Privacy Policy

In order to receive information about your Personal Data, the purposes and the parties the Data is shared with, contact the Owner.

Owner and Data Controller

Wendy Gardner

Owner contact email: [email protected]

Types of Data collected

The owner does not provide a list of Personal Data types collected.

Complete details on each type of Personal Data collected are provided in the dedicated sections of this privacy policy or by specific explanation texts displayed prior to the Data collection.
Personal Data may be freely provided by the User, or, in case of Usage Data, collected automatically when using this Application.
Unless specified otherwise, all Data requested by this Application is mandatory and failure to provide this Data may make it impossible for this Application to provide its services. In cases where this Application specifically states that some Data is not mandatory, Users are free not to communicate this Data without consequences to the availability or the functioning of the Service.
Users who are uncertain about which Personal Data is mandatory are welcome to contact the Owner.
Any use of Cookies – or of other tracking tools – by this Application or by the owners of third-party services used by this Application serves the purpose of providing the Service required by the User, in addition to any other purposes described in the present document and in the Cookie Policy, if available.

Users are responsible for any third-party Personal Data obtained, published or shared through this Application and confirm that they have the third party’s consent to provide the Data to the Owner.

Mode and place of processing the Data

Methods of processing
The Owner takes appropriate security measures to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, or unauthorized destruction of the Data.
The Data processing is carried out using computers and/or IT enabled tools, following organizational procedures and modes strictly related to the purposes indicated. In addition to the Owner, in some cases, the Data may be accessible to certain types of persons in charge, involved with the operation of this Application (administration, sales, marketing, legal, system administration) or external parties (such as third-party technical service providers, mail carriers, hosting providers, IT companies, communications agencies) appointed, if necessary, as Data Processors by the Owner. The updated list of these parties may be requested from the Owner at any time.

Legal basis of processing
The Owner may process Personal Data relating to Users if one of the following applies:

Users have given their consent for one or more specific purposes. Note: Under some legislations the Owner may be allowed to process Personal Data until the User objects to such processing (“opt-out”), without having to rely on consent or any other of the following legal bases. This, however, does not apply, whenever the processing of Personal Data is subject to European data protection law;
provision of Data is necessary for the performance of an agreement with the User and/or for any pre-contractual obligations thereof;
processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the Owner is subject;
processing is related to a task that is carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Owner;
processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the Owner or by a third party.
In any case, the Owner will gladly help to clarify the specific legal basis that applies to the processing, and in particular whether the provision of Personal Data is a statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract.

Place
The Data is processed at the Owner’s operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located.

Depending on the User’s location, data transfers may involve transferring the User’s Data to a country other than their own. To find out more about the place of processing of such transferred Data, Users can check the section containing details about the processing of Personal Data.

Users are also entitled to learn about the legal basis of Data transfers to a country outside the European Union or to any international organization governed by public international law or set up by two or more countries, such as the UN, and about the security measures taken by the Owner to safeguard their Data.

If any such transfer takes place, Users can find out more by checking the relevant sections of this document or inquire with the Owner using the information provided in the contact section.

Retention time
Personal Data shall be processed and stored for as long as required by the purpose they have been collected for.

Therefore:

Personal Data collected for purposes related to the performance of a contract between the Owner and the User shall be retained until such contract has been fully performed.
Personal Data collected for the purposes of the Owner’s legitimate interests shall be retained as long as needed to fulfill such purposes. Users may find specific information regarding the legitimate interests pursued by the Owner within the relevant sections of this document or by contacting the Owner.
The Owner may be allowed to retain Personal Data for a longer period whenever the User has given consent to such processing, as long as such consent is not withdrawn. Furthermore, the Owner may be obliged to retain Personal Data for a longer period whenever required to do so for the performance of a legal obligation or upon order of an authority.

Once the retention period expires, Personal Data shall be deleted. Therefore, the right to access, the right to erasure, the right to rectification and the right to data portability cannot be enforced after expiration of the retention period.

The rights of Users

Users may exercise certain rights regarding their Data processed by the Owner.

In particular, Users have the right to do the following:

Withdraw their consent at any time.

Users have the right to withdraw consent where they have previously given their consent to the processing of their Personal Data.

Object to processing of their Data.

Users have the right to object to the processing of their Data if the processing is carried out on a legal basis other than consent. Further details are provided in the dedicated section below.

Access their Data.

Users have the right to learn if Data is being processed by the Owner, obtain disclosure regarding certain aspects of the processing and obtain a copy of the Data undergoing processing.
Verify and seek rectification. Users have the right to verify the accuracy of their Data and ask for it to be updated or corrected.

Restrict the processing of their Data.

Users have the right, under certain circumstances, to restrict the processing of their Data. In this case, the Owner will not process their Data for any purpose other than storing it.
Have their Personal Data deleted or otherwise removed. Users have the right, under certain circumstances, to obtain the erasure of their Data from the Owner.

Receive their Data and have it transferred to another controller.

Users have the right to receive their Data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and, if technically feasible, to have it transmitted to another controller without any hindrance. This provision is applicable provided that the Data is processed by automated means and that the processing is based on the User’s consent, on a contract which the User is part of or on pre-contractual obligations thereof.
Lodge a complaint. Users have the right to bring a claim before their competent data protection authority.
Details about the right to object to processing
Where Personal Data is processed for a public interest, in the exercise of an official authority vested in the Owner or for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the Owner, Users may object to such processing by providing a ground related to their particular situation to justify the objection.

Users must know that, however, should their Personal Data be processed for direct marketing purposes, they can object to that processing at any time without providing any justification. To learn, whether the Owner is processing Personal Data for direct marketing purposes, Users may refer to the relevant sections of this document.

How to exercise these rights

Any requests to exercise User rights can be directed to the Owner through the contact details provided in this document. These requests can be exercised free of charge and will be addressed by the Owner as early as possible and always within one month.

Additional information about Data collection and processing
Legal action

The User’s Personal Data may be used for legal purposes by the Owner in Court or in the stages leading to possible legal action arising from improper use of this Application or the related Services.
The User declares to be aware that the Owner may be required to reveal personal data upon request of public authorities.

Additional information about User’s Personal Data

In addition to the information contained in this privacy policy, this Application may provide the User with additional and contextual information concerning particular Services or the collection and processing of Personal Data upon request.

System logs and maintenance

For operation and maintenance purposes, this Application and any third-party services may collect files that record interaction with this Application (System logs) use other Personal Data (such as the IP Address) for this purpose.

Information not contained in this policy

More details concerning the collection or processing of Personal Data may be requested from the Owner at any time. Please see the contact information at the beginning of this document.

How “Do Not Track” requests are handled

This Application does not support “Do Not Track” requests.
To determine whether any of the third-party services it uses honor the “Do Not Track” requests, please read their privacy policies.

Changes to this privacy policy

The Owner reserves the right to make changes to this privacy policy at any time by notifying its Users on this page and possibly within this Application and/or – as far as technically and legally feasible – sending a notice to Users via any contact information available to the Owner. It is strongly recommended to check this page often, referring to the date of the last modification listed at the bottom.

Should the changes affect processing activities performed on the basis of the User’s consent, the Owner shall collect new consent from the User, where required.

Data Control

For the purposes of GDPR, Wendy Gardner is the data controller for Ohana Foundation.

What personal data we process

Wendy Gardner collects and processes the following personal data from therapy clients:

Personal data: basic contact information: name, address, email, contact number, video conference ID (if online therapy), GP contact details and a contact person in risk/crisis situations.
Sensitive personal data: Signed Therapy Client Agreement, therapy records (therapist notes, letters, reports and/or outcome measures).
If you enquire about the service via email, we will also collect any information you provide to us. All email services used by Sharon Remington are verified by themselves as GDPR compliant.

If you are referred by your health insurance provider, then we will also collect, and process personal data provided by that organisation. This includes basic contact information, referral information, and health insurance policy number and authorisation for psychological treatment.

The lawful basis for processing personal data

Wendy Gardner has a legitimate interest in using the personal data and sensitive personal data we collect to provide health treatment. This is information that both you and I might reasonably expect to be provided and maintained to provide the service or information you want. For example:

Contact details are kept so that clients can be contacted for appointment scheduling or other arrangements pertaining to organising service delivery. Wendy Gardner will use the client’s email address as the primary mode of contact for matters relating to appointments.

Email is used to provide clients with an online invitation to join sessions via Zoom. E-mail may be used to share password-protected documents and self-help reading/resources pertaining to therapy, following mutual agreement. Email is also used to provide a record of payment for services.

Wendy Gardner may contact clients by text or WhatsApp message to advise of a last-minute change to an appointment.

GP details are required to allow Wendy Gardner to share information with a client’s GP should Wendy Gardner assess that this is required to safeguard physical and/or emotional health.

Emergency contact details are stored should an emergency related to a client’s health and wellbeing arise during an appointment, and/or it is deemed essential to the client’s wellbeing and safety to involve their emergency contact in their care.

Source of Personal Data

We do not obtain data from third parties without your informed consent except in the case of children or vulnerable persons and then this data will be obtained from a responsible party, solicitor, or a party holding power-of-attorney. Examples of data from third parties may be legal, medical, criminal, educational, social, or other records released by your solicitor for use in preparing a report on your behalf. If you are asking us to work in a legal case in which you are a party, we may receive information from the courts, the police, or your legal team. In this case such a release is made on your behalf by parties you have authorised. We may receive data from an insurance company or medical providers, again on your authorisation and knowledge.

Your Obligations to Provide Data

You are under no obligation to provide information to us, but we may not be able to provide you with the services you are requesting. In such a case, we may choose to not provide you with services that you are seeking.

What we do with your personal information

At Ohana Foundation we take your privacy seriously. We will only use your personal information to provide the services you have requested from us.

We may also ask for information on how you found our service for the purpose of our own marketing research. No information you provide is passed on without your consent. We will never sell your information to others.

How your personal information is used

We use the information we collect to:

Provide our services to you.
Process payment for such services. We may use your information in our accounting system to bill for services, take payments, file tax returns, and track your financial obligations to us. Once our financial relationship is concluded we will continue to hold that information until no longer required by Revenue or any other party with a legitimate interest. We do not hold credit card details.

Who we might share personal information with

We hold information about each of our clients and the therapy they receive in confidence. This means that we will not normally share your personal information with anyone else. However, there are exceptions to this when there may be need for liaison with other parties:

If you are referred by your health insurance provider, or otherwise claiming through a health insurance policy to fund therapy, then we will share appointment schedules with that organisation for the purposes of billing. We may also share information with that organisation to provide treatment updates.
In cases where treatment has been instructed by a solicitor, relevant clinical information from therapy records will be shared with legal services as required and with your written consent.

In exceptional circumstances, we might need to share personal information with relevant authorities:

When there is need-to-know information for another health provider, such as your GP.
When disclosure is in the public interest, to prevent a miscarriage of justice or where there is a legal duty, for example a Court Order.
When the information concerns risk of harm to the client, or risk of harm to another adult or a child. We will discuss such a proposed disclosure with you unless we believe that to do so could increase the level of risk to you or to someone else.

What we will NOT do with your personal information

We will not share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.

How we ensure the security of personal information

Personal information is minimised in phone and email communication. Wendy Gardner strongly advises that clients do not include sensitive information in emails, text and WhatsApp messages or any other method of written communication. Email applications use private (SSL) settings, which encrypts email traffic so that it cannot be read at any point between our computing devices and our mail server. Wendy Gardner will never use open or unsecure Wi-Fi networks to send any personal data.

Personal information is also stored on an office computer and on a secure server owned by Wendy Gardner. These are password protected. Firewall protection is present on all computing devices. Mobile devices are protected with a passcode/face identification.

All information recorded on paper, i.e., signed therapy contracts, will be securely stored in a locked filing cabinet. During therapy sessions, any session details recorded on paper will be transferred to electronic records and paper records will be shredded.

Your right to access the personal information we hold about you

You have a right to access the information we hold about you free of charge.
We will usually share this with you within 60 days of receiving a request.
If your request is unreasonable or you have made repeated requests for the same information, we may refuse to comply unless and until a fee is paid or an agreement reached on the data to be provided.
We may request further evidence from you to check your identity.
A copy of your personal information will usually be sent to you in a permanent form (that is, a printed copy).
You have a right to have your personal information corrected if it is inaccurate.
You can complain to a regulator. If you think that we haven’t complied with data protection laws, you have a right to lodge a complaint.

How long we store personal information

Emails received directly and related to services we are providing you will be kept only as long as we are working with you and will typically be deleted 30 days after we cease working with you. Basic contact information (Initials) held on a therapist’s mobile phone is deleted within 3 months of the end of therapy.

GDRP legislation states that individuals have the right to be ‘forgotten’ i.e., for their information to be erased should they request that. Wendy Gardner reserves the right to refuse a request to delete a client’s personal information where this is therapy records. Therapy records are retained for a period of 6 years in accordance with the guidelines and requirements for record keeping by The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC, [1]). Records are destroyed at the end of the calendar year once seven years have expired.