Privacy policy

What this policy covers

This policy covers bondingcorner.com and the counseling services offered through it: enquiries, bookings, payments, sessions and any messages sent to the practice. It does not cover websites the site links to.

Counseling notes are handled separately from website data. Where the two differ, that difference is stated below.

What is collected

Three kinds of information are involved, and they are kept apart from each other.

• When you enquire: your name, the contact details you send from, and whatever you choose to put in the message. Sending a message does not create a client record.
• When you book: name, email, phone number, the appointment type and time, and the language and format you ask for. Held in the booking system on this site.
• When you pay: the order, the amount and the payment reference. Full card details are never seen or stored by the practice; they are handled by the payment provider.
• When you attend sessions: brief professional notes, kept so that sessions connect to each other. These are working notes, not a transcript, and no session is recorded.
• Automatically, when you visit: the pages requested, approximate location, device and browser, through the analytics described below.
• You are never asked for a national identity number, and you do not need to give a medical history in order to book.

Who can see it

Session content is seen by the psychologist. Booking and payment records are seen by whoever administers bookings and payments for the practice.

Nothing about your sessions is disclosed to your family, your employer or any third party without your agreement, except in the situations set out under confidentiality below.

The practice is run by one psychologist, so there is no internal team with routine access to session notes. Suppliers who process data on the practice’s behalf are listed here, because a policy that hides them is not a policy.

• Website hosting and backups, which hold the site database and its backup copies.
• The booking system on this site, which stores appointment details.
• The payment provider, which handles payment and holds the payment record.
• Email delivery, used to send confirmations and replies.
• A content delivery network, which serves the site’s pages and sees the IP address of each request.
• Google, for the fonts and the analytics described below.
• WhatsApp (Meta), if you choose to message on WhatsApp.
• Several of these suppliers store or process data outside Pakistan. Session notes are not uploaded to any third-party service.

How long it is kept

Different records are kept for different periods, and deleted records can persist in backups for a further period before those backups rotate.

• Enquiries that do not lead to a booking: deleted within 12 months.
• Booking and payment records: kept as long as tax and accounting rules require them.
• Professional notes: kept while there is a professional reason to keep them, then deleted. Ask if you want to know what is held about you.
• Backups: overwritten on a rolling cycle, so deleted data can persist in a backup for a short period after deletion.

Confidentiality, and where it ends

What you discuss in a session is confidential. Two limits apply, and they are the same limits any responsible practice works under.

• Sessions are not recorded. Neither audio nor video is captured, and you should not be asked to consent to recording.
• In couple and family sessions, what is said in the room is heard by everyone in it. The practice does not keep secrets between participants on request.
• Nothing is reported to your family, spouse, in-laws, employer or insurer.
• Confidentiality can be set aside where there is a serious and immediate risk to your life or someone else’s, a risk to a child, or a legal order requiring disclosure.
• Where that happens, only what is necessary is shared, only with those who can act, and you are told unless telling you would increase the risk.

Messaging apps and third-party tools

WhatsApp, email and the calling platforms are operated by other companies under their own privacy terms. Messages and calls that pass through them are stored on your device and on theirs, outside the practice’s control.

Consider who else can unlock your phone, and what appears in a shared bank statement, before choosing a channel.

• Video and audio sessions run on WhatsApp, Google Meet or Zoom. Which one is used is agreed with you, and the joining details are sent before the session.
• Text chat sessions run on WhatsApp only.
• WhatsApp is operated by Meta, Google Meet by Google and Zoom by Zoom Communications, each under their own privacy terms rather than this one.
• WhatsApp messages remain on your own device as well as reaching the practice, which matters if other people use your phone. Delete your copy if that is a concern.
• Web fonts are loaded from Google’s servers, which means Google receives your IP address when a page loads.
• No session is recorded on any of these platforms.

Cookies and analytics

Any cookies set by the website, and any analytics used, are listed here with their purpose and the controls available to you.

• Essential cookies keep your shopping basket and login working. The site does not function properly without them.
• Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager, records which pages are visited, roughly where from, and on what kind of device. It is used to understand which pages are useful.
• Meta Pixel (Facebook and Instagram) records page views so that the reach of our Facebook and Instagram adverts can be measured. It sets cookies and may connect your visit to a Meta account you are logged into. It records only which page loaded: no form contents, booking details, messages or anything you tell us about a concern are sent to Meta. You can block it with your browser’s tracking protection, an ad blocker, or Meta’s own ad settings at facebook.com/adpreferences.

Your requests

You can ask what is held about you, ask for a correction, or ask for deletion where the law and professional record-keeping obligations allow it. Identify your request as a privacy request when you send it.

Do not send identity documents unless a verification step has been explained to you first.

• Ask what is held about you, and receive a copy.
• Ask for a correction where something recorded is wrong.
• Ask for deletion of what is not needed for tax, accounting or professional reasons.
• Withdraw consent to being contacted, at any time.
• Object to analytics, using your browser settings or by asking the practice.
• Send requests to support@bondingcorner.com. They are handled by Zahid Sohail personally. You will get an acknowledgement within 7 days and an answer within 30 days. You may be asked a question that confirms you are who you say you are, so that records are not handed to the wrong person.

Incidents and changes

If information is exposed or lost, the practice will act on it and inform the people affected where it is required to.

When this policy changes, the version date at the top of the page changes with it.

• If a data breach occurs that is likely to affect you, you will be told what happened, what was involved and what is being done about it, without waiting until the position is fully resolved.
• When this policy changes materially, the date below changes and the change is described rather than slipped in silently. Continuing to use the service after a change means the current version applies.