Privacy Policy
Last updated 16 October 2026
This notice explains what personal information I collect through this website, philtyson.com, why I collect it, and what I do with it. It covers the website only. If you become a client, I give you separate information about how I handle your details when we start working together.
Who I am
I am Phil Tyson PhD, a psychotherapist working as a sole trader in Manchester. I am the data controller for personal information collected through this website, and I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration number ZC250735).
For any question about your personal information, email me at philtyson.com.divisive015@passmail.net.
What I collect and why
When you contact me
The contact form asks for your name, email address, phone number and a message. I use these only to reply to you and, if you would like one, to arrange a free initial consultation. A copy of your message is emailed to you for your records.
Messages to a psychotherapist often include information about health. By choosing to include such information in your message and sending it to me, you agree to my using it to respond to your enquiry. I use it for nothing else, and I treat it with the same professional confidentiality as all my work: the legal basis is the provision of health care by a professional bound by a duty of confidentiality. You can ask me to delete your enquiry at any time. For the rest of your enquiry, the legal basis is my legitimate interest in replying to people who contact me.
Messages sent through the form are checked by an anti-spam service, to stop automated junk messages.
Site updates by email
If you join the site updates list on my Projects page, MailerLite stores your email address so that I can send occasional news of new pages, projects and courses. The legal basis is your consent. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can also ask me to remove you. The sign-up form on the Projects page is loaded from MailerLite’s servers, so your browser connects to MailerLite when that page opens.
Articles by email
If you subscribe to my articles through the Substack box, your details go to Substack, which handles them under its own privacy policy. The box only loads after you accept marketing cookies.
Visitor statistics
If you accept statistics cookies, Google Analytics records how the website is used: the pages visited, roughly where visitors are, the type of device and browser, and how people found the site. I use this to see which pages are useful and to improve the site. The legal basis is your consent, which you can change at any time through the cookie settings. I don’t use Google Analytics to identify individual visitors.
Advertising
I advertise this website with Google Ads. If you accept marketing cookies, Google Ads records whether a visit from one of my ads led to an enquiry, so I can see which ads work. It doesn’t tell me who you are. The legal basis is your consent, which you can change at any time through the cookie settings.
Technical information
Like every website, the server that hosts this site keeps short-term logs of technical details such as IP addresses, browser type and the pages requested, to keep the site running and secure. Login protection also checks attempts to sign in to the site’s administration area. The legal basis is my legitimate interest in keeping the website secure.
Cookies
The cookies this website uses, and how to change your choices, are explained in my Cookie Policy.
Who your information is shared with
I don’t sell your information. I use a small number of service providers who process information on my behalf, only for the purposes above:
- website hosting: Bluehost
- delivery of contact form emails: SendLayer
- spam protection for the contact form: ActiveLayer
- my email provider
- site updates list: MailerLite
- visitor statistics: Google Analytics
- advertising measurement: Google Ads
- website security and image delivery: Jetpack, by Automattic
- website backups: UpdraftPlus, stored in Dropbox
I would only share your information with anyone else if the law required me to.
Transfers outside the UK
Some of these providers are based in the United States, including Bluehost, Google, Automattic, Dropbox and SendLayer. When your information is transferred there, it is protected by the UK–US data bridge for certified companies, or by contract terms approved for transfers from the UK. MailerLite is based in the European Union, which the UK recognises as providing adequate protection.
How long I keep it
- Contact form enquiries: up to 12 months after our last contact, unless you become a client.
- Site updates list: until you unsubscribe.
- Visitor statistics: for the retention period set in Google Analytics, no more than 14 months.
- Advertising measurement: Google Ads’ conversion cookie lasts up to 90 days.
- Records of emails sent by the website (date, recipient and subject, not the message itself): 6 months.
- Website backups: a rolling set of recent copies, with older copies deleted as new ones are made.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal information I hold about you;
- ask me to correct it if it is wrong;
- ask me to delete it;
- ask me to limit how I use it, or object to how I use it;
- receive it in a format you can pass to someone else;
- withdraw your consent at any time, where I rely on consent.
To use any of these rights, email me at the address above. There is no charge, and I will reply within one month.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how I have handled your information, please tell me first so that I can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
Children
My services are for adults, and this website is not intended for anyone under 18.
Security
Every page of this website uses a secure, encrypted connection (HTTPS), and access to the website’s administration is limited to me.
Changes to this notice
If I change how I use personal information, I will update this notice and the date at the top.