Your privacy. Taken seriously.

1. Who we are

Talk Buddy is run by TalkBuddy Wellbeing Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 15308375). Our registered office is 26 Conway Drive, Ashford, TW15 1RQ.

We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration number ZB755436). If you have any questions about this policy, or want to use any of your rights, contact us at brian@talkbuddy.co.uk or on 07803 035969.

2. Our promise on confidentiality

If you use Talk Buddy counselling through your employer, club or organisation, they will never be told that you have used the service. They don't see your name, your session dates, which counsellor you chose or what you talk about. Organisations only ever receive anonymised, combined figures, with extra protections for small teams so that no one can be identified.

The only exceptions are the limited safeguarding situations described in section 6.

3. What we collect

If you contact us as an organisation (for example through our enquiry form or by email): your name, job title, organisation, work email, phone number and details of what you're looking for.

If you request counselling, through your organisation's private link or our Support for athletes page: your name, contact details, availability, preferred session format, accessibility needs, the counsellor you chose and a short description of what's bringing you to counselling. For athletes, we also ask for your sport, level and how sessions will be funded.

Some of this is health information, which the law treats as special category data. We only ask for what we need to arrange the right support.

If you have counselling sessions: your counsellor keeps brief clinical notes, as their professional body requires.

If you book a workshop or activity: the booking contact's name, organisation, contact details and booking details.

If you use the HR Hub: your name, work email and sign-in details, and the requests you make for your organisation.

When you visit our website: our website host, Wix, collects basic technical information such as your IP address and browser type, to keep the site and its forms working securely. Your Workplaces or Sport preference is saved in your own browser.

4. How we use it, and our legal basis

• To respond to enquiries and set up partnerships, because it's in our legitimate interests or it's a step towards a contract with your organisation.
• To arrange and provide counselling, because it's needed to provide the service you have asked for. For health information, we rely on the provision of health care by professionals bound by confidentiality (UK GDPR Article 9(2)(h)). Where we ask for it, we also rely on your explicit consent.
• To deliver workshops, activities and bookings, because it's needed to perform our contract.
• To run the HR Hub, because it's needed for our contract with your organisation.
• To produce anonymised reporting for organisations, because it's in our legitimate interests. Anonymised figures can't identify you.
• To keep people safe and meet legal duties, such as safeguarding and record keeping.

We never sell your information, and we don't use it for advertising.

5. Who we share it with

We only share personal information when we need to:

• Your counsellor, who is a qualified, registered and clinically supervised professional working with Talk Buddy.
• Service providers who process data for us under contract: Wix (website hosting and forms), IONOS (email), Airtable (managing requests and bookings), Microsoft SharePoint (business documents) and WriteUpp (clinical records).
• Professional advisers, such as our accountants and insurers, where necessary.
• Authorities, only where the law requires it or in the safeguarding situations below.

Some of our providers may process data outside the UK. When they do, the transfer is protected by UK adequacy regulations or approved contract terms.

6. When confidentiality may be broken

Counselling is confidential. In rare cases we may need to share information without your agreement: where there is a serious risk of harm to you or someone else, where a child or adult at risk may be in danger, or where the law requires it. Wherever it's safe and possible, we'll talk to you first. Your employer or club is not told unless it's essential to keep someone safe.

7. How long we keep it

• Organisation enquiries: up to 2 years after our last contact, unless a partnership begins.
• Counselling requests that don't go ahead: up to 12 months.
• Clinical notes: normally 7 years after your last session, in line with professional guidance, then securely destroyed.
• Contracts, bookings and invoices: 6 years, for legal and tax purposes.
• HR Hub accounts: for as long as the partnership lasts, then deleted within 90 days.

8. Keeping it secure

We limit access to people who need it. Clinical notes are kept in WriteUpp, a dedicated clinical records system, never alongside employer or club information. Please don't include health details in our general enquiry form.

9. Your rights

You have the right to: ask for a copy of your information; ask us to correct it; ask us to delete it or limit how we use it; object to how we use it; move it to another provider; and withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on it. Some rights have legal limits, for example where we must keep clinical records. To use any of these rights, email brian@talkbuddy.co.uk. We'll reply within one month.

10. Age

Our counselling services are for adults aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 through this website.

11. Complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated.