Who we are

Our website address is: https://aromatherapywithhelen.com. In this document Aromatherapy with Helen may be referred to as ‘we’ ‘us’ or ‘our’. In this policy we explain how we use your personal data.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Comments

If visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Squarespace service to see if you are using it. The Squarespace service Privacy Policy is available here: https://www.squarespace.com/privacy. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Contact forms

We keep contact form submissions only for the purpose of supplying you with our newsletter, but we do not use the information submitted through them for other marketing purposes. We will provide a unsubscribe option on each newsletter. Once an unsubscribe request has been received, we will remove you from our newsletter contact list.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

We use third-party analytics tools to help us measure traffic and usage trends for the service. These tools collect information sent by your device or our service, including the web pages you visit, add-ons and other information that assists us in improving our service. We collect and use this analytics information from other users so that it cannot reasonably be used to identify any particular user.

Who we share your data with

Your contact information is only stored for the following reasons; if you fill out a contact form on the website because you wish to subscribe to our newsletter, if you leave a comment on a blog or if you fill out a consultation form e.g. for aromatherapy massage, workshops, online health and wellbeing sessions or bespoke aromatherapy products. We DO NOT sell your information to any third party.

Your data is shared with our newsletter provider if you have subscribed to the newsletter (currently this is provided by Sendinblue, though this could be subject to change at any time).

Access to personal data shall be limited to personnel who need access and security measure should be in place to avoid unauthorised sharing of information.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment on the website, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

For insurance and professional body compliance, client consultation forms are to be kept for 7 years following your last session. If you are pregnant and receiving massage or aromatherapy for example, these have to be kept for 25 years from your last session.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

If you have filled out an initial consultation form for aromatherapy, massage, an online health and wellbeing session, workshop or to have bespoke aromatherapy products made, you are entitled to see your form and can request a copy of it. You would normally receive it within one calender month of your request. This would normally be free of charge.

Where we send your data

Website visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. Data is also used with a newsletter provider but only if you have subscribed. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Your contact information

We shall ensure that the personal data collected is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purpose for which it is being processed. For safe practice & insurance purposes, we are required to do an initial consultation and ask you to fill out a contact form before seeing clients for aromatherapy massage, online health and wellbeing sessions, workshops or before making bespoke aromatherapy products. Information taken for such purposes will be kept securely. This is so that we don’t offer therapies or ingredients that are contraindicated for health reasons. If your health changes, you should inform us (and your form may be updated). Please notify us of any changes to your address, mobile number / land line, or Drs surgery etc so your consultation form can keep your records up to date.

Additional information

This policy will be reviewed annually and we are registered with the Information commissioners office (ICO). If you wish to complain about the way your information is kept, you are entitled to complain to the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/

How we protect your data

Any paper consultation forms and notes are filed and kept locked up. Any electronic equipment used for storing data (such as a PC) is password protected.

What data breach procedures we have in place

We make efforts to ensure your data is protected and take data protection seriously. If there is a breach of security, we will assess the risk promptly and if appropriate we can report any data breaches to https://ico.org.uk/

Industry regulatory disclosure requirements

There may be the rare occasion where we would need to break confidentiality & share information with a third party (likely to be the police or a GP or other health professional). This is normally only if there is a concern for the health and safety of yourself or a concern that there may be harm to someone else. For insurance and professional body compliance, records are to be kept for 7 years following your last session. If you are pregnant and receiving massage or aromatherapy for example, these have to be kept for 25 years from your last session.

What third parties we receive data from

We do not receive data from 3rd parties.

What automated decision making and/or profiling we do with user data

We do not use automated decision making tools or profiling.