Privacy policy
Who I am
Compassionate Care is the online counselling practice of Claire Lino, a qualified and registered counsellor (Council for Counsellors South Africa, Reg. No. IR 0911), based in Cape Town, South Africa.
I am responsible for the personal information you share with the practice, and I am its Information Officer under POPIA. If you have any questions about this policy or your information, email me at hello@compassionate.co.za.
What I collect
I only collect what I need to arrange and provide counselling. The website has no contact forms, and I don’t use advertising or mailing lists.
| When | What I collect |
|---|---|
| You email me | Your name, email address and anything you choose to write |
| You book a session | Your first name, surname, email address, phone number (optional), preferred session length and the time you book |
| You complete the client information form | Your full and preferred name, date of birth, gender and occupation (both optional), email, mobile number, country and time zone, physical address, what brings you to counselling, your goals, and any other support you’re receiving (optional) |
| You sign the counselling agreement | Your name, signature or typed name, the date, and the consents you give |
| We have sessions | Notes I keep about our sessions, which may include information about your health, wellbeing, relationships and circumstances |
| You pay | Your name, the payment reference, amount and date of your EFT |
| You visit the website | Basic technical information, such as your IP address and browser type, handled by the website’s hosting provider |
If you list an emergency contact, or a parent or guardian signs for a client under 18, I also hold their name, relationship to you and contact details. I use an emergency contact’s details only if I believe you are at serious risk. I ask for your physical address only so that I can get help to you in an emergency during a session.
Please don’t include personal or clinical details in your first email. We can talk about what brings you to counselling once we’ve arranged a time.
Sessions are never recorded.
Why I collect it
I use your information only to:
- reply to your enquiry
- arrange, confirm, reschedule and hold your sessions
- keep the professional records a counsellor is expected to keep
- confirm payments and keep financial records
- meet my legal and professional obligations
I process your information because you have asked me to provide counselling, because the law or my professional body requires it, or with your consent.
Information about your health or wellbeing is “special personal information” under POPIA and gets extra protection. I only record it with your consent, only as far as it is needed for your counselling, and I keep it confidential.
I will never sell your information, use it for marketing, or add you to a mailing list.
Who I share it with
I use a few trusted service providers to run the practice. They handle your information only on my behalf and under their own data protection terms:
| Provider | What they do for the practice |
|---|---|
| Google (Google Workspace) | Email, the booking calendar, online client forms, and Google Meet for online sessions |
| Cloudflare | Hosting the website and handling its traffic |
| My bank | Receiving your EFT payments |
What you share in counselling stays between us, with a few exceptions that apply to all counsellors:
- if there is a serious risk of harm to you or to someone else
- if I have a concern about the safety of a child, which the law requires me to report
- if a court or the law requires me to disclose information
- in professional supervision, where I may discuss my work without identifying you
Where possible, I will talk to you first before sharing anything.
Where it is stored
Google and Cloudflare may store and process your information on servers outside South Africa. POPIA allows this when the provider is bound by data protection rules that give a similar level of protection, and both providers commit to this in their terms.
I keep session notes on paper, in a locked cabinet that only I can access.
How long I keep it
I keep your information only as long as I need it, then delete or destroy it securely.
| Information | How long I keep it |
|---|---|
| Enquiries that don’t lead to sessions | 6 months |
| Counselling records, including your client information form and signed agreement | 6 years after our last session; for clients under 18, until they turn 21 |
| Payment and financial records | 5 years, as South African tax law requires |
These periods follow guidance for keeping health records.
How I protect it
- Only I have access to client information. Session notes are kept on paper, in a locked cabinet.
- My email, calendar and practice accounts are protected with strong passwords and two-step verification.
- Each online session has its own private Google Meet link, and I take sessions from a private space.
Email is convenient but not completely secure. Please keep sensitive details for our sessions, and join sessions from somewhere private where you won’t be overheard.
Children and teenagers
For clients under 18, a parent or legal guardian must agree to counselling and to the practice processing the child’s personal information, as POPIA requires. They make the booking or give their consent before the first session.
At the start, we agree together what I will and won’t share with parents or guardians. What a young person shares stays confidential, within the limits described under “Who I share it with”.
The website
This website doesn’t use tracking cookies, advertising or analytics that follow you around the internet. Its hosting provider, Cloudflare, processes basic technical information such as your IP address to deliver the site and protect it from attacks.
The “Book a Session” button takes you to my booking page on Google Calendar, which is covered by Google’s privacy policy.
Everything on this website is served from the site itself. It loads no third-party fonts, scripts or analytics.
Your rights
Under POPIA, you have the right to:
- ask what personal information I hold about you, and get a copy of it
- ask me to correct information that is wrong or incomplete
- ask me to delete your information, unless I must keep it by law or professional rules
- object to how I use your information, or withdraw your consent
- complain to the Information Regulator
To use any of these rights, email hello@compassionate.co.za. I may ask you to confirm your identity first, and I will reply within 30 days.
Complaints
If you’re unhappy with how I’ve handled your information, please tell me first at hello@compassionate.co.za, and I’ll do my best to put it right.
You can also complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa:
- Online: the Information Regulator eServices portal
- Email: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za, using POPIA Form 5
- Website: inforegulator.org.za
Concerns about my professional conduct can be raised with the Council for Counsellors South Africa (C4CSA).
Changes to this policy
I may update this policy from time to time, for example if I start using a new service. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated.
Last updated