Privacy Policy

Rooted — Vegan Counselling & Coaching

Last updated: 17th August 2026

This policy explains how Darren Wilson, trading as Rooted (and as Trusted Counselling and Coaching for clients referred through Employee Assistance Programmes), collects, uses, and protects your personal data when you enquire about or use the counselling or New Leaf coaching services. It applies across both services offered on this website.

1. Who we are

Data controller: Darren Wilson, sole trader, trading as Rooted / Trusted Counselling and Coaching.

• NCPS Accredited Professional Member: NCS22-04447

• ICO registration reference: ZB394030

• Contact: hello@rootedvegan.co.uk

This policy covers data collected via this website, the New Leaf discovery call questionnaire, and the Therasee booking and practice management system used to schedule sessions, take payment, and hold client records.

2. What personal data we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Contact details — name, email address, phone number

• Enquiry information — answers given in the New Leaf discovery call questionnaire, including your current relationship with veganism, what has prompted your interest, past attempts, hopes for the programme, and any concerns you share

• Age range — collected to confirm you are 18 or over and to help tailor our conversation

• Booking and appointment details — session dates, times, and attendance records held in Therasee

• Session content — notes made during counselling or coaching sessions, held securely in Therasee

• Between-session messages — if you are on the New Leaf programme, the text and voice messages you send me via Voxer between sessions

• Payment information — processed through Therasee; we do not directly store your full card details

• Special category data — information about your physical or mental health, or other sensitive matters, that you choose to share with us during an enquiry, discovery call, or session

3. How and why we use your data

We only use your data for the following purposes, each with a lawful basis under UK GDPR:

• To respond to your enquiry and arrange a free introductory or discovery call — lawful basis: taking steps at your request prior to a contract, and consent

• To provide counselling services — lawful basis: consent, together with explicit consent as the applicable Article 9 condition for any health-related information involved in therapeutic work

• To provide New Leaf coaching services — lawful basis: performance of a contract, and consent for any sensitive information you choose to share

• To take payment for sessions or the New Leaf programme — lawful basis: performance of a contract

• To keep accurate records in line with our professional accreditation and insurance requirements — lawful basis: legal obligation and legitimate interests

• To send appointment reminders and essential service communications — lawful basis: performance of a contract

We do not use your data for marketing purposes without your separate, specific consent, and we do not sell your data to any third party.

4. Who we share your data with

We use a small number of trusted service providers (data processors) to help us run this practice. We do not permit them to use your data for their own purposes.

• Therasee — our practice management platform, used for booking, invoicing, payment processing, the New Leaf questionnaire, and secure storage of session notes. Therasee is UK/EU hosted and states it is GDPR compliant.

• Voxer — the messaging app used for between-session support on the New Leaf programme. Voxer processes and stores communication data in the United States. Your messages are held subject to Voxer's own terms and privacy policy.

• Hostinger — our website host. Their servers process standard technical data, such as IP addresses, in order to deliver the site.

• Google Analytics — used to understand how visitors use this website. This only runs if you accept analytics cookies via the banner shown on your first visit.

• YouTube (Google) — a video is embedded on our Coaching page. If you play it, YouTube may set cookies on your device.

• Short.io — the service behind our booking link (go.rootedvegan.co.uk), which records click data including IP address. If you are referred to us through an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) or Bupa, that organisation will also process your data under its own privacy notice — please refer to their documentation for details of that separate processing.

5. International transfers

Some of the providers we use process data on servers located outside the UK. Voxer stores communication data in the United States, and Google (Analytics and YouTube) may also process data outside the UK. Where this happens, appropriate safeguards required under UK GDPR, such as standard contractual clauses, are relied upon by those providers. Further detail is available in each provider's own data processing documentation.

6. How long we keep your data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes it was collected. Enquiry and questionnaire responses from people who do not go on to become clients are deleted within 3 months. Voxer message history is deleted from my device within 30 days of your programme ending; your own copy remains on your device for you to keep or delete as you wish. Client records, including session notes, are retained for 5 years in line with professional accreditation requirements and insurance obligations.

7. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you

• Ask us to correct inaccurate data

• Ask us to delete your data, in certain circumstances

• Ask us to restrict how we use your data

• Object to certain processing

• Request that your data be provided in a portable format

• Withdraw consent at any time, where consent is the basis for processing

To exercise any of these rights, contact hello@rootedvegan.co.uk. We will respond within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you have the right to complain to us directly in the first instance, and you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

8. Keeping your data secure

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including using encrypted, access-controlled platforms for booking and record-keeping, and limiting access to your information to what is necessary to provide your care or coaching.

9. Cookies and website analytics

This website uses cookies that are strictly necessary for it to function. With your consent, we also use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site — which pages are read, how people arrive, and how long they stay. You are asked about this via the banner shown on your first visit, and you can decline without affecting how the site works. A video is embedded on our Coaching page. If you choose to play it, YouTube may set cookies on your device under Google's own terms. We do not use advertising or marketing cookies of any kind.

10. Children

Our services are intended for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised.

12. Contact us

If you have any questions about this policy or how your data is handled, contact:

• Email: hello@rootedvegan.co.uk

• ICO: ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113