Privacy policy

Who I am

This website is run by Lovena Patten Coaching — burnout prevention, recovery and confidence coaching for working professionals, online worldwide and in person in Buckinghamshire.

Under UK data protection law I am the data controller for the information described in this policy. That means I decide what is collected and what happens to it, and I am responsible for looking after it.

If anything in this policy is unclear, or you want to know more about how your information is handled, please ask. A plain answer to a direct question is always quicker than reading a policy.

What information I collect

I collect different things depending on how you use the site.

When you send me an enquiry

The contact form asks for your name, email address, an optional phone number and your message. You also tick a box confirming you are happy for me to reply. Nothing else on that form is required, and there is no address field.

When you take the diagnostic quiz

The quiz runs in your browser. Your answers are only sent to me if you choose to enter your name and email at the end to receive your result. If you close the page before that, your answers are not stored anywhere.

When you become a coaching client

To work together I need practical details — your contact information, what you want to work on, session dates and any notes I keep between sessions. Coaching is not therapy and I do not keep clinical records, but what you tell me in a session is personal, and I treat it that way. See section 6.

When you simply visit

Like almost every website, this one records basic technical information when a page loads — the pages you looked at, roughly where in the world you are, which browser and device you used, and the site that sent you here. This is used to understand what is useful and to keep the site working. It is not used to identify you personally.

What I never ask for on this website: payment card details, health records, or any special category data. Please don't include medical details, diagnoses or anything you would consider sensitive in a first message through the contact form — a conversation is a better place for that.

Why I use it, and the lawful basis

UK GDPR requires a lawful basis for every use of personal information. In plain terms, here is what I do and why I am allowed to do it.

I do not sell your information, I do not share it for anyone else's marketing, and I do not make automated decisions about you. The quiz result is a conversation starter, not an assessment held on file against your name.

Email, and how to stop it

You will only receive emails from me that you have asked for, or that relate directly to work we are doing together. I don't buy lists and I don't add people who have simply sent an enquiry.

• Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom, and one click is enough.
• You can also reply to any email and ask to be removed, and I will do it myself.
• Withdrawing consent does not affect anything done before you withdrew it, and it will never affect the coaching itself.

Who else sees it

I am a one-person practice. Nobody reads your enquiry except me. But a website cannot run without suppliers, and some of them process information on my behalf. Each is bound by a contract to use it only for the service they provide:

• Website hosting — your host — e.g. Hostinger, which stores the site and its form submissions.
• Email — your email provider — e.g. Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, which delivers and stores my correspondence.
• Form and anti-spam tools — the contact form plugin on this site, and Google reCAPTCHA, which checks submissions are not automated.
• Scheduling and video calls — e.g. Calendly, Zoom, Google Meet — or delete this line, if you book or attend a session through them.
• Accounting — e.g. your accountant or accounting software — or delete this line, for invoices and tax records.

I may also have to disclose information if the law requires it, or if there is a serious and immediate risk to someone's safety. That is the only circumstance in which something said in confidence would be shared without your agreement, and I would tell you wherever I reasonably could.

Confidentiality in coaching

This deserves its own section, because it matters more to my clients than anything else on this page.

Where an employer pays for your coaching, they may receive confirmation that sessions took place and an invoice. They do not receive what was discussed, how you presented, or any opinion about you. If an employer asks me for more than that, I will decline and tell you they asked.

The notes I keep between sessions are brief and practical — what we agreed to work on, what you want to come back to. They exist so you don't have to repeat yourself. You can ask to see them at any time.

The one limit on confidentiality is safety: if I believed you or someone else was at serious risk of harm, I would act on it. I would tell you I was doing so wherever it was safe and possible to do that.

How long I keep things

I don't keep information indefinitely just because storage is cheap.

• Enquiries that don't lead to work — deleted within 12 months.
• Quiz entries — deleted within 12 months unless you have asked to stay in touch.
• Client records and session notes — kept for 3 years after our work ends, then deleted.
• Invoices and financial records — kept for 6 years, as UK tax law requires.
• Mailing list — until you unsubscribe, and then only a record that you asked not to be contacted.

You can ask me to delete your information sooner than any of these, and unless I am legally required to keep it, I will.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• Know what information I hold about you and get a copy of it.
• Correct anything that is wrong or incomplete.
• Delete it, where there is no legal reason for me to keep it.
• Restrict or object to how it is used, including stopping marketing entirely.
• Move it — receive it in a portable format, or have it sent elsewhere.
• Withdraw consent at any time, where consent is what I relied on.

Ask me at your real email address and I will respond within one month. There is no charge. I may need to confirm who you are first — not to make it difficult, but to make sure I am not handing your information to someone else.

If you are unhappy with how I have handled your information, please tell me so I can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the UK regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.

Cookies

Cookies are small files a website leaves on your device. This site uses as few as it can manage.

• Essential cookies keep the site working — remembering a form you have part-filled, or that you have dismissed a notice. These cannot be switched off.
• Analytics cookies count visits and show which pages are read, so I know what is worth writing more of. They are set only if you agree.
• Security — Google reCAPTCHA sets a cookie to tell people from bots on the contact form.

You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings at any time. Blocking essential ones may stop parts of the site working. There is no advertising tracking on this site and no third-party advertising cookies.

Keeping it safe

The site runs over an encrypted connection (HTTPS), accounts are protected with strong passwords and two-factor authentication where it is offered, and access is limited to me.

No system is perfect, and I would rather say so than pretend otherwise. If anything ever went wrong in a way that put your information at risk, I would tell you and the ICO within 72 hours, as the law requires.

Information leaving the UK

Some of the suppliers above are based outside the UK, or store information on servers outside it. Where that happens, the transfer is covered by UK-approved safeguards — usually the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or an adequacy decision covering the country concerned.

You can ask me which suppliers this applies to and what safeguards are in place.

Children

This website and my coaching are for adults. I do not knowingly collect information about anyone under 18. If you believe a child has sent me their details, please tell me and I will delete them.

Changes to this policy

If I change how I handle information, I will update this page and change the date at the top. Where a change is significant — a new supplier handling your data, or a new purpose — I will tell anyone on my list directly rather than leaving it here to be found.

Getting in touch

For anything about this policy, your information, or a request to see or delete what I hold, write to your real email address and put “Data protection” in the subject line so it reaches me quickly.

For everything else — including whether coaching is the right next step — there is a quieter way to start.