Privacy Policy

Date: 13.07.26
Next review date: 13.07.27

Who we are

This policy explains how we collect, use and protect your personal information when you use www.theawarenesscentre.com or use our services.

“We”, “us” and “our” refers to:

• The Awareness Centre Ltd (Company number 06194423), which provides counselling and psychotherapy services – private, low-cost, and NHS-commissioned; and
• The Awareness Centre Training School Ltd (Company number 14318012), which delivers our counselling and clinical supervision training courses.

Both companies are registered in England and Wales at 74-80 Upper Tooting Road, London, England, SW17 7PB, and share this website. They are separate legal entities: The Awareness Centre Training School Ltd does not have access to, or any role in, the clinical records of counselling clients, and The Awareness Centre Ltd does not control student academic records. Where it matters below, we say which company is responsible for what.

We comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The information we collect

• Contact details you give us – for example, your name, email address and phone number, when you make an enquiry, book an appointment, or apply for a course or job;
• Information about your counselling, if you become a client – including referral information and, where relevant, health information relevant to your therapy (see ‘Health information’ below);
• Information about your course application, if you apply to TAC Training School – including qualifications, references and, where relevant, DBS check results;
• Technical and usage information about your visit to our website – see our separate Cookie Policy for full detail on cookies and website analytics/advertising.

Health information

Unlike many organisations, we routinely collect and use health information (including information about your mental health) as a core part of providing counselling. This is “special category data” under the UK GDPR, and we only use it where we have both a valid reason to process personal data generally, and a specific condition for handling health information – most commonly your explicit consent, our role in providing you with health/therapeutic treatment, or, in rare cases, to protect someone’s safety (see ‘Confidentiality’ below). We apply extra safeguards to this information, including restricting who can see it and keeping only what is needed for your care.

If you are referred to us by the NHS Some of our counselling is commissioned by the NHS. If you are referred to us this way, the NHS body funding your care (not TAC) is legally responsible for your personal data, and we act only on its instructions. In practice, this means we record and access your information directly within IAPTUS, the NHS’s own electronic patient record system for talking therapies – not in TAC’s own systems – and we do not keep separate copies of your NHS clinical records once your care with us ends.

If you are under 18

We do provide counselling to children and young people, as well as adults. Where a young person is able to understand and make their own decisions about counselling, we may act on their own consent. Otherwise, we normally seek consent from a parent or person with parental responsibility, unless doing so would not be in the child’s best interests. We apply extra safeguards to information about children and young people – see ‘Confidentiality’ and ‘Keeping you safe’ below.

Confidentiality

Counselling is confidential. We only share information about your counselling outside TAC in limited circumstances – for example, if we’re worried about serious risk of harm to you or someone else, if we’re required to by law, or as part of an NHS commissioning contract. Where practical, we’ll discuss this with you first. Full detail is in our Confidentiality Policy.

Keeping you safe (safeguarding)

If we have concerns about the safety of a child or an adult at risk, we may need to share information as part of our safeguarding duties, in line with our Safeguarding Policy, even without consent in some circumstances.

How long we keep your information

As a starting point, subject to confirmation by TAC’s Partners:

• If you’re a private or low-cost client, we keep clinical/case records for at least 20 years after your last contact with us (or 10 years after death, if known to us); for records relating to children and young people, until their 25th birthday (26th if they
  were 17 when treatment ended), if that is longer;
• If you’re an NHS-referred client, your records belong to the NHS and we don’t keep separate copies once your care with us, or our contract, ends – see above;
• If you apply for a course or job with us and are unsuccessful, we normally keep your application for up to 12 months

Who we share your information with

• The NHS body funding your care, where applicable;
• Our clinical supervisors and the professional bodies that regulate us (e.g. BACP);
• IT and software providers who help us run our services (for example, Microsoft 365, and case management software), under contracts that protect your information;
• DBS umbrella bodies, for staff and placement counsellors requiring criminal record checks;
• Professional advisers, regulators or authorities, where we are legally required to.

We do not sell your information, and we do not share your health/clinical information with advertisers.

International transfers

Some of the tools we use for running our website – including Google Analytics, Google Ads, and LinkedIn Ads (see our Cookie Policy) – may involve your information being processed outside the UK, including in the United States, by those providers. Where this happens, we rely on legally approved safeguards (such as the UK’s data bridge with the US, or standard contractual clauses).

Your clinical/counselling records are held within the UK, either in TAC’s own UK/EEA-based systems or, for NHS-referred clients, within IAPTUS.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• Be informed about how we use your data;
• Access a copy of your data;
• Have inaccurate data corrected, and incomplete data completed;
• Ask us to delete your data, in certain circumstances;
• Ask us to restrict how we use your data, in certain circumstances;
• Receive your data in a portable format, in certain circumstances;
• Object to processing based on our legitimate interests, or to direct marketing.

If you’re a child, you (if you have sufficient understanding) or your parent/guardian can exercise these rights on your behalf.

If you were referred to us by the NHS, these requests should usually go to the relevant NHS body, since it is responsible for your data – but you can also contact us and we’ll help direct your request.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below. We may need to verify your identity first.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies. When you first visit, you can choose which non-essential cookies (such as analytics and advertising) to accept. See our Cookie Policy for full details of the cookies we use and how to manage your preferences.

Keeping your information secure

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including access controls, encryption, staff training, and secure systems. For NHScommissioned services, we complete the NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) annually.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page.

Contact us and complaints

Questions or requests about this policy, or about how we handle your personal data, should be addressed to:

Data Protection Lead: Andrew Elder
E: dataprotection@theawarenesscentre.com
T: 01865 988217

If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

W: www.ico.org.uk
T: 0303 123 1113

The Awareness Centre, Registered Office: 74-80 Upper Tooting Road, London SW17 7PB
A company registered in England and Wales with Company number 06194423

The Awareness Centre Training School Ltd, Registered Office: 74-80 Upper Tooting Road, London SW17 7PB
A company registered in England and Wales with Company number 14318012