Website Privacy Notice

Version 1.1 – July 2026

Data controller: Chris Smith, trading as Hidden Dragon Holistics
Website: hiddendragonholistics.com
Contact email: please use contact form on the contact page and select category “Privacy request”
ICO registration number: ZB476454

This privacy notice applies to general use of the Hidden Dragon Holistics website, technical information generated when the website is used, contact-form submissions and initial enquiries.

If you decide to continue with a counselling enquiry, the relevant counselling privacy notice will apply from the point that I begin managing you as a prospective counselling client through the Hidden Dragon Holistics client portal.

Other Hidden Dragon Holistics services may have additional privacy information where their processing arrangements differ from those described here.

Contact details

If you have questions about this notice, wish to exercise a data protection right or want to make a data protection complaint, you can email me via the website contact form.

When using the contact form, please select Privacy Request or Data Protection Complaint, as appropriate, and avoid including more sensitive personal information than is necessary at this initial stage.

Prospective, current or former counselling clients who still have access to the secure client portal may also contact me through the portal.

What information I collect, use, and why

I collect or use the following personal information to respond to website enquiries and to manage expressions of interest in services advertised on this site, including future private counselling:

  • name;
  • email address;
  • phone number (optional);
  • message content;
  • the type of enquiry or service selected;
  • technical and security information, such as IP address, browser or device information, submission date and time, server logs and relevant security or spam-detection information.

I collect and use this information to:

  • receive, review and respond to enquiries;
  • provide information about Hidden Dragon Holistics services;
  • manage limited expressions of interest in services that are not yet available;
  • take steps at your request where you wish to continue with a service;
  • create a prospective-client record in Therasee when you confirm that you wish to continue with a counselling enquiry;
  • maintain the security and effective operation of the website;
  • respond to data protection rights requests and complaints; and
  • keep a proportionate record where this is required for legal, complaint-handling or professional reasons.

How the website contact form is handled

The contact form is provided using Jetpack Forms. Contact-form submissions are stored temporarily within the WordPress database on the website’s hosting server, and a copy is sent to my Hidden Dragon Holistics iCloud email account.

Jetpack states that its form entries are stored within the WordPress database on the website’s own server rather than on Jetpack or WordPress.com cloud servers. 

I delete the WordPress copy after confirming that the enquiry has been safely received, normally within seven days.

Please do not include detailed health, counselling, risk or other sensitive information in the contact form. If you choose to disclose sensitive information despite this request, I will handle it confidentially, transfer only information that remains necessary into an appropriate secure record or system, and delete or redact unnecessary copies as soon as reasonably possible.

Where information indicates an immediate safeguarding or serious-risk concern, I may need to take proportionate action rather than simply deleting it.

Service providers and recipients

I use a limited number of service providers to operate the website and respond to enquiries:

  • Bluehost and its parent organisation, Newfold Digital, provide website hosting, database storage and related technical services;
  • Jetpack Forms, provided by Automattic, supplies the website contact-form functionality;
  • Apple, through iCloud Mail, provides my Hidden Dragon Holistics email service; and
  • Therasee provides the secure prospective-client and counselling portal where a person confirms that they wish to continue with a counselling enquiry.

If you choose to continue with counselling, I add only the contact information needed to create and manage your prospective-client record in Therasee. More detailed information is not requested until the relevant counselling privacy notice has been provided.

These providers process limited personal information as necessary to provide their services, maintain security, meet legal requirements or fulfil their contractual arrangements.

International processing

Some website and email providers may process personal information outside the UK.

Newfold Digital states that its services are largely operated in the United States and that information may also be accessed from other countries. It states that relevant contractual safeguards, including standard contractual clauses or equivalent UK arrangements, are used where required. 

Apple states that personal information relating to UK users is controlled by Apple Distribution International Limited in Ireland, may be processed by Apple Inc. and other Apple-affiliated organisations, and is generally stored in the United States. Apple states that its international transfers of UK personal information are governed by standard contractual clauses. 

I limit information collected through the website to what is reasonably needed for the enquiry and move counselling-related written communication into the secure client portal once the prospective-client process begins.

Lawful bases for using personal information

Depending on the purpose, I rely on:

  • Legitimate interests – to receive, review and respond to enquiries, maintain the website securely and manage limited expressions of interest in HDH services;
  • Contract – to take steps at your request when you ask to progress an enquiry about counselling or another service; and
  • Legal obligation – where processing is necessary to respond to data protection rights requests, handle data protection complaints or meet another legal requirement.

If you choose to provide health information or other special-category information, I will only process it where an appropriate additional condition applies, such as confidential counselling or health-treatment provision, safeguarding, legal claims or vital interests.

Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask me to correct personal information you believe is inaccurate and to complete information you believe is incomplete.

How long I keep information

Contact-form submissions stored within WordPress are deleted once I have confirmed that the enquiry has been safely received, normally within seven days.

For general enquiries, I keep the email and relevant contact details only for as long as needed to respond. If there is no further contact, I will normally delete them within 30 days.

If you confirm that you wish to continue with a counselling enquiry, I transfer the minimum necessary contact information into Therasee and delete the original website and email copies when they are no longer needed, normally within 30 days of the transfer.

Where you register interest in a service that is not yet available, I will normally retain your contact details for up to six months. After that period, I will delete them unless there has been further contact or you have asked to remain on the register.

A proportionate record may be kept for longer where this is necessary for a safeguarding, data protection complaint, legal, insurance or other professional reason. Data protection complaint records will be retained in accordance with the Hidden Dragon Holistics Data Protection Complaints Procedure.

Links to other third-party platforms

My website may include links to third-party platforms (for example Patreon). If you follow those links, those platforms process your information under their own privacy policies. I don’t receive any details as a result of you clicking the links. 

How to make a data protection complaint

If you believe that I have not handled your personal information in accordance with data protection law, please see the Hidden Dragon Holistics Data Protection Complaints Procedure.

To make a data protection complaint, please use the Hidden Dragon Holistics contact form and select Data Protection Complaint.

Please provide only the information needed to identify the concern at this stage. I may arrange a more secure way for you to provide sensitive information or supporting documents where necessary.

I will acknowledge a data protection complaint within 30 days, investigate it without undue delay, keep you appropriately informed and communicate the outcome.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You do not have to wait for the HDH procedure to finish before contacting the ICO, although giving me an opportunity to consider the concern may allow it to be resolved more quickly.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline: 0303 123 1113

Last updated: 13 July 2026