GP and emergency contact details, where needed for safe working arrangements.
- Appointment, payment and correspondence records, and your agreement to therapy terms.
- Information about your use of our website, such as your device, pages visited and cookie choices.
Most information comes directly from you. With an appropriate reason, we may also receive relevant information from a referrer, another professional or someone supporting you. Please only share information about other people that is relevant to your care.
How we use your information
We use your information to respond to enquiries, assess whether we can offer suitable therapy, provide sessions and keep appropriate records. We also use it to arrange appointments, manage payments, discuss our work in professional supervision, respond to concerns and meet legal responsibilities.
An assessment takes place before your first session, after we have agreed in principle to work together. It may show that another service would better meet your needs. If essential information is missing, we may be unable to offer therapy. Suitability decisions are made by the practitioner rather than solely by an automated system.
We may use relevant information to respond to a serious safety concern or to arrange support if the practitioner unexpectedly becomes unable to work.
We never use assessment answers, therapy notes or confidentially shared information from sessions for advertising or marketing purposes. This information is limited only to providing you with therapeutic services, meeting our obligations under the law and meeting the requirements of the BACP ethical framework. More information on this will be explained as part of your therapy contract within or before your first session.
Privacy law and your data
We use information where necessary to take steps you request towards therapy and provide the service agreed with you. We also rely on our legitimate interests in running a safe practice, protecting information, managing necessary records and responding to concerns, balanced against your rights. Some information is used to meet legal obligations.
Mental health and other sensitive information has extra protection. We use it where necessary to provide or manage therapy, subject to confidentiality duties. Where necessary, we may also use relevant information to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Where we rely on your consent to hold and process your personal data, you can withdraw consent at any time during the therapy process. This does not affect earlier lawful use, and we may need to use or retain some of your information to comply with legal or professional obligations.
Confidentiality and who may receive information
We treat your clinical information as confidential and limit access to what is needed.
Relevant information gathered via providing our services may be handled and processed by:
- Providers supporting our website, forms, email, communications, online sessions, payments and protected storage.
- A clinical supervisor, with identifying details kept to a minimum.
- A designated clinical trustee, to contact you and help manage an unexpected interruption or closure of the practice.
- Professional advisers, insurers or authorities where there is an appropriate lawful reason.
We use appropriate confidentiality and contractual arrangements. Sharing with a GP, emergency contact or another professional is considered carefully. We normally discuss it with you first, unless doing so would be unsafe, impractical in an emergency or prevented by law. Confidentiality may be limited where disclosure is legally required or otherwise lawfully justified to address serious harm.
Our therapy agreement explains these arrangements further. The personal data you provide via our online forms or therapy services is never sold or past to a third party for commercial reasons.
Online forms messages and security
Online submissions are processed through our website and delivered to our practice email account. A copy of an assessment and the therapy terms may also be emailed to the address you provide. Please check your address carefully and consider who can access your mailbox or device.
We protect information using appropriate account, device and storage safeguards. However, no online service or email route can be guaranteed completely secure. Please avoid unnecessary sensitive detail in an initial enquiry.
Some service providers may process information outside the UK. Where this happens, we use applicable safeguards such as encryption and privacy conscious service providers to protect your data.
How long we keep information
Enquiries: where no substantive clinical assessment has taken place, we normally delete information within 90 days from our website and within two years from our email accounts of therapy practise software.
Therapy records: we normally keep necessary clinical records for seven years after therapy ends, then securely delete or destroy them.
Therapy assessments: where a substantive assessment and professional decision have taken place, the assessment is kept for seven years in case of professional auditing or legal challenge.
Temporary website copies: this website stores copies of therapeutic assessment forms as backups, these are automatically deleted from the website within 14 days of submission.
Financial records follow applicable accounting and tax requirements: financial records such as invoices and payment receipts will be kept for six years from the end of the financial year they relate to.
We may retain necessary information longer for a specific legal duty, complaint or claim, and review the reason for doing so.
Cookies website analysis and advertising
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are needed for essential functions such as security and remembering privacy choices. Others help us understand website use through traffic statistics, heatmaps or session recordings, or measure and target advertising. These tools may share device and browsing information with analytics and advertising providers.
Optional tracking requires your consent under our proposed website settings. You can reject optional tracking and still enquire or receive therapy. You can change your choices through the cookies settings popup on this website. The cookie information available there explains the technologies, providers, purposes and lifetimes in more detail.
We keep clinical information out of analytics and advertising tools.
Microsoft Clarity
We use Microsoft Clarity and Microsoft Advertising to capture how you use and interact with our website through behavioural metrics, heatmaps, and session replay to improve the website and analyse marketing related data. Website usage data is captured using first and third-party cookies and other tracking technologies to determine online activity. Additionally, we use this information for site optimisation, fraud/security purposes, and advertising. For more information about how Microsoft collects and uses your data, visit the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you can ask to see your information, correct it, have it deleted, limit its use or receive a portable copy of qualifying information. Some rights have legal limits, which we will explain if relevant.
You can object to our use of information based on legitimate interests. You can always object to direct marketing and withdraw any consent you have given for optional processing.
Contact hello@mindandmeaning.co.uk to exercise your rights. We normally respond within one calendar month and without a charge. We may need to verify your identity. If a permitted extension is needed for a complex request, we will explain why.
Questions complaints and updates
Please contact us if you have a privacy question or complaint. We will acknowledge a privacy complaint within 30 days, investigate without undue delay, keep you informed and explain the outcome.
You can also complain to the UK data protection regulator at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. For concerns about professional therapy practice, BACP provides complaints information at bacp.co.uk/about-us/protecting-the-public.
We review this policy when our services, systems or responsibilities change and communicate material changes where appropriate.