Who I am
Laura Levitt provides private, one-to-one supportive conversations for people who want space to talk, reflect and gain greater clarity about their life, work or circumstances.
My service is not counselling, psychotherapy, medical treatment or mental-health treatment.
For the purposes of UK data protection law, Laura Levitt is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy.
Email: Hello@lauralevitt.co.uk
Telephone: 07715 587224
Website: lauralevitt.co.uk
Information I may collect
Depending on how you interact with me, I may collect information including your name, telephone number and email address; enquiry and booking information; appointment details; payment and transaction information; correspondence between us; and information you voluntarily share during our conversations.
I may also keep brief notes following our conversations so that I can remember relevant matters we have discussed and provide continuity if we speak again.
Because of the nature of our conversations, you may choose to share sensitive personal information. This could include information concerning your physical or mental health, relationships, sexuality, religious or philosophical beliefs, racial or ethnic origin, or other personal circumstances.
I will only record information that is relevant and appropriate for the purpose of our work together and will aim to keep my notes proportionate and limited to what is reasonably necessary.
How I collect your information
Most information will be provided directly by you when you make an enquiry, arrange a Hello Call, book or purchase a conversation, complete a form on my website, communicate with me by email, telephone or text message, or speak with me during a conversation.
Limited technical information may also be collected when you use my website or online booking systems.
Why I use your information
I may use your personal information to:
- Respond to your enquiries.
- Arrange and manage appointments.
- Provide the service you have asked me to provide.
- Process and maintain records of payments.
- Communicate with you about your bookings.
- Maintain appropriate client and business records.
- Provide continuity between conversations.
- Meet legal, accounting and regulatory responsibilities.
- Protect my legal rights where necessary.
- Keep my website and business systems secure.
I will not sell your personal information.
My lawful bases for using your information
Under UK data protection law, I need a lawful reason for processing personal information.
Depending upon the circumstances, I may rely upon:
Contract – where processing your information is necessary to provide a service you have requested or to take steps at your request before providing that service.
Legal obligation – where I need to retain or use certain information to comply with a legal requirement.
Legitimate interests – where it is reasonably necessary for the operation and protection of my business, for example maintaining appropriate administrative records or dealing with or defending legal claims, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.
Consent – where I have specifically asked for and received your consent for a particular use of your information.
Sensitive or special-category information
Some of the things you choose to discuss with me may fall within what UK data protection law calls special-category data.
This includes certain particularly sensitive information, such as information concerning health, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life or sexual orientation.
Where it is necessary for me to record or otherwise process special-category information as part of providing my service, I will ensure that I have both an appropriate lawful basis and an additional condition permitting me to process that information.
Where I rely upon your explicit consent for this purpose, I will ask you for that consent clearly and separately.
You can withdraw consent where consent is the basis being relied upon. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
My conversation notes
I may make brief notes relating to our conversations to help me maintain an accurate record and provide continuity where we have further conversations.
Records may be retained in both electronic and paper form.
Electronic records will be stored securely on password-protected systems and access will be restricted.
Paper records will be stored securely in a locked cabinet and will not be accessible to unauthorised people.
I will take reasonable steps to protect your information against loss, unauthorised access, disclosure or misuse.
How long I keep your information
Conversation notes and associated client records will normally be retained for three years following your final conversation with me.
After the relevant retention period has expired, electronic records will be securely deleted and paper records will be confidentially destroyed unless there is a lawful reason for retaining particular information for longer.
Some financial and transaction records may need to be retained for a different period where this is required for tax, accounting or other legal purposes.
I will review my retention periods where necessary, including if professional or insurance requirements require records to be retained for a different period.
Asking me to delete your information
You can ask me to delete personal information I hold about you.
The right to deletion is not absolute, so there may be circumstances in which I am legally entitled or required to retain particular information. This may include circumstances where information is necessary to comply with a legal obligation or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Where there is no lawful reason for continuing to retain the information, I will delete or securely destroy it.
Payments
Payments for my services may be processed using Stripe.
I do not need to retain your complete debit or credit card details myself. Payment providers process payment information in accordance with their own privacy and security arrangements.
I may retain appropriate transaction information for my business, accounting and legal records.
Booking, website and communication providers
I use third-party technology and service providers to help operate my business. These may include providers used for my website, forms, appointment booking, payments, email and SMS communications and data storage.
These providers may process personal information on my behalf where this is necessary to provide their services.
Where appropriate, I take reasonable steps to ensure that organisations handling personal information on my behalf have suitable data-protection arrangements in place.
Some technology providers may process or store information outside the United Kingdom. Where personal information is transferred internationally, I will ensure that an appropriate lawful safeguard is relied upon where required.
Email and text messages
If you provide your email address or telephone number, I may use those details to communicate with you about an enquiry, booking, appointment, payment or the service you have requested.
If I wish to send you separate marketing communications, I will do so only where permitted by law and will provide an appropriate way for you to opt out.
Confidentiality and sharing information
I treat the information you share with me as private.
I will not routinely share the content of our conversations with other people.
There may, however, be limited circumstances in which information needs to be disclosed, for example where I am legally required to do so, where disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights, or where another lawful basis permits or requires disclosure.
I may also share limited information with trusted service providers that process information on my behalf where this is necessary to operate my business.
Your data protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, UK data protection law gives you rights concerning your personal information. These may include the right to:
- Access personal information I hold about you.
- Ask for inaccurate information to be corrected.
- Ask for information to be erased in certain circumstances.
- Ask for processing to be restricted in certain circumstances.
- Object to certain uses of your information.
- Receive certain information in a portable format.
- Withdraw consent where processing is based upon consent.
Not every right applies in every situation.
If you would like to exercise a data-protection right, please contact me at Hello@lauralevitt.co.uk.
Complaints
If you have any questions or concerns about how I use your personal information, please contact me first and I will do my best to resolve the matter.
You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data-protection regulator.
Changes to this policy
I may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example if my services, systems or legal obligations change.
The latest version will always be made available through my website and the date at the top of this policy will show when it was last updated.
Laura Levitt
Real Conversations. Brighter Tomorrows.
Hello@lauralevitt.co.uk | 07715 587224
lauralevitt.co.uk