Privacy and Cookie Policy
This policy explains how Ayrshire Counselling & Therapy Centre collects, uses and protects your personal information, and how this website uses cookies.
Last updated: 11 October 2026
In short
- We only collect what we need to reply to you and provide counselling.
- What you share in counselling is confidential.
- We never sell your information or use it for marketing.
- We only use analytics cookies if you say yes.
- You can ask to see, correct or delete your information at any time.
Who we are
Ayrshire Counselling & Therapy Centre is a therapeutic centre at 24 Wellington Square, Ayr KA7 1EZ, founded by Michaela Sinclair and Diana Taylor. We are responsible for your personal information under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).
If you have any questions, email enquiries@actc.co.uk or write to us at the address above.
What we collect
When you contact us
- your name, email address and phone number
- anything you choose to tell us in your message
You don’t need to go into detail about why you are seeking counselling when you first contact us.
If you become a client
We keep brief notes of your sessions. These may include information about your health, relationships or other personal matters.
If you are an organisation
We keep the contact details of the people we work with.
When you use our contact form
To stop spam, our website records the internet (IP) address the message was sent from, and keeps a short record of messages sent and blocked. For rate limiting, it stores a scrambled version of your IP address that cannot be read back.
How we use it
| What we do | Legal reason |
|---|---|
| Reply to your enquiry and send you a copy confirming we got it | Your consent, given when you tick the box on our form |
| Arrange appointments and provide counselling, supervision and related services | To provide the service you have asked for |
| Keep notes about your health and wellbeing | Health and social care, provided under a duty of confidentiality |
| Keep the records our professional body, the BACP, expects | Legal and professional obligations |
| Protect our contact form from spam and misuse | Our legitimate interest in keeping the website secure |
| Understand how people use our website (only if you accept cookies) | Your consent |
We never sell your information or use it for marketing.
Confidentiality
Everything you share in counselling is confidential. In a few cases we may need to break confidentiality, for example if there is a serious risk of harm to you or to others, or if the law requires it. Your counsellor will explain this at your first session.
Our counsellors discuss their work in professional supervision, as the BACP requires. They do not share anything that identifies you.
Who we share it with
We don’t share your information with anyone else unless you agree, or the law requires us to. We use a small number of trusted services to run our practice:
- SMTP2GO delivers messages from our contact form to us, and sends you a confirmation email
- Google Analytics shows us how the website is used, only if you accept cookies
- our email and website hosting providers
These services only use your information on our instructions and must keep it secure. Some of them may store information outside the UK. When they do, they use legal safeguards approved under UK law.
How long we keep it
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Enquiries that don’t lead to counselling | Up to 12 months |
| Client records | Up to 7 years after counselling ends, then securely destroyed |
| Contact form spam records | 3 months |
| Scrambled IP address for rate limiting | 1 hour |
How we keep it safe
Paper records are kept in locked storage. Electronic records are password protected. This website uses a secure (HTTPS) connection.
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- give you a copy of the information we hold about you
- correct anything that is wrong
- delete your information, unless we have to keep it
- stop or limit how we use it
You can also withdraw your consent at any time.
To do any of these, email enquiries@actc.co.uk. We will reply within one month.
Making a complaint
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
Cookies
Cookies are small files saved on your device when you visit a website. We use as few as possible, and we do not use advertising cookies.
| Name | What it does | Expires |
|---|---|---|
actc_cookie_consent | Remembers your cookie choice. Essential. | When you clear it |
_ga | Google Analytics: tells visits apart. Only if you accept. | 2 years |
_ga_* | Google Analytics: remembers your visit. Only if you accept. | 2 years |
Google Analytics does not tell us who you are.
Changing your settings
You can change your cookie choice at any time.
You can also delete cookies in your browser settings.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed.