Privacy Notice

B.L.O.O.M by SMA
Effective October 2026

This Privacy Notice explains how B.L.O.O.M by SMA collects, uses, stores and protects your personal information when you make an enquiry or receive counselling.

1. Who is responsible for your information?

B.L.O.O.M by SMA / Shima Maka is the data controller for the counselling service, operated through S Maka Limited.

Practice: Unit 3, Olivers Place, Eastway, Fulwood, Preston
Email: bloombysma@hotmail.com

Please contact me using the details above if you have any questions about how your personal information is used or if you wish to exercise your data-protection rights.

2. What information may I collect?

Depending on your contact with the service, I may collect:

  • your name and contact details;

  • enquiry and appointment information;

  • payment and administrative information;

  • emergency contact details;

  • GP or healthcare details where provided;

  • information about what brings you to counselling and what you hope to gain from it;

  • relevant health, wellbeing, medication, accessibility, risk or safeguarding information; and

  • counselling/session records.

Counselling may involve special category personal data, particularly information about your physical or mental health and other sensitive matters you choose to discuss.

3. Why do I use your information?

I may use your personal information to:

  • respond to enquiries;

  • provide the complimentary introductory consultation;

  • assess whether counselling with B.L.O.O.M is suitable;

  • arrange and provide counselling;

  • communicate with you about appointments;

  • administer payments;

  • maintain appropriate professional records;

  • practise safely and ethically;

  • obtain clinical supervision while minimising identifying information;

  • respond appropriately to serious risk or safeguarding concerns; and

  • meet relevant legal, insurance or professional responsibilities.

4. Lawful basis and sensitive information

For ordinary personal information used to respond to your enquiry, arrange appointments and provide counselling, I generally rely on UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b) — taking steps at your request before entering into an agreement and performing our counselling agreement.

For proportionate practice administration, security and the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, I may rely on Article 6(1)(f), legitimate interests, where my interests do not override your rights and interests.

Where a specific legal obligation applies, Article 6(1)(c) may apply. In a genuine emergency, Article 6(1)(d), vital interests, may apply.

Because counselling records can contain special category personal data, I ask for your explicit agreement to keep and use counselling records for the purposes explained in this notice. Where I rely on explicit consent, the relevant special-category condition is Article 9(2)(a).

You may withdraw that consent for future processing. Withdrawal does not make earlier lawful processing unlawful and may affect whether I am able to continue providing counselling if the information is necessary for safe and ethical practice.

In exceptional circumstances, a different Article 9 condition may apply to a particular use or disclosure, for example where necessary to protect vital interests or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. I will only use such a condition where it genuinely applies.

5. Confidentiality, supervision and sharing

Counselling is confidential, but confidentiality is not absolute.

I discuss my clinical work in professional supervision and minimise identifying information as far as reasonably possible.

I do not routinely share your personal information. Where necessary and lawful, limited information may be shared with:

  • my clinical supervisor;

  • my insurer or professional/legal advisers where necessary;

  • service providers used for secure administration or online sessions;

  • emergency, health, safeguarding or statutory services where disclosure is necessary and justified; or

  • another person or organisation where you have asked me to share information.

Where it is safe and appropriate, I will normally discuss a proposed disclosure with you first and share only information that is necessary and proportionate.

6. Online counselling and communications

Online counselling will normally take place using Google Meet. Email and related Google services may also be used for practice communications.

These services operate under their own privacy and security arrangements.

I use reasonable privacy and security settings and do not intentionally record counselling sessions through Google Meet.

Please do not record counselling sessions without prior agreement.

7. How do I protect your information?

I use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information.

These include password-protected devices, device encryption, automatic screen locking, restricted access, coded client records where practicable, data minimisation and secure backup arrangements.

Identifying/contact information and counselling notes are kept separately where reasonably practicable.

8. How long do I keep counselling records?

Counselling records are normally retained for five years after counselling ends and are then securely deleted or destroyed.

Information may need to be retained for longer where there is a documented legal, safeguarding, insurance, complaint or professional reason.

Information that is no longer required will be securely disposed of.

9. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used, you may have rights to request:

  • access to your personal information;

  • correction of inaccurate information;

  • erasure;

  • restriction of processing;

  • objection to certain processing; or

  • data portability.

These rights are subject to legal conditions and exemptions and do not all apply in every situation.

Where I rely on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time for future processing by contacting me.

10. Concerns about your personal information

If you are concerned about how I have handled your personal information, please contact me first so that I can try to resolve the matter.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data-protection regulator.

Current information about making a complaint is available from the ICO.

11. Changes to this Privacy Notice

I may update this Privacy Notice if the law, professional requirements, my services or the way I handle personal information changes.

The current version will be made available through B.L.O.O.M by SMA.