Privacy Notice
Last updated: 22 October 2026
Irele is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting any personal information you share. This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and protect your personal information when you visit the website, contact us about counselling or psychotherapy, or become a client.
1. Who we are
Irele is a counselling and psychotherapy practice operated by Lolly & Kiks Ltd. Lolly & Kiks Ltd is the company name and data controller responsible for deciding how personal information is collected and used in connection with the practice.
We handle personal information in accordance with applicable UK data protection law.
For questions about this notice or the personal information we hold about you, please contact:
Email: hello@ireletherapy.com
Website: www.ireletherapy.com
Postal address: 78 Craven Park Road, London, NW10 4AE. Please note this registered address is for correspondence only. It is not where therapy sessions take place.
2. What information we collect
The information we collect depends on how you interact with Irele.
Website visitors and enquiries
We may collect:
Your name and contact details, such as your email address and telephone number.
Information you provide when contacting us, completing a website form or arranging an initial consultation.
Information about your availability and appointment preferences.
Correspondence relating to your enquiry and our response.
Technical information collected through the website, such as your IP address, browser type, device information and pages visited, where applicable.
Please avoid including detailed personal or clinical information in the website contact form before we have agreed an appropriate way to communicate.
Counselling and psychotherapy clients
If you become a client, we may collect:
Contact and relevant administrative information.
Information provided during an initial assessment and throughout therapy.
Information about your mental or physical health, personal circumstances, relationships, family background and other matters relevant to your therapy.
Clinical notes and records relating to sessions.
Relevant safeguarding and risk-related information.
Appointment, payment and invoice information.
Correspondence relating to your therapy.
You are not generally under a legal obligation to provide personal information. However, certain information may be necessary for us to assess your suitability for therapy, arrange appointments or provide the service safely. If you choose not to provide necessary information, this may affect our ability to offer or continue providing therapy.
3. Sensitive and health information
Counselling and psychotherapy may involve processing special-category personal data, including information about mental and physical health. Depending on what you share, this may also include information about racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or sexual orientation.
We handle this information with particular care and use it only where necessary for purposes connected with providing therapy, maintaining appropriate clinical records, supporting safe and ethical practice, addressing safeguarding concerns or meeting legal obligations.
Access to sensitive information is restricted to those who need it for an appropriate professional or administrative purpose.
4. How and why we use your information
We may use your personal information to:
Respond to enquiries and arrange initial consultations.
Assess your needs and provide counselling or psychotherapy.
Maintain appropriate clinical records.
Arrange appointments and communicate with you about your sessions.
Process payments and manage invoices and business administration.
Discuss relevant clinical matters in professional supervision.
Address safeguarding concerns and manage serious risks.
Meet applicable legal, professional and regulatory obligations.
Protect the security of our website, systems and services.
Understand website use and improve its functionality, where applicable and in accordance with your cookie preferences.
We do not use your information for unrelated purposes without an appropriate lawful basis and, where required, providing further information or obtaining your consent.
We do not sell or rent your personal information or use therapy records for marketing.
5. Lawful basis for processing personal information (Article 6 UK GDPR)
Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for processing personal information. Depending on the purpose, we may rely on:
Steps before entering into a contract and contractual necessity: to respond to requests about therapy, arrange appointments and provide agreed services, where processing is necessary for these purposes.
Legal obligation: where processing is necessary to meet a legal requirement.
Legitimate interests: where necessary for legitimate business and professional purposes, such as maintaining appropriate records, managing our practice and protecting the security of our systems, provided these interests are not overridden by the rights and interests of the individual.
Vital interests: where necessary to protect someone's life in an emergency.
Where we process special-category data, such as health information, we must also meet a separate condition under Article 9 of the UK GDPR and any additional requirements that apply.
For the provision of counselling and psychotherapy, we will assess whether Article 9(2)(h) (health or social care) is applicable, subject to the relevant legal requirements and safeguards. Where processing is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, Article 9(2)(f) may apply to the relevant special-category information.
The applicable lawful basis and special-category condition depend on the purpose and circumstances of the processing. We will document the relevant bases and conditions for our practice and review them when our processing activities change.
Where we rely on consent as our lawful basis, individuals may withdraw it at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
6. Confidentiality and when information may be shared
Information you share in therapy is treated as confidential.
Limited information may be discussed with a clinical supervisor to support safe, reflective and ethical practice. We will avoid sharing identifying details wherever reasonably possible.
Information may also be shared where required by law or where disclosure is justified by a serious safety or safeguarding concern. We will consider the circumstances carefully and limit any disclosure to what is necessary.
Where appropriate and lawful, we will discuss a proposed disclosure with you. There may be circumstances in which this is not possible or appropriate.
The arrangements for confidentiality and its limits will be explained further in your counselling agreement.
7. Who we may share your information with
We do not sell or rent personal information.
Where necessary and appropriate, we may share limited information with:
Our clinical supervisor/supervision group, for professional supervision and safe working practices.
Professional advisers and insurers, where necessary in connection with our practice, insurance or legal responsibilities.
Service providers, including website hosting, email, secure document storage, appointment management and payment providers, where these services are used.
Professional or regulatory bodies, where disclosure is required or otherwise lawfully justified.
Relevant authorities or professionals, where necessary to meet legal obligations or address safeguarding or serious safety concerns.
A clinical will executor or initiator if your therapist suddenly unable to practise. An authorised person may need to access relevant information in order to notify you and arrange continuity of care.
We aim to share only the information necessary for the relevant purpose.
Website service providers
Our website is hosted by Squarespace. Information submitted through website forms may be processed by Squarespace to provide the website and form functionality.
Where applicable, information may also be processed by providers of email, document storage, scheduling or other services used to operate the practice.
These providers may act as data processors on our behalf or, in some circumstances, as independent data controllers for their own processing activities. Their respective privacy notices explain how they handle personal information.
We do not assume that every provider has access to all client information; access depends on the services used and how they are configured.
8. International transfers of personal information
Some service providers, including Squarespace, may process or store personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take steps to ensure that the transfer complies with applicable data protection law. This may include relying on an applicable adequacy decision or implementing appropriate safeguards, such as approved contractual clauses, where required.
Further information about relevant safeguards may be requested using the contact details in this notice.
9. How we store and protect information
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.
These measures may include access controls, secure accounts, strong passwords and appropriate security settings for electronic systems.
Clinical records and other sensitive information will be stored using systems selected for their suitability for confidential practice information. Access will be restricted to those who need it for an appropriate purpose.
We do not routinely record counselling or psychotherapy sessions.
For in-person sessions, reasonable steps will be taken to protect privacy within the therapy room. For online sessions, we will use a suitable platform (e.g., Zoom or Microsoft Teams) and take reasonable steps to protect confidentiality. Clients will be provided with relevant information about the arrangements before online therapy begins.
No method of electronic transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We nevertheless take appropriate steps to protect the information we hold.
10. How long we keep your information
Retention of records
Clinical records are retained for seven years after the end of therapy, in line with our professional record-retention policy and applicable insurance requirements. Records are stored securely and safely destroyed when the retention period ends, unless there is a lawful reason to retain them for longer.
Different retention periods may apply to:
Enquiries that do not result in a client relationship.
Appointment and administrative records.
Financial records, including invoices.
Website and technical data.
We will maintain a retention schedule setting out the applicable periods or criteria for deciding when information should be deleted. Information will be securely deleted or otherwise disposed of when it is no longer necessary, unless there is a lawful reason to retain it.
Further information about the retention period applicable to particular records may be requested using the contact details in this notice.
11. Cookies and website analytics
Our website is hosted by Squarespace, which uses cookies and similar technologies to operate and secure the website.
Necessary cookies may be used to support essential website functionality. Other cookies, including certain analytics and performance cookies, may be used depending on the features enabled on our website and your cookie preferences.
Where required, we will seek your consent before using non-essential cookies. You can manage or withdraw your preferences through the cookie settings available on the website, where provided.
If analytics are enabled, information such as your IP address, browser and device information, pages visited, interactions with the website and timestamps may be collected to help us understand website traffic and improve the site.
For further information, please see Squarespace's information about the cookies it uses.
12. Website forms, fonts and external services
When you submit a website form, the information you provide is processed so that we can receive, manage and respond to your enquiry. Squarespace may process that information as our website service provider.
The information may also be sent to or stored by our email or other service providers, depending on how the website and practice systems are configured.
Our website may use fonts provided through Google Fonts or Adobe Fonts. Where these services are used, the relevant providers may receive technical information such as your IP address, browser or device information and the page being viewed, to deliver the fonts.
Our website may also contain links to external websites, including professional organisations and social media platforms. These websites have their own privacy practices, for which we are not responsible. We encourage you to review their privacy notices before providing personal information to them.
13. Your data protection rights
Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you may have the right to:
Access: request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Rectification: ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Erasure: request deletion of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Restriction: ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances.
Object: object to processing based on legitimate interests or a task carried out in the public interest, where applicable.
Data portability: request a copy of certain information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format where the right applies.
Withdraw consent: withdraw consent where processing genuinely relies on consent.
These rights are subject to legal conditions and exemptions. For example, we may have a lawful reason to retain certain clinical or financial records even if you request their deletion.
To exercise a right, please contact us using the details in Section 1. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
14. Automated decision-making
We do not intend to make decisions about clients using solely automated processing, including profiling, that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
If our practices change, we will update this notice and provide any additional information required by law.
15. Children and young people
Irele's services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children through the website as part of a service directed at children.
If you believe a child has submitted personal information through the website, please contact us so that we can review the circumstances and take appropriate action.
16. Complaints and the Information Commissioner's Office
If you have concerns about how we handle your personal information, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection regulator.
Website: https://ico.org.uk/
17. Changes to this notice
We may update this Privacy Notice when our practices, technology or legal obligations change. The latest version will be made available on the Irele website, with the date of the most recent update.
This notice should be read alongside the counselling agreement and any other privacy information provided before therapy begins.