Privacy Policy

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The I Can Centre is fully committed to protecting client privacy, and takes its responsibilities regarding the security of client information very seriously. This privacy notice aims to give you information on how “The I Can Centre” collects and processes data when you contact us by phone, email, website; when you sign up to our mailing list; or take part in research. 

We recommend that you read this privacy policy together with any other notices or information sheets we may provide on specific occasions, e.g. when taking part in CBT sessions, or in research studies. This privacy policy supplements rather than overrides any other policies, notices or information sheets. 

 “The I Can Centre” is a psychology, counselling and empowerment centre, that provides a range of psychology and CBT supports to the general population and professional groups. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, or any of our activities, we can be contacted by emailing us at info@TheICanCentre.com OR by phoning (028) 3084 8508 during office hours 

We may collect information from you when you register for courses, make enquires or subscribe to our newsletter. When ordering or registering on our site you may be asked to enter your: name, e-mail address, mailing address, and phone number (personal data). You can however also visit our site anonymously. If subscribing to any of our CBT services or supports we may collect mood data (our mood surveys are on our website) alongside demographic and contact data. The various types of information we may collect can be summarised as: 

• Information you give us: When you contact us, we may store personal information you give us such as your name, email address, postal address, and/or telephone number, and/or information about your use of our services. We use this information for the purposes of providing the requested services, goods and/or supports.
• Information about your interactions with us:  When you visit our website, we may collect information about how you interact with our site and/ or our services.
• Sensitive personal data: Data protection law recognises that certain categories of personal information are more sensitive such as health information, race, religious beliefs and political opinions. We will only collect the health information that you decide to disclose (e.g. mood surveys), and purely for the purposes of providing the requested services and supports and to a high standard.  

Information is NOT disclosed to any 3rd party groups or data processors, unless you give permission for the purposes of supporting you (e.g. GP contact/letters), and/or unless requested to do so via a court of law. In instances where information of a life-threatening and/or criminal nature is disclosed, we may be obligated to pass on that information to relevant professionals, and/or to seek further clarification about such disclosures. 

You are not obliged to give us any data or information though this may limit our ability to provide top quality services or supports. Similarly, you are not obliged to complete mood surveys, or to take part in CBT service evaluations or research. If you choose this route, there are zero penalties however, in a 1-1 CBT setting particularly, monitoring mood over time can help us to offer you more targeted supports, e.g. if moods are not improving, we then can discuss this in the session, and adopt a different approach to help clients make progress towards their goals and objectives. 

There are three main reasons why we collect / process the information outlined:  

• Contract purposes: When you access our services and supports we are then engaging into a contract with you. In order to fulfil this contract we need to process and store your data, e.g. to contact you about session or class information. 
• Legitimate business interests: In certain situations, we collect and process data for purposes aligned with our Centre, e.g. to monitor uptake in services or to improve communication channels. However, we only do this anonymously, and if/where there is no overriding prejudice to you.
• With your explicit consent: For any situations where the two bases above are not appropriate, we will instead ask for your explicit consent before using your personal information for a specific reason or situation. 

We aim to communicate with you about our work in ways that are relevant, timely and respectful. To do this we use data that we have stored about you, such as email address, or workshops you have attended, as any preferences you may have told us about. However, you will only receive marketing or promotional communications from us if you have requested information from us, purchased products or services from us, or told us that we can send further information to you. 

Additionally, you can tell us that you want to stop receiving marketing communications from us at any time through of several ways: 

• All emails will include an “unsubscribe” option which you can access at any point and without any penalties (other than missing out on information and offers)
• You can contact us directly by email, phone or in person, to unsubscribe or give us your preferences. 

We promise to process any such request in a reasonable timeframe, and typically immediately (e.g when you click “unsubscribe” on emails). There are zero penalties from opting out from marking, other than you not being informed about activities or events that might interest.  Additionally, opting out from periodic marketing messages will not stop you from receiving essential communication or information about your specific service, event or class. 

We are absolutely committed to protecting your data. As such, your information will not be sold or given to any other company. 

We can sometimes work with certain groups who help us provide services and supports to you; these include payment providers, and IT or system administration providers. An example will be a third party through which you may book a class or a community course, or give payment. These third party groups however are well researched beforehand, they provide a core support service for us, and they are only permitted to process data for our specific purposes and in accordance with our instructions. Additionally, we require these select third party groups to respect the security of your data, to treat it lawfully and to be GDPR compliant. 

What We Do To Protect Information 

Security of information is something we take very seriously. As such, we have in place multi-layered safeguards to keep your personal information secure. Our safeguards address both our procedures and also the technology we use; additionally, these are kept under review on an ongoing basis. On a related note, we also ensure that any third parties we collaborate with, also make data security their highest priority.  

How long will we keep information 

We only retain information and data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes and conditions for which it was collected; this includes meeting any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. To determine the retention periods of information, we consider a range of factors incl the quantity and sensitivity of the data, and the purposes for which the data was collected. Retention periods therefore will vary depending on the different types of data and information we hold, for example: 

• CBT notes and records may be held security for a period of up to six years not least due to the potential for clients requesting this information to support later court cases. 
• Other information such as general enquiries about our services and supports will be held and deleted within a month. 
• In terms of research data, we do anonymise surveys and/or interviews (ID number only) for evaluation and statistical purposes which means we may hold this data indefinitely and without further notice. Research data may also be reported anonymously via scientific meetings, research papers and/or books. 

Your rights relating to your personal data 

You have the right to access, correct, and/or erase your personal data. These requests will be honoured and expedited in a prompt and timely fashion. However, some research information, like anonymised interview data, may already be in the public domain so it is recommended that such requests are made asap. Additionally, we may request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and your right to personal data, or to manage this request. 

Changes to our privacy policy 

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time and any changes will be communicated to you by way of a notice on our website and/or via social media.

Contact us 

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about any aspect of this privacy policy, or any queries about our services and supports. 

Please contact us by: emailing info@TheICanCentre.com OR by phoning (028) 3084 8508 during office hours. 

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