Privacy Policy

Hello there!

Thank you for checking out our privacy policy. At Hive Wellness we take our client’s and therapist’s privacy seriously. We’re committed to protecting your privacy and handling your information in a responsible way while you use our website and the Hive Wellness platform. Hive Wellness wants you to understand that our platform is a safe place for our therapists to provide therapy services and for our clients to have a safe environment to discuss their feelings and concerns. We operate in a highly confidential environment. This policy sets out how data is collected and processed through the use of our website and the Hive Wellness platform.

We encourage you to read this policy alongside any other privacy notices we might provide, so you’re fully in the loop about how and why we use your information.

Who’s in charge of your data?

The controller of your data is Hive Wellness LTD, and we can be contacted by email at admin@hivewellness.co.uk.

Not happy with something?

Let’s chat and try to fix it. You’ve also got the right to talk to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at (www.ico.gov.org.uk), but we hope to resolve any issues directly.

Do we collect data about children?

No, we do not collect or process data about anyone under the age of 18. Hive Wellness’s platform is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 18. If we discover that any personal data has been submitted by a minor, it will be promptly deleted and will not be further processed by Hive Wellness.

What type of data do we collect about you?

‘Personal data’ is information that identifies you. If we’ve removed your identity (by making the data anonymous), it won’t be classed as personal data. We might collect, use, store, and share various types of personal data about you as follows:

Client Data: such as first and last name, platform username and password, marital status and title, date of birth, gender, contact details such as your address, email address and telephone number. We will also collect health data about you when you apply for our services and when you attend any therapy sessions. See below for specific details of the health data that we may collect. We will also collect your payment details such as your bank account and payment card details when you pay for your sessions.
Health Data: includes information about your health, including information about your existing and previous medical health conditions, medication details, psychiatric history and any other relevant health information to enable us to carry out our therapist matching service and for our therapists to provide therapy to you.
Therapist Data: such as first and last name, platform username and password, contact details, marital status and title, date of birth, gender, contact details such as your address, email address and telephone number and payment details such as your bank account and payment card details. We will also collect certain information about your professional qualifications and work experience, which will be detailed in the privacy notice we provide as part of our therapist onboarding process.
Technical Information Data: such as your internet protocol (IP address), your login data, browser type, version, browser plug-in types and versions, time zone setting and location, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website.
Information about transactions like details about payments to and from you, and other details of services you have purchased or provided from/to us.
Account Data: such as your platform username, password, details about the therapy sessions provided, and your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
Usage Information Data: about how you use our website and the Hive Wellness platform.
Marketing Information Data: such as your preferences on receiving marketing from both us, along with your communication preferences.
Consents for Health Data: We require your specific consent to process your Health Data (and to enable our therapists to process your data too) so, when you submit your details, we will ask you to confirm your consent to this processing.
Special Category Data: Apart from the Health Data listed above, we may also collect information about religious beliefs (purely to assist with our matching service). We do not collect any other Special Category Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

How do we collect your personal data?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you. The majority of the time, our information is collected directly when you contact us in the following ways:

When you fill in our new client online questionnaire;
When you contact us by telephone to use our services;
When you complete any forms before or during a session;
Verbally during discussions with us and our therapists;
When you apply to become one of our therapists;
Correspondence with us via post, phone, email or otherwise;
When you create an account on the Hive Wellness platform;
When you subscribe to our service or publications;
When you request marketing communications to be sent to you; or
When you give us feedback or contact us.

Another method we may use to collect data includes the use of automated technologies or interactions, like website cookies or other similar technologies. This includes information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns and information about your browsing activity if you visit another website that uses the same cookies as us. This means we receive information about how you use these third-party websites.

This data collection helps us to improve user experience, and to gather information about how you use our website. For more information, please refer to our Cookie Policy, which can be accessed here.

We may also receive data from third-parties such as:

Technical information from Analytics providers such as Google.
Advertising networks such as Meta (Facebook).

Platform Messaging

If you use the Hive Wellness messaging feature, we collect and store the content of messages exchanged between clients and therapists through the platform, the date and time they are sent or received, and any files or attachments shared.
Messages are accessible to the client and therapist involved in the conversation. A limited number of authorised Hive Wellness personnel may also access, review or retrieve messages, on an exceptional and controlled basis, where reasonably necessary to: (a) support the safe operation of the platform and provide technical support; (b) investigate safeguarding concerns or risks of harm; (c) respond to complaints, disputes or concerns; (d) monitor compliance with our Terms and applicable professional standards; or (e) comply with legal, regulatory or law enforcement obligations. Access is restricted to authorised personnel and is logged. We do not routinely monitor or read messages.
The messaging feature is for appointments and therapy-related administration and must not be used for urgent or crisis matters. If you or someone else is at risk of harm, contact 999, NHS 111, or the Samaritans on 116 123.

What happens if you don’t provide us with the required data?

If we need your personal data to comply with the law or a contract with you, and you don’t provide it when asked, we might not be able to fulfil our agreement with you (like providing services or products). If this happens, we might have to cancel the service or product, but we’ll let you know if we do.

What are the purposes for which we use your personal data?

The purposes for which we will be using your data include:

To register you as a new client or as one of our therapists.
To provide our Hive Wellness platform service, including a) making therapy services on our platform available to clients; b) to match clients with therapists; c) providing the tools and systems to facilitate the therapy services between therapists and clients; d) communicating with you; e) to manage payments, fees and charges and f) to collect and recover money owed to us.
To manage our relationship with you as a client e.g., to notify you about changes to our terms of this privacy policy or to ask you to leave a review and/or take a survey.
To manage our relationship with you as a therapist e.g. to liaise with you about new therapy client referrals, to manage payments to you and keep you updated with our policies and procedures.
To send you relevant marketing information about the Hive Wellness platform and our services.
To enable you to partake in a survey or client feedback.
To administer and protect our practice and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data).
To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you.
To use data analytics to improve our website and platform services, marketing, client relationships and experiences.
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about our services that may be of interest to you.
To comply with applicable laws and regulations.
To operate the secure messaging function and, where reasonably necessary, to access messages for safety, support, complaint-handling, compliance and legal purposes.

We rely on one or more of the following lawful conditions to process your data as outlined above:

To fulfil our contract with you;
For our legitimate interests; or
To comply with legal obligations.

In some scenarios, we’ll ask for your consent, especially for collecting health data. We may process your personal and health data for more than one lawful reason at a time, depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. If you’d like more information on the specific legal ground we are relying on, on occasions where we rely on more than one legal ground, please feel free to contact us.

Most platform messages will contain health information and other special category data. We therefore rely on a lawful basis under Article 6 UK GDPR and, separately, a condition for processing special category data under Article 9 UK GDPR (and, where relevant, a condition in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 2018), as follows:

To provide the messaging service and operate the platform: Article 6(1)(b) (performance of our contract with you) and, for health data, Article 9(2)(h) (provision of health/social care), or Article 9(2)(a) (your explicit consent) where we rely on consent for health data elsewhere in this policy.
To keep the platform safe and secure and provide technical support: Article 6(1)(f) (legitimate interests) and Article 9(2)(h).
To investigate safeguarding concerns or risks of harm: Article 6(1)(f) or 6(1)(c) and the safeguarding condition in Schedule 1, Part 2 DPA 2018.
To handle complaints, disputes and establish, exercise or defend legal claims: Article 6(1)(f) and Article 9(2)(f).
To monitor compliance and meet regulatory obligations: Article 6(1)(c)/(f) and the relevant Schedule 1 DPA 2018 condition.
To comply with legal or law-enforcement obligations: Article 6(1)(c) and Article 9(2)(g)/(f) as applicable.

Where we rely on a Schedule 1 DPA 2018 condition, we maintain an Appropriate Policy Document as required.

Do we use Cookies?

Cookies help make our website work better for you, remembering your preferences and improving your experience. You can control cookie settings in your browser. Cookies make your browsing experience on our site as smooth as possible, because they remember your preferences.

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. Please refer to our Cookie Policy here to learn more: Cookie Polices

Do we use your data for marketing purposes?

If we send you marketing communications and you no longer wish to receive them, you can opt out anytime by contacting us or clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ button on our marketing communications. Our lawful ground of processing your personal data to send you marketing communications is either your consent or our legitimate interests (namely to grow our practice).

Do we use third-party links?

Our website might link to third-party websites, tools and apps. Clicking on these links may allow third parties to collect or share your data. We do not control said websites and are not responsible for said websites’ privacy policies. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

Do we ever share your personal data?

We take your data’s security seriously and only allow certain people to access it. We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes as stated further above.

Our therapists, acting as processors and joint controllers, who provide the therapy services directly to you.
Service providers, acting as processors who provide IT and system administration services (see the detailed list of our current third-party suppliers further below).
Professional advisers including healthcare professionals, lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide supervision, consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
As HCPC accredited clinicians, our therapists are obliged to consult with another mental health professional for supervision purposes. This is to ensure we reflect and improve on our clinical skills. When discussing clients in supervision our therapists only refer to clients by their first name and identifiable information is minimised.
Sometimes our therapists may need to share details with your GP or a social worker. Your therapist will always get your consent prior to doing this. When the information concerns risk of harm to the client or another person then your therapist may need to disclose information about you without your consent for your own safety or for the safety of someone else.
HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
Debt collection agencies in the event that payment is not received for services rendered. This will be done to recover any outstanding debts, and the debt collectors will process your data solely for this purpose.
We may need to share your personal data with courts, legal representatives, or other relevant authorities for medico-legal purposes. This includes situations where we are required to do so by law, or where it is necessary to protect your vital interests or the interests of another person. We ensure that this data sharing is conducted lawfully and with due regard for your privacy rights.

The third-party suppliers we use, who may have access to some of your data, are as follows:

Stripe Payments Europe Limited – for payment processing services.
Studio Melrose Limited – our social media management agency.

All of the above third parties have a requirement to respect the security of your personal data. We do not permit them to use your personal data for their own purposes – they are only permitted to process your data for specified purposes in line with our instructions.

Do we ever transfer your data internationally?

We may transfer your data outside of the United Kingdom/EEA, but only when we can be sure it is protected.

Many of our external third parties are based outside the United Kingdom/EEA and so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the United Kingdom.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the United Kingdom, we make sure it is protected by at least implementing one of the following safeguards:

We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the United Kingdom.
All of our US suppliers (such as HubSpot, Stripe, Zapier and Zoom) are on the Data Privacy Framework register, this means the international transfer of data from us to them complies with UK data and privacy laws.
Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe.

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific process used by us when transferring your personal data out of the United Kingdom.

How secure is your data with us?

We have strong security measures in place to keep your personal information safe. Only authorised individuals who have a need to know are granted access to your data, such as our employees or trusted partners. They will process your data in accordance with our confidentiality terms.

In the rare circumstances that there is a personal data breach, we have procedures in place and will notify you, along with any applicable regulator, when we’re legally required to.

What is our process for retaining your data?

We only keep your data as long as necessary for the reasons we collected it.

By law, we retain clinical records containing medical or health information for 7 years after treatment has ended.

We are also legally required to retain certain basic client information, including contact, identity, financial and transaction data, for 6 years after a client ceases receiving services, to comply with tax, accounting and other legal obligations.

For information that does not fall within either of these categories, we determine the appropriate retention period by considering the nature and sensitivity of the data, the potential risks of unauthorised use or disclosure, the purpose for which it was collected, whether that purpose can be achieved by other means, and any applicable legal, regulatory, tax or accounting requirements.

Platform messages are retained in line with the retention periods set out above. Messages that form part of a client's clinical record, including those containing medical or health information, are retained for 7 years after treatment has ended. Messages that form part of our basic client records are retained for 6 years. We may retain messages for longer where necessary to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation, resolve a dispute, or protect the rights, safety or legitimate interests of clients, therapists or Hive Wellness.

What are your legal rights in relation to your data?

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. This is known as a “data subject access request.”

Correction: If the personal data we have about you is incomplete or incorrect, you can ask us to correct it.

Erasure: You can ask us to delete your personal data. It’s important to note, however, that there might be legal reasons that prevent us from fulfilling this request. If such reasons exist, we will inform you when you make your request.

Objection: In certain situations, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data.

Restriction of Processing: You can request that we restrict the processing of your personal data under specific circumstances.

Data Portability: You have the right to request the transfer of your personal data directly to you or to a third party of your choice.

Withdrawal of Consent: At any point where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw this consent. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the legality of the processing done before the consent was withdrawn. Should you withdraw your consent, we might be unable to provide you with certain products or services. We will inform you if that is the case when you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

We won’t charge any fees for you to request access to your personal data. However, a reasonable fee may be charged if your request is clearly unjustified, repetitive or excessive. We also reserve the right to not comply in this scenario. We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

Changes and Contact

We regularly review our privacy policy. Please keep us updated if your personal data changes. If you have any questions or need to exercise your rights, just get in touch.

Thanks for reading our privacy policy. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.