Privacy & Cookies Policy
what is this policy for?
The Yoga Clinic offers:
trauma informed therapeutic services
education, training, consultancy & supervision services
In order to provide these services this website & Alexandra Cat collect data from you. This policy explains:
what data is collected
why this data is collected
how this data is stored
who it may be shared with
your rights in relation to this data
If you want to ask me anything about how I use your information, please email me here.
If you have concerns about how your personal information is handled you can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office - the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues
what data do i hold?
I hold different types of information depending on how you work with me and the nature of our communication and connection.
1-1 Therapeutic Work:
Before beginning 1-1 therapeutic work, we complete an intake and assessment process. This provides information about your life, circumstances, history, health and wellbeing, including information for emergency contact / safe handover arrangements.
Please see here for details of the information asked, confidentiality and consent processes.
I may also hold:
a record of therapeutic sessions, including dates, brief information on what was covered, concerns about risk and any tools offered
information relating to significant concerns about your safety or wellbeing, including records of actions taken and any contact made with an emergency contact, healthcare provider or other relevant professional
working audio notes to facilitate my thinking (anonymised)
communications with other health professionals
a shared Google Drive folder containing notes or images used during therapeutic sessions, where these have been shared with you and anyone else you choose
Therapeutic Groups:
Before joining a therapeutic group you complete an intake form. This provides information about your life, circumstances, history, health and wellbeing, including information for emergency contact / safe handover arrangements.
Please see here for details of the information asked, confidentiality and consent processes.
I may also hold:
a record of therapeutic group sessions, including dates, brief information on what was covered, concerns about risk and any tools offered
information relating to significant concerns about your safety or wellbeing, including records of actions taken and any contact made with an emergency contact, healthcare provider or other relevant professional
working audio notes to facilitate my thinking (anonymised)
communications with other health professionals
a shared Google Drive folder containing notes or images used during therapeutic group sessions, where these have been shared with you and anyone else you choose
Supervision:
If you enquire about supervision, you may provide:
your contact details
professional information
information about your supervision needs
Before beginning supervision, you complete a Supervision Contract. You can see a copy of one here. This records the agreed arrangements for supervision and may include information about your professional role and context.
As part of the supervision relationship, I may also hold:
a Topics for Reflection document created with you. You can see a copy of one here.
information about your professional context and the issues you bring to supervision
records of supervision sessions
information relating to significant concerns about your safety, wellbeing, professional practice, conduct or ability to practise safely
communications with other relevant professionals where necessary
Enquiries, Bookings and Appointments:
If you contact me about The Yoga Clinic, the information I hold will depend on how you contact me and what you are enquiring about.
General Enquiries
If you contact me directly by email, I will hold the information you provide in your message, together with your contact details and any subsequent correspondence relating to your enquiry.
Scheduling a Chat - Therapeutic Services
If you use the Scheduling a Chat form to arrange a conversation about therapeutic work, I will hold the information you provide on the form. This includes your contact details, information about the type of therapeutic work you are interested in, information about whether you are considering 1-1 or group work, whether you are currently in therapy for trauma-related experiences, and information about arranging the call.
Supervision and Mentoring Enquiries
If you complete the Supervision & Mentoring Enquiry form, I will hold the information you provide on the form. This includes your contact details, location, profession or role, the type of supervision or mentoring you are interested in, information about your current supervision or mentoring arrangements, and your preferences and requirements for the proposed work, including how and when you would like to meet.
If you subsequently begin supervision or mentoring with me, I will hold additional information as described under Supervision.
If you choose to receive news and updates from The Yoga Clinic, your email address will also be used for the newsletter. See Newsletters & email lists for more information.
Education, Training and The Yoga Clinic Register
If you book a place on an educational or training programme, I will hold the information you provide as part of the booking. This includes:
your name
your email address
your contact number
your occupation
any additional information you provide about your occupation
information relating to your booking and participation in the programme
I keep a record of your attendance, including the days and hours you attend. This information is used to determine the attendance documentation you receive following the programme, including continuing education certificates for Yoga Alliance and the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and a Letter of Attendance from The Yoga Clinic.
If you choose to receive news and updates from The Yoga Clinic, your email address will also be used for the newsletter. See Newsletters & email lists for more information.
If you choose to be included on The Yoga Clinic Register, I will hold the information needed for your listing, including:
your contact details
the educational programme(s) you have attended
the geographical area in which you offer trauma informed yoga services
where applicable your additional professional role and licensure to practice details
Bursary Applications
If you apply for an educational or training bursary, I will hold the information you provide as part of your application. This includes:
your name and contact details
your occupation and, where relevant, information about the organisation that employs you
information about your eligibility for the bursary, including the eligibility criteria you meet
information about your racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation and physical or mental health, including information about how a health condition has affected your ability to access similar workshops
information about your circumstances relevant to the bursary criteria
information about your income and receipt of Government benefits
information about your ability to contribute towards the cost of the workshop and any payment arrangements
information about how you envisage making use of your workshop experience
information about your interest in further training, including with The Centre for Trauma & Embodiment's yoga programme
I use this information to assess your application against the relevant bursary criteria and to administer bursary places.
If you choose to receive news and updates from The Yoga Clinic, your email address will also be used for the newsletter. See Newsletters & email lists for more information.
Newsletter:
If you subscribe to The Yoga Clinic newsletter, I hold:
your email address
information about your newsletter subscription and preferences
If you have provided your email address for another purpose, such as an enquiry or to arrange therapeutic work, I hold that information separately from your newsletter subscription.
Invoices and Payment Records:
If you make a payment to me, I hold information needed to record and manage the payment. This may include:
your name
your contact details
details of the service, session, workshop or other payment
the amount paid and date of payment
invoice and payment records
information needed for accounting and tax purposes
Professional Reflection and Supervision
As part of my professional practice, I engage in supervision and professional reflection. I may discuss my work with a supervisor, peer or other appropriate professional using information about my work with clients or supervisees.
Where I make notes for my own professional reflection, these will be anonymised and will not normally include information that identifies individual clients or supervisees.
why i collect this data & for how long
I collect and use information for different purposes depending on how you work with me. I only keep information for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected, or where there is another legal or professional reason to retain it.
Therapeutic Work:
A record of the therapeutic work I do with you helps me remember and review our work, provide appropriate care, and keep a record of significant concerns about safety or wellbeing and any actions taken.
This includes working audio records that I make to support my thinking and reflection about the therapeutic work.
Therapeutic work may be active, paused or ended. When our therapeutic work is active, I retain your records as part of my current client records.
If we pause our therapeutic work, I continue to retain your records for two months from the start of the pause. This gives you time to decide whether you would like to return to 1–1 work, join a group, or simply take some more time.
If you re-engage with me during this two-month period, your records remain part of your current client record.
If there is no re-engagement during this period, I move your records to my Archive system.
I retain my therapeutic records for 7 years from the date they are moved to Archive. This is consistent with current UKCP guidance, which describes 7 years as general best practice for retaining client records.
The date for deletion is calculated from the date the records are moved to Archive. At the end of the seven-year retention period, the records will be securely deleted, subject to any circumstances requiring a longer retention period.
If you return to therapeutic work with me after your records have been moved to Archive, and those records are still within the seven-year retention period, they become part of your current therapeutic record again.
Archived records are kept separately from my active work and are not stored locally on any of my devices. I do not routinely access archived records. They may need to be accessed if, for example, you resume working with me, you ask me to provide information, or there is a legal or professional reason to do so.
Supervision:
Information you provide as part of supervision is used to support the supervision relationship, understand your professional context and the issues you wish to bring to supervision, and to maintain an appropriate record of the supervision provided.
I retain my supervision records for 7 years from the date they are moved to Archive.
When supervision ends, I move your records from the active supervision folder into an Archive folder. The date the records are moved to Archive is the date from which the seven-year retention period begins.
Archived records are stored separately from my active work and are not stored locally on my devices. I do not routinely access archived records. They may need to be accessed if, for example, you resume supervision with me, you ask me to provide information, or there is a legal or professional reason to do so.
At the end of the seven-year retention period, the records will be securely deleted, subject to any circumstances requiring a longer retention period.
Enquiries, Bookings and Appointments:
General Enquiries
I use information you provide in a general enquiry to respond to your question and to manage any subsequent correspondence relating to your enquiry.
I retain email correspondence relating to general enquiries as part of my email records. I review this information periodically and delete it when it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected, unless there is another legal or professional reason to retain it.
Scheduling a Chat – Therapeutic Services
I use the information you provide through the Scheduling a Chat form to arrange and conduct a conversation about therapeutic work, including understanding what you are looking for and arranging the practical details of the call.
I make notes during or following the chat to record relevant information and support my professional thinking about the conversation. These notes are part of the information I hold but are not routinely shared with you, including if you subsequently become a client.
Where your enquiry relates to therapeutic work, I may retain the information you provide, together with relevant correspondence and my notes of the chat, as part of my professional records. This may be useful if you return to me at a later date, including where there has been a significant period between your initial enquiry and subsequent contact.
If you subsequently begin therapeutic work with me, relevant information from your enquiry and our correspondence may form part of your therapeutic record and will be retained in accordance with the retention period described under Therapeutic Work.
If you do not go on to work with me, I retain this information for as long as it is needed for the purposes described above, or where there is another legal or professional reason to retain it.
Supervision and Mentoring Enquiries
I use the information you provide through the Supervision & Mentoring Enquiry form to respond to your enquiry, understand what you are looking for, and discuss whether the proposed supervision or mentoring arrangement is appropriate and how the work might be organised.
If you subsequently begin supervision or mentoring with me, relevant information from your enquiry and our correspondence may form part of the supervision or mentoring records and will be retained in accordance with the retention period described under Supervision.
If you do not go on to work with me, I retain the enquiry information for as long as it is needed for these purposes, or where there is another legal or professional reason to retain it.
Education, Training and The Yoga Clinic Register
I use information about your booking and participation in educational and training programmes to administer the programme, communicate with you about the programme, record your attendance and provide the relevant attendance or continuing education documentation.
I retain records of your participation and attendance for as long as they are needed to maintain appropriate records of the training provided and the attendance documentation issued.
If you choose to be included on The Yoga Clinic Register, I retain the information needed to maintain your listing for as long as you remain on the Register.
If you ask to be removed from the Register, I will remove your listing, subject to any information that I need to retain for another legal or professional reason.
Bursaries
I use the information provided in a bursary application to assess the application against the relevant bursary criteria and to administer bursary places.
Information about bursary applications and awards may also be retained as a record of how bursary places have been allocated and to demonstrate that they have been offered according to the designated criteria.
I retain bursary application information for as long as it is needed for these purposes, or where there is another legal or professional reason to retain it.
If you choose to receive news and updates from The Yoga Clinic, your email address will be used for the newsletter as described under Newsletter.
Newsletter:
I use your email address to send The Yoga Clinic newsletter if you have chosen to subscribe.
I retain your newsletter subscription details for as long as you remain subscribed. If you unsubscribe, your details will no longer be used to send you the newsletter.
Invoices and Payment Records:
I use payment and invoice information to record and manage payments, maintain financial records, and meet my accounting and tax obligations.
I retain invoices and payment records for as long as required for these purposes, including any period required by law.
Professional reflection and supervision:
I use information about my work with clients and supervisees as part of my own professional reflection and supervision. This helps me reflect on my practice, consider any issues arising from my work, and maintain appropriate professional standards.
Where I make notes for my own professional reflection, these will be anonymised and will not normally include information that identifies individual clients or supervisees.
I retain these records for as long as they are needed for these purposes, or where there is another legal or professional reason to retain them.
Other Information:
For information that does not have a specific retention period described above, I will retain it only for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected, or where there is another legal or professional reason to retain it.
I review my retention periods and delete information when it is no longer needed.
why i am allowed to use your information
Data protection law requires me to have a lawful basis for collecting and using personal information.
The lawful basis I rely on depends on why I am using your information. These may include:
to provide services you have asked me to provide, including therapeutic work, supervision, education and training, and to take steps before providing those services
to meet legal or professional obligations, including maintaining appropriate records and responding to safeguarding or other legal requirements
where necessary for my legitimate interests, including appropriate business and professional records, responding to enquiries, administering services and assessing applications for bursary places
with your consent, where specifically asked, such as subscribing to the newsletter
Some information I collect is special category data, including information about racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation and physical or mental health. Where I use special category data, I must also meet an additional legal condition for using this type of information.
I will only use your information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, or where another use is permitted by law.
who i may share your information with
I do not sell your personal information or routinely share it with other organisations.
Depending on the service you use and the circumstances, your information may be processed by or shared with:
Google, through Google Drive, Google Workspace and Google Analytics
Apple, through iCloud and related services
Squarespace, which hosts this website and provides website, form and newsletter functionality
professional supervisors or peers, where information about my work is discussed as part of professional supervision or reflection. I anonymise information where appropriate
healthcare or other care professionals, where this is appropriate and permitted under my Confidentiality Policy
emergency contacts, where this is necessary in relation to a significant concern about your immediate safety
relevant safeguarding services, emergency services, professional bodies or other organisations, where information needs to be disclosed because of a safeguarding concern, significant risk of harm, legal requirement or professional obligation
I may also use other service providers where this is necessary to operate my services, for example for accounting or payment administration.
Where another organisation processes information on my behalf, I take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate data protection arrangements are in place.
For more information about when information may be disclosed in relation to therapeutic work or supervision, please see my Confidentiality Policy.
where your information may be processed
Some of the organisations I use to provide my services are international companies. Your information may therefore be stored or processed outside the UK.
Where your information is transferred outside the UK, I take reasonable steps to ensure that the transfer is made in accordance with applicable data protection law and that appropriate safeguards are in place.
You can find more information about how these organisations handle personal information through their own privacy policies:
newsletters & email lists
You can subscribe to The Yoga Clinic newsletter here.
The newsletter is distributed by Squarespace. Your email address is held by Squarespace for the purpose of sending the newsletter and managing your subscription. Each newsletter includes an option to unsubscribe or update your preferences.
If you unsubscribe from the newsletter, your email address will no longer be used to send you the newsletter.
If you have provided your email address to The Yoga Clinic for another purpose — for example, to make an enquiry, arrange a chat or communicate with me about services — this is separate from your newsletter subscription.
If you wish to stop receiving email communications from me, please email me directly and place UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Unsubscribing from the newsletter does not automatically stop other email communications from The Yoga Clinic, and asking me to stop other email communications does not automatically unsubscribe you from the newsletter.
where i store & secure your data
I store my records using Google Drive and iCloud services.
My Google Drive files are encrypted in transit and at rest. You can read more about how Google protects information stored in Google Drive here.
Information stored in iCloud is encrypted in transit and in storage. You can read more about how Apple protects information stored in iCloud here.
My accounts are accessed through password-protected devices, including my laptop, tablet and mobile phone, as part of the security measures I use to protect my information.
Client contact details are held within the relevant client records rather than routinely stored locally on my mobile phone or other devices.
I normally communicate with clients by email. Occasionally, where appropriate, I may use WhatsApp or text messaging to communicate about practical matters such as changes to session arrangements or a client letting me know that they are running late. These communications are not routinely used to create or maintain therapeutic or supervision records. Where these communications are stored or backed up through my devices or associated services, they may form part of the information processed by those services.
When therapeutic work ends, or when a period of pausing has ended without re-engagement, the relevant records are moved from the active client or group folder into an **Archive** folder. Archived records are stored separately from my active work and are not stored locally on my devices.
I take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss or damage. However, no electronic system or method of transmitting information can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Security on the internet
This website uses encryption to help protect information transmitted between your browser and the website.
However, no method of transmitting information over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Information submitted through website forms or sent to me by email may therefore be subject to risks associated with electronic communication.
Once I receive your information, I take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, loss or damage.
your right to your data
You have rights in relation to the personal information I hold about you. Depending on the circumstances, these may include the right to:
ask for a copy of the personal information I hold about you
ask me to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete
ask me to delete information where there is no longer a reason for me to keep it
ask me to restrict how I use your information in certain circumstances
object to certain uses of your information
withdraw consent where I am relying on your consent to use your information
These rights are subject to certain legal conditions and exemptions. For example, I may need to retain some information because of legal, professional or other obligations, and there may be circumstances in which I cannot provide particular information.
If you would like to ask what personal information I hold about you or exercise one of your data protection rights, please email me.
You do not need to use particular legal wording or make a formal subject access request. If you ask for the personal information I hold about you, I will treat your request in accordance with the applicable data protection requirements.
I will normally respond to a request within one month. This may be extended where the law allows this, for example where a request is particularly complex.
You can find more information about your data protection rights on the Information Commissioner's Office website.
Cookies & Google Analytics
This website uses cookies and similar technologies to make the website work, protect forms from spam, and understand how visitors use the site.
Necessary cookies:
Some cookies and similar technologies are necessary for the website to function properly. These are used by Squarespace, the platform on which this website is hosted, to provide essential website functionality and to remember your cookie preferences.
Analytics cookies:
I use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use this website, such as which pages are visited and how visitors interact with the site.
Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies for this purpose. These are not used unless you choose to allow analytics cookies through the cookie banner.
The Google Analytics service is provided by Google. You can find out more about how Google processes information through Google Analytics in Google's privacy information.
Google reCAPTCHA:
This website uses Google reCAPTCHA to help protect forms and newsletter sign-up from spam and automated submissions. reCAPTCHA is a security service provided by Google and is designed to distinguish genuine users from automated submissions.
Your Cookie Choices:
When you first visit the website, you can accept or decline non-essential cookies, or choose which types of cookies to allow.
You can change your choices at any time using the Cookie Preferences button at the bottom of the website.
If you decline analytics cookies, Google Analytics will not place its analytics cookies on your device.
For more information about the cookies Squarespace uses, you can read Squarespace's information about cookies.
how to complain
If you have concerns about how I have collected or used your personal information, please contact me first so that I can try to resolve the issue.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe that your personal information has not been handled in accordance with data protection law.
You can find information about how to contact the ICO and make a complaint on the ICO website.
contact me
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, how I use your information, or your data protection rights, please email me.
This privacy policy was last updated on Thursday September 17th 2026