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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 27 August 2026

This privacy policy explains how I collect, use, store and protect your personal information when you visit The Excel Practice website, make an enquiry or use my hypnotherapy, NLP, coaching or related services.

I understand that contacting a therapist or coach may involve sharing information that is personal, private or sensitive. I therefore aim to collect only the information I reasonably need, use it responsibly and keep it for no longer than necessary.

The person responsible for your information is Matthew Exell, trading as The Excel Practice. In data-protection terms, I am the data controller.

Contact details:
The Excel Practice
The Therapy Centre
6b Church Street
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 2SB

Telephone: 07807 540142
Email: mail@theexcelpractice.com
Website: https://theexcelpractice.com/

Information I May Collect

The information collected will depend on whether you are simply visiting the website, making an enquiry or becoming a client.

It may include:

  • Your name
  • Your email address
  • Your telephone number
  • Your age, where this is relevant
  • Your preferred method of contact
  • Appointment dates and appointment history
  • The reason you are seeking support
  • Relevant information about your physical or mental health
  • Limited medical or medication information where relevant to the work
  • Information you provide during sessions
  • Brief paper session notes
  • Emails, text messages and WhatsApp messages
  • Information supplied by a parent or guardian when the client is under 18
  • Payment and transaction information, although I do not store your complete card or banking details
  • Testimonials, photographs or video material where you have agreed that these may be used

Please do not send more medical or personal information through an initial website enquiry than is reasonably necessary. Further relevant information can be discussed privately once we have made contact.

How I Collect Information

I may collect information when you:

  • Complete the contact form on this website
  • Contact me by email
  • Telephone or send a text message
  • Contact me through WhatsApp or Facebook
  • Arrange or attend an appointment
  • Take part in an online session using Microsoft Teams
  • Make a payment by bank transfer or PayPal
  • Provide information through a parent or guardian
  • Leave a public review or give permission for a testimonial, photograph or video to be used
  • Browse this website and accept applicable analytics or other optional cookies

The website contact form sends your enquiry directly to my email inbox. The information you provide is used to respond to your enquiry and, where appropriate, arrange a consultation or appointment.

Why I Use Your Information

I may use your information to:

  • Respond to an enquiry
  • Decide whether my services are appropriate for your needs
  • Arrange, confirm, change or cancel appointments
  • Provide hypnotherapy, NLP, coaching or related support
  • Keep suitable session and appointment records
  • Communicate with you before, during or after our work together
  • Process and record payments
  • Meet legal, insurance, professional or safeguarding responsibilities
  • Manage and improve my services and website
  • Send relevant information or marketing communications where this is legally permitted
  • Publish a testimonial, photograph, video or case study where suitable permission has been obtained
  • Establish, exercise or defend a legal claim if this becomes necessary

I do not sell your personal information.

Lawful Bases for Using Your Information

UK data-protection law requires me to have a lawful reason for using personal information. Depending on the circumstances, I may rely on one or more of the following:

  • Steps before entering into a contract and performance of a contract: to respond to your request, arrange appointments and provide the service you have asked for.
  • Legitimate interests: to administer The Excel Practice, maintain appropriate records, respond to enquiries, protect the business and improve its services, provided those interests do not override your rights and interests.
  • Legal obligation: where information must be retained or disclosed to comply with the law, taxation, accounting, safeguarding or another legal requirement.
  • Consent: where you have made a clear choice, particularly for certain marketing communications, identifiable testimonials, photographs, videos or another optional use.
  • Vital interests: in a rare emergency where using or disclosing information is necessary to protect somebody’s life and obtaining consent is not reasonably possible.

Information about physical health, mental health, medication, disability, sexual life, sexuality, religious beliefs or certain other sensitive matters may be classed as special category data. Where I need to use this information to provide the service, I will normally rely on your explicit consent as the additional condition required for processing it. You may withdraw consent, although this will not affect information already used lawfully and may mean that I can no longer provide an appropriate service.

Confidentiality and When Information May Be Disclosed

Information discussed during sessions is treated as confidential. I do not ordinarily disclose clinical or session information to other people or organisations.

There are, however, limited circumstances in which information may need to be disclosed. These include:

  • Where you have asked me to disclose it or have given clear permission
  • Where there is a serious and immediate concern about your safety or another person’s safety
  • Where safeguarding action is reasonably necessary
  • Where disclosure is required by law, a court or another authority with lawful powers
  • Where it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim

Depending on the circumstances, this could involve contacting emergency services, safeguarding services or another appropriate authority. Wherever it is safe, lawful and practical, I would aim to discuss this with you first.

Some organisations also process limited information in order to provide essential technical or payment services. These may include website and email providers, PayPal, banking providers, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp and Facebook services supplied by Meta, and Google services. These providers are not authorised to use your information for my own unrelated purposes, although their processing is also governed by their respective privacy terms.

Payments

Clients may pay by cash, bank transfer or PayPal.

When you pay through a bank or PayPal, that provider processes the financial information needed to complete the transaction. I receive the information necessary to identify and record the payment but do not receive or store your full card details or online-banking credentials.

Financial records may be retained for the period required by tax, accounting and legal obligations.

Paper Notes, Emails and Messages

Brief session notes may be kept on paper. Relevant information may also remain in emails and in text or WhatsApp conversations where these have been used to communicate with you.

I take reasonable steps to protect the information under my control and to limit access to it. However, no email, messaging service, website or internet transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Please consider this when choosing what to include in an initial message.

If you would prefer not to use WhatsApp, Facebook or another messaging platform, you may contact me by telephone, text, email or through the website contact form instead.

Online Sessions

Online sessions may take place using Microsoft Teams. Microsoft processes technical and account information needed to provide the service and may process information in other countries, subject to its own privacy arrangements and applicable safeguards.

Sessions are not routinely audio-recorded or video-recorded by The Excel Practice. If recording were ever proposed for a particular purpose, it would only take place after the purpose, storage and deletion arrangements had been explained and suitable permission obtained.

You should attend online sessions from a private location and use a device and internet connection that you consider appropriately secure.

Working with Young People

I may work with young people from approximately 13 years of age, depending on their needs and whether my service is appropriate.

Where a client is under 18, a parent or guardian will normally make or support the initial enquiry and provide consent for the work. A parent or guardian may provide information about the young person. I will also explain privacy and confidentiality to the young person in language appropriate to their age and understanding.

Information about a young client will not automatically be shared in full with a parent or guardian. However, information may be disclosed where the young person agrees, where this is necessary for the service, or where there is a serious safety, safeguarding or legal concern.

How Long I Keep Information

Client records, relevant correspondence and session notes are normally retained for six years after the work ends or the last meaningful contact, unless there is a legal, safeguarding, insurance or other justified reason to retain particular information for longer.

Where the client is under 18, it may be appropriate to retain relevant records for longer because legal time limits can operate differently for children. Any longer retention will be limited to what is reasonably required for legal, insurance or safeguarding purposes.

Enquiries that do not lead to an appointment will not be deliberately retained indefinitely. They will be reviewed and deleted when they are no longer reasonably needed for communication, administration, dispute resolution or legal purposes.

Financial and transaction records may be retained separately for the period required by HM Revenue & Customs and other applicable legal obligations.

When information is no longer required, it will be securely destroyed, deleted or anonymised where reasonably practicable.

Marketing and Additional Information

I may occasionally send relevant information, service updates, newsletters or promotional communications by email, text message or WhatsApp.

I will only do this where you have consented or where another lawful basis and the electronic-marketing rules permit it. Marketing messages will identify The Excel Practice and provide a straightforward way to unsubscribe or ask me to stop. You can change your mind at any time by replying to the message or contacting me at mail@theexcelpractice.com.

Stopping marketing does not prevent me from sending essential messages concerning an existing enquiry, appointment, payment or service.

Testimonials, Images, Videos and Case Studies

Testimonials may include reviews that clients have posted publicly through Google, Facebook or another public review service. A public review may be quoted or linked to accurately and with suitable attribution where appropriate. If you would prefer a quoted review to be removed from The Excel Practice website, please contact me.

Identifiable client photographs, client videos and non-public testimonials will only be published where appropriate permission has been obtained. Permission to use this material can be withdrawn for future use, although it may not always be possible to recall material that has already been lawfully published or shared.

Case studies may be used for educational or explanatory purposes. These will normally be anonymised so that the person cannot reasonably be identified. Truly anonymised information is no longer personal data, but care will still be taken to avoid including unnecessary identifying details.

Website Analytics, Cookies and External Services

The website may use cookies and similar technologies to function correctly, maintain security, remember preferences and understand how visitors use the site.

Services used on or in connection with the website may include:

  • Google Analytics
  • Google Search Console
  • Google Maps
  • Rank Math SEO
  • WP Fastest Cache
  • Website hosting, security and performance services

Google Analytics may collect information such as the pages visited, approximate location, device or browser information and how a visitor arrived at the website. Google Search Console provides aggregated information about search performance and does not itself provide me with the identity of individual searchers.

Google Maps and other embedded external content may connect to the relevant provider when loaded. Those providers may place cookies or receive technical information in accordance with their own privacy policies.

Cookies that are strictly necessary for the website to work may be used without consent. Where consent is legally required, optional analytics or similar technologies should only be activated after you have been given an appropriate choice. You can also control or delete cookies through your browser settings, although disabling necessary cookies may affect how the website functions.

International Processing

Some technology providers, including Microsoft, Google, Meta and PayPal, may process or make information accessible outside the United Kingdom. Where UK data-protection law applies to an international transfer, the provider or transfer must use an approved safeguard or another lawful transfer mechanism.

You can find further information in the privacy notices published by the relevant provider.

Your Data-Protection Rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

  • Be informed about how your information is used
  • Ask for access to the personal information held about you
  • Ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected
  • Ask for information to be deleted in certain circumstances
  • Ask for the use of your information to be restricted
  • Object to certain uses of your information
  • Receive certain information in a portable format
  • Withdraw consent where consent is being relied upon
  • Complain about the way your information has been handled

These rights are not absolute, and an applicable legal, safeguarding, insurance or record-keeping requirement may sometimes mean that information cannot be deleted immediately.

To exercise a right or ask a privacy question, contact:

Matthew Exell
Email: mail@theexcelpractice.com
Telephone: 07807 540142

I may need to confirm your identity before disclosing or changing personal information. I will normally respond to a valid request within one month, subject to the rules that apply in more complex circumstances.

Complaints

If you have a concern about how your information has been handled, please contact me first so that I have an opportunity to address it.

You also have the right to complain to the UK’s independent data-protection regulator:

Information Commissioner’s Office
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Changes to This Privacy Policy

This policy may be updated when my services, working practices, technology or legal responsibilities change. The current version will be published on this page and identified by the date shown at the top.

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