This website notice should be read alongside the counselling agreement and informed-consent information provided to clients. It is general information and not a substitute for legal advice.
Information we collect
When you contact The Holding Space, we may receive your name, email address and anything you choose to share in your message. If you become a client, additional information needed to arrange sessions and provide counselling will be handled separately as part of the counselling relationship.
Our hosting provider may also process limited technical information, such as your IP address, browser type and access logs, to deliver and protect this website. We do not currently use advertising trackers or marketing cookies.
How we use your information
We use personal information only where it is reasonably necessary to respond to an enquiry, arrange or provide services, keep appropriate administrative records, protect the website, or meet legal and professional obligations.
Information shared in connection with counselling may be sensitive. It is treated with particular care and is not used for unrelated marketing.
Counselling confidentiality
Counselling conversations are confidential, subject to limited legal, ethical and safety-related exceptions. These boundaries will be explained in the counselling agreement before sessions begin.
This website form is intended for initial enquiries only. Please avoid including detailed clinical information, identification numbers or urgent safety concerns in your first message.
Sharing and service providers
We do not sell personal information. Limited information may be shared with trusted providers that support website hosting, email, scheduling or professional administration, and only to the extent needed for those services.
Information may also be disclosed where required by law, to protect someone from serious harm, or to obtain confidential professional or legal advice. Some providers may process information outside South Africa; where this occurs, reasonable safeguards will be considered.
Retention and security
Personal information is kept only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose it was collected, or as required by applicable legal and professional record-keeping duties. When it is no longer needed, it will be securely deleted or de-identified where practical.
Reasonable technical and organisational safeguards are used to protect information. No internet transmission or storage method can, however, be guaranteed completely secure.
Your privacy rights
Under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), you may ask whether we hold personal information about you, request access to it, ask for inaccurate information to be corrected, or request deletion where retention is no longer authorised. You may also object to certain processing and raise a concern about how your information has been handled.
We may need to verify your identity before actioning a request. You can also lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator South Africa ↗.
Contact
Questions about your information?
Contact Hayley at hello@theholdingspace.co.za. We’ll respond with care and as soon as reasonably possible.
Send an email ↗