terms and conditions

If you have to cancel your hypnotherapy appointment, please give at least 24 hours notice. This ensures fairness to other clients who are waiting for an appointment. Missed appointments or appointments that are rescheduled with less than 24 hours notice will be charged at the full rate.

Please ensure you are on time for your appointment. It is likely that there will be an appointment booked immediately after yours and as a result any lateness will reduce the time available for your session.

Your commitment to the process is the difference that makes the difference, please do allow yourself the time that you need to make positive lasting change.

The Yellow Couch kindly ask that you turn off your phone or have it in silent mode prior to attending your session.

What is the General Data Protection Regulations, 2018 (GDPR) and how does it affect me?

The GDPR replaces the 1998 Data Protection Act to ensure your personal and sensitive, confidential data is kept private and held securely, being processed in the way that you have agreed to. It is there to protect your rights as a consumer of a service or product that might involve your identifiable data, e.g. your name and address or whether you have a specific condition. It also covers any session records, text messages or emails we exchange. For more information your can read the policy documents accessible via your welcome information pack.

How long will you hold my information for

The Yellow Couch will hold your data for 8 years after your final session. Unless you are a child, in which case The Yellow Couch must hold your data until your 25^th birthday, unless you are 17 when treatment ends and then The Yellow Couch must keep it until your 26^th birthday. Therefore, all records will be deleted in the January after the above retention scales. This is in line with NHS regulations for holding data.

What if I don’t want my records to be held for that long

Under the GDPR you can make a request in writing to The Yellow Couch, for all your records to be deleted. In this case all your paper records would be shredded with a shredding machine and any electronic data such as emails or text messages would be permanently deleted from the devices they are stored on. The Yellow Couch would have to save the request for deletion you made but would not save any other data. In some circumstances The Yellow Couch insurance companies legal team may want to verify information The Yellow Couch send out.

Why do you need to record this information

The Yellow Couch collect information about; why you are using the service, a small amount of medical information and a small amount of information about your important others, alongside brief session notes. This information enables The Yellow Couch to provide a high quality service to you, ensuring The Yellow Couch are equipped with the knowledge of our previous discussions prior to each session. Your contact details / address and Doctors details will only be used with your explicit consent. See consent form below.

What lengths are made to ensure my information is held securely?

Hardcopy documents – The Yellow Couch documents are all stored in a locked cabinet in a locked room.

Text messages – The Yellow Couch phone is secured with a pin code.

Emails – The Yellow Couch email account requires a user name and password.

Email attachments – Any attachments sent by email to you containing your personal information would be password protected and the password would be sent to you via text message.

Electronic documents – Any electronic documents e.g. A letter to your GP, or an invoice, are password protected and stored on a password protected computer if they contain personal or sensitive information.

Is what we discuss kept confidential?

Everything we talk about during our sessions are strictly confidential between you the client and the Yellow Couch. To ensure The Yellow Couch are doing the job effectively and that The Yellow Couch have the right support, elements of sessions may be discussed with a supervisor. During these discussions any details that may identify you to the supervisor will not be disclosed, and The Yellow Couch supervisor also adheres to the GDPR.

Meeting outside of session(s)

You are welcome to share with other people about the therapy you are receiving, but The Yellow Couch are obligated by GDPR law to ensure your confidentiality is protected. Your treatment with The Yellow Couch will not be discussed should our paths cross outside of your sessions.

What about other Health and Social Care Professionals?

As The Yellow Couch adhere to the GDPR any contact, relating to you, with other health care professionals would only be made with your signed consent. E.g. If I were to write to your GP to notify them of your treatment with The Yellow Couch, and then notify them of the treatment ending, The Yellow Couch would only do this if you were to sign the specific consent for this at the end of this document.

Exceptions:

In order to safeguard you and the people around you, if you were to disclose that you were going to carry out harm to yourself or someone else, then under The Yellow Couch “Duty of Care” The Yellow Couch are obligated by law to inform the relevant authorities. This is to support you to live well, and The Yellow Couch would always aim to discuss this with you prior to contacting anyone.

If The Yellow Couch was issued with a police warrant or court order for your information, by law The Yellow Couch would also have to provide them with your information.

Please Read This Document Carefully

The frequently asked questions and related answers in this document establish the terms and conditions for treatment at The Yellow Couch.

Please ensure that these terms and conditions are fully accepted by you prior to attending subsequent appointments. If you feel you would require a change to your terms and conditions, please speak with The Yellow Couch prior to our second session.