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Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy notice sets out how The Somatic Therapies Centre uses and protects any information that you give us when you visit this website or when you contact us by other means and the lawful basis under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) that permits us to do so.

You may visit our website freely without having to contact or use our services. We use cookies or Google Analytics to track your access to our website, to improve the website and your online experience.

Children and young people under the age of 16 must have the consent of their parent, guardian, or carer to contact us via the website or by phone.

Consent to hold your personal data

The Somatic Therapies Centre is committed to ensuring that we protect your privacy and will seek your explicit written consent to hold personal data about you, specifically and only for the purposes of providing counselling and other services to you.  We may also analyse data you provide us with for the purposes of providing the best possible service to you.

You can be assured that all this information is held securely and will only be used in accordance with data protection principles, our data protection and confidentiality policies. In addition, The Somatic Therapies Centre adheres to the BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice. We will honour the confidence and trust you have placed in us.

The basis on which we hold or share information about you is outlined below.  You have the right of access to information we hold about you and to amend or ask for deletion of information that may not be accurate or correct.  Please contact us if you wish to view the data, we hold about you.   The Somatic Therapies Centre will not hold your data for longer than is deemed necessary for the purposes of counselling and other therapies following best practice and legal guidance. If you wish to know how long, we hold data or notes for please contact us.

By visiting our website, you are agreeing to the contents of this Privacy Notice.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR, the data controller is The Somatic Therapies Centre, 81 Church Road, BN3 2 BB.  You may also contact our Data Protection Officer via nathalie@somatictherapiescentre

The types of personal data we collect and use.

The information you voluntarily provide to us by filling in the general enquiry form on our website, by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail, or in other ways is securely stored.  This information usually includes your name, email address, phone number and the outline of your enquiry. 

If you contact us, we will use the personal data you give us for the purposes of initiating working with you.  We will advise you if any of this data is optional.  The data you provide will not be passed on to any external third party, except where your permission has been requested or under special circumstances where we are required legally to do so.

Your details may also be shared with third parties who carry out services on our behalf, for example, processing payments, hosting our websites, but we only use reputable companies who should never sell your data or use your data to contact you directly.

Financial information – Payment details are securely stored within our secure PCI compliant booking system (Jane.app). 

Why we collect your data:

If you book an appointment with a complementary therapist (including Massage, Yoga, Pilates or Somatic Movement teacher), the information you share with the centre and your chosen self-employed therapist are stored and processed for several reasons:

1. Your therapist needs to collect personal information about your health to provide you with the best possible treatment. Your requesting treatment and they’re agreement to provide that care constitutes a contract.  You can, of course, refuse to provide the information, but if you were to do that, they would not be able to provide treatment.

2. They have a “Legitimate Interest” in collecting this information because without it they couldn’t do their job effectively and safely.

3. We also think that it is important that we can contact you in order to confirm your appointments with us or to update you on matters related to your medical care. This again constitutes “Legitimate Interest”, but this time it is your legitimate interest.

4. We may occasionally send you information in the form of articles, advice or newsletters. You may withdraw this consent at any time – and all communications from us will always have a one click “opt out” or “Unsubscribe” button.

The Somatic Therapies Centre and your self-employed therapist have a legal obligation to retain your records for 8 years after your most recent appointment (or age 25, if this is longer), but after this period you can ask us to delete your records if you wish. Otherwise, we will retain your records indefinitely in order that we can provide you with the best possible care should you need to see us at some future date.

If you contact a counsellor or psychotherapist displayed on our site, you can do so by sending them an email. This email is sent directly to the therapist via their email address.  No content is shared with the Somatic Therapies Centre.  

The Somatic Therapies Centre has no responsibility over the privacy notices held by individual therapists.

How Your Records Are Stored

Therapists will either store your consultation forms:

• On paper, in locked filing cabinets at the therapist’s home.
• Electronically (“in the cloud”), using a compliant record keeping service. Access to this data is password protected.
• They may also store your name and email electronically (“in the cloud”), using a compliant rehab/exercise prescription system. Access to this data is password protected.

The Somatic Therapies Centre will store data: Electronically (“in the cloud”) using the following systems:

  • Jane. App 
  • Mailchimp (used for emailing newsletters)
  • ClickSend (used for SMS Text)
  •  

Our accounts are stored on paper, a password protected computer and in the cloud. Our accounts only include your name and appointment details but nothing sensitive and no health related or contact details.

If you are a complementary therapist, counsellor, psychotherapist, group facilitator, or yoga/Pilates/ somatic movement teacher renting therapy space:

You may also provide us with information such as your personal bank details, details of your qualifications, insurance, professional body documents, personal description, and photograph. Your email address will be shared with the other professionals working from the Somatic Therapies Centre and emails stored for as long as is essential for the running of the Somatic Therapies Centre.

For therapists using our online ad hoc room booking system, we use Jane.app as a third-party processor for your booking and your payment will be processed via Stripe. 

Please see the Jane.app and Stripe privacy policies for further details.

Information we collect automatically:

Whenever you visit our website, we may automatically collect the following information about you:

• Technical information. We may, for instance, collect information about the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this Site.

• Information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our Site (including date and time); pages you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.

Like many websites, we use “Cookies” to enhance your experience and gather information about visitors and visits to our websites. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work or work more efficiently. Cookies cannot be used to find your name, email address, or anything that is uniquely identifying about you, unless you provide that information. We use cookies for those applications that require us to keep track of information to customize results. If you don’t have your browser set to accept cookies, certain areas of the website may not function properly.

We use the following cookies on our website:

• Standard PHP Session Cookies – for the general operation of this website

• Google Analytics – Google Analytics generates statistical information about website use. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store and use this information. This information does not personally identify you.

Complaint procedure

Aim

The intention of this procedure will always be to deal with complaints as swiftly and confidentially as possible.

Raising a complaint or concern

If you feel that The Somatic Therapies Centre or a self-employed therapist has mishandled your personal data in some way, you have the right to complain. 

Complaints need to be sent to what is referred to in the jargon as the “Data Controller”. Here are the details you need for that:

• Information provided on the health consultation form (contact details including email address, medical information, treatment plan). The Data Controller is your Self-Employed Therapist who should be contacted directly*
• Information held on Jane.app or Mailchimp please contact the owner of the Somatic Therapies Centre

Nathalie Mineau

nathalie@somatictherapiescentre.co.uk

*If you do not have an email address for your therapist please get in touch and we will do our best to assist you.

If, despite our attempts to solve the issue, you’re still unsatisfied about our handling of your data, and you would like to make a complaint, you can contact the ICO, at https://ico.org.uk/concerns

Health & Safety

Policy and Procedure on Health & Safety 

The Somatic Therapies Centre accepts responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974, to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of the therapists and clients while on the premises. 

To this end The Somatic Therapies Centre will, in so far as is reasonably practicable: 

1. Provide a working environment, equipment and systems of work which are free from hazard and without risk to health 

2. Provide such training and instructions, information and supervision as is necessary to ensure the health and safety at work of practitioners.

3. Ensure that the premises are maintained so far as is reasonably practicable as safe and without risk to health and with adequate access.

4. Make arrangements for ensuring safety and absence of risk to health in the handling and storing of articles and substances.

5. Make adequate arrangements for facilities and arrangements for practitioners’ welfare at work 

6. Provide and maintain arrangements for the emergency evacuation of premises under their control in case of fire or other emergency.

Responsibilities 

Overall and final responsibility for health and safety is that of the Director. 

All therapists must be aware of their individual responsibility: 

1. To take reasonable care of their own health and safety and the health and safety of their fellow therapists who may be affected by their acts or omissions.

2. To familiarise themselves and act in accordance with the Policies and Procedures related to health and safety.

3. Not to interfere intentionally or recklessly with, or misuse, anything provided in the interest of their health and welfare 

4. To notify a member of the management and administrative team if they notice a health and safety problem.

Safety with clients 

If a client or member of the public should appear to represent a threat to a member of the practice or its staff or to its clients, action should be taken in accordance with the Procedure for Clinical and Ethical Dilemmas. Any incident causing alarm or concern to a member should be reported and dealt with in accordance with the procedures.

Lone working 

The Somatic Therapies Centre recognises the potential risks in working on a one-to-one basis with clients (e.g. risk of physical attack or allegations of unprofessional conduct). Such risks are magnified when working alone in the building and, whilst it is not practicable to prohibit lone working, the practice aims to minimise the risks and ensure therapists are informed of them and know what steps to take to protect themselves. (See the following procedure and the Procedure for Clinical and Ethical Dilemmas)

 If it occurs that a practitioner may find themselves working alone in the building, for example before 9.00 a.m., after 8.00 p.m. and during times of holidays or when cancellations are made. This cannot always be avoided, but when they have noticed that no other practitioner will be present at the time of a session, members of administration staff are responsible for advising the practitioner concerned.  It is then the practitioner’s own responsibility to decide whether to work at that time. 

The security procedures and guidelines outlined here and in the Clinical and Ethical Dilemmas Procedure must be strictly adhered to.

Fire Safety 

The responsibilities and related procedure for fire safety are contained in the Policy and Procedure on Fire Safety. 

Security 

All practitioners should ensure that measures to ensure the security of the building and anyone using the premises are followed. The front door should be kept locked at all times and clients should be encouraged to make sure the door is locked when they leave.  

Violent and aggressive behaviour 

It is recommended that practitioners minimise risk to themselves by refusing to work with clients who present heavily under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The procedures for dealing with such clients and those behaving in a violent or aggressive manner are outlined in the Clinical and Ethical Dilemmas Procedure. Any incidents or concerns should be reported directly to the clinic director. The Director will ensure the practitioner is debriefed and offered appropriate support if needed. 

Reporting Hazards and Injuries 

Any injury incurred or potential hazard should be reported to the director and recorded in the Incident Book. A small First Aid kit is located in the kitchen. It is the responsibility of the director to keep it stocked. 

Hazardous substances 

Any potentially hazardous cleaning materials are stored in the kitchen and should not be removed.

Terms & Conditions of Booking

For Counsellors and Psychotherapists Only

The Somatic Therapies Centre fosters a professional, respectful environment. All therapists are required to act with consideration for other users and take responsibility for their own and their clients’ safety, especially in communal areas.    

​Please let other therapists and clients know that you are in session by making use of the sliding ‘in session / available’ notice on your door so that it is clear what spaces are in use.

At the end of your sessions, please reset the room, return furniture, and leave the door open to show it’s vacant. Turn off any lights or radiators that have been in use during your session. 

Joining

  • Pleaser, first contact the practice manager Nathalie to arrange a viewing and discuss your needs. 
  • A set of keys will be provided in exchange for a refundable £15 key deposit.
    • Please do not affix any identifying information to your keys (for example the practice name or address) as this is a security risk. If your actions result in the need for a change of locks, you would be liable for this cost.
  • To join you are required to provide proof of your professional qualifications, own professional insurance and membership to any associations. 

​Pricing  (for counsellors and psychotherapists only)

  • All rooms are charged at the same rate of £10.00 per hour
  • A half day booking of 4 consecutive hours from 9am  – 1pm, or 1pm – 5 pm is available for £35 per session.
  • An evening session (5pm – 10 pm) of 5 consecutive hours is available for £40 per session.
  • A day rate (8 consecutive hours booking) is available for £65 per day
  • Payments are taken via Stripe. You will need to provide payment details at the time of booking through Therapeuta (Therapeuta.com) but you won’t be charged until the cancellation period has passed. 
  • Downloadable invoices of your month’s usage will be available to you via your calendar profile.
  • The pricing schedule for complementary therapists and teachers works differently, for more information, please contact Nathalie directly. 

​Bookings

  • Bookings are available from 8am to 10pm as standard.
  • There is no minimum number of hours required per month.
  • Weekly recurring bookings can be made up to 30 days in advance. If you wish it to continue longer then please contact admin who will be able to extend it for you indefinitely.
  • All bookings (both ad-hoc and recurring) can be cancelled with a minimum of 48 hours’ notice. 

​Cleaning

  • The cleaning and maintenance of the practice is maintained by us directly, but we ask that you help to keep the practice in good order whilst you are working here by picking up after yourself and your clients. Please empty the wastepaper bin provided and clean any glasses you and your client might have used. 
  • The entire practice is professionally cleaned at least fortnightly. 
  • To help keep the rooms clean and fresh, please only dispose of food waste in the kitchen bin.
  • All consumables including tissues, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies will be provided by us. If you see something running low, please let us know and we will stock up.

​Damages​

  • Please report any damage, breakages, or indelible marks immediately.
  • You will be held responsible for any damage / breakages caused by yourself and your clients whilst using the space and may be asked to cover the costs of such.
  • If you ever have cause to complain about the conditions at The Somatic Therapies Centre, please let us know ASAP and we will do our best to remedy the problem.