Privacy Policy

Last updated: 30 September 2026

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Your privacy matters to me. This policy explains what information I collect, how I use it and the choices you have when you visit my website, contact me or use my coaching services.

 

Who I am

 

I’m Susan Brown, known as Sue Brown, trading as The Crossroads Coaching. I am responsible for how your personal information is used.

 

If you have a question about your information, please contact me:

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Email: info@thecrossroadscoaching.com
Telephone: 07720 761896
Post: 35 Pelham Road, Worthing BN13 1JA

ICO registration number: ZB932567

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My coaching services are for adults aged 18 and over.

 

Information I collect

 

Depending on how you use my services, I may collect:

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• Your name, email address, telephone number and other contact details.

• Information you provide when you enquire or book a call.

• Your coaching agreement, appointment details and relevant correspondence.

• Information about your circumstances, goals and coaching progress.

• Health information relevant to your coaching or an application for a funded place.

• Feedback you provide about your experience.

• Payment and invoice records.

• Recordings, transcripts and AI-generated session summaries, where you agree to these.

• Your newsletter preferences and permissions for using testimonials.

• Technical information about your use of the website, such as your IP address, browser and pages visited.

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Most information comes directly from you. If a charity or another organisation refers you, it may also provide information needed to arrange your coaching.

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Please avoid including medical or other sensitive personal information in website enquiries or booking forms. We can discuss what is needed when we speak.

 

Why I use your information

 

Data protection law requires me to have a reason, called a “lawful basis”, for using personal information.

I use your information for the following purposes:

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Answering enquiries and arranging coaching
To respond to you, discuss the services you are interested in and arrange appointments. Where this is about entering into a coaching agreement, I rely on taking steps at your request before a contract. For other enquiries, I rely on my legitimate interest in responding to people who contact my business.

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Providing coaching
To deliver the coaching we have agreed, communicate with you and keep relevant records. I rely on our coaching agreement. Additional protections apply to health information, as explained below.

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Managing my business
To manage administration, maintain appropriate records and deal with complaints or potential claims. I rely on my legitimate interests in running my business responsibly and protecting my legal rights. Where record keeping is required by law, such as for tax purposes, I rely on that legal obligation.

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Optional activities
I rely on your consent for newsletters, agreed use of testimonials, and optional session recording, transcription and AI summaries. You can withdraw your consent.

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Health information

 

Coaching may involve discussing your health, including your experience of cancer or caring for someone. Health information has extra protection under data protection law.

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I ask for your explicit consent to collect and use relevant health information for coaching, feedback and, where applicable, arranging a funded place. I explain what is needed and why.

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You do not need to share information that is unrelated to your coaching. Please also avoid sharing identifiable information about other people unless it is necessary.

 

You can withdraw your consent by contacting me. This does not affect information already used lawfully. If withdrawing consent means I can no longer provide particular support or arrange funding, I will discuss this with you.

 

I may retain essential health information in consultation records where it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. This is separate from consent to use information during coaching and does not mean keeping every recording or detail you have shared.

 

Funded coaching

 

If you apply for coaching funded by Sussex Cancer Fund, I need to share relevant information so the organisation can consider and arrange your funded place.

 

This may include your initials, age, geographical area, gender, cancer type, referral source and reasons for seeking coaching.

 

Although your full name may not be included, this combination of details could identify you. I therefore treat it as personal information.

 

I explain the information needed and ask for your explicit consent before sharing health information for a funded-place application. Without the necessary information, it may not be possible to arrange the funding.

 

Programme evaluation may also use attendance information, feedback and outcomes. Any identifiable information shared for reporting will be explained separately. Permission to use your story or testimonial publicly is separate from arranging your funded place.

 

Online sessions, recordings and AI summaries

 

I usually use Zoom for online coaching. Other agreed options may include Microsoft Teams, telephone, FaceTime or WhatsApp.

 

Before using recording, transcription or AI summaries, I explain their purpose and ask for your agreement to each. You can choose coaching without these tools.

 

These tools help me prepare coaching notes and a summary of the session. I check and adapt AI-generated material before using it in your client record or sending you an edited summary.

 

Recordings, transcripts and original AI summaries may be stored in Zoom and downloaded to my computer or Microsoft OneDrive. Within my business, only I access these session files. The technology providers also process information to deliver their services.

 

You can ask me to stop recording, transcription or AI summaries during a session. You can also contact me about information already held.

 

Feedback and testimonials

 

Feedback helps me understand your experience and improve my coaching. Feedback that forms part of your client record is kept with that record.

 

Providing feedback does not automatically give permission for it to be published.

I ask for your permission before publishing a testimonial or identifiable client story. We agree the wording, the details included and where it will appear. Permission for a charity or funder to publish it is considered separately.

 

You do not have to provide a public testimonial to receive coaching.

 

You can ask me to stop using your testimonial by contacting me. I will remove it from channels I control and contact any organisation with which I shared it for the agreed purpose. Material already printed or copied elsewhere may not be recoverable.

 

I review published testimonials annually to check that they remain relevant.

 

Newsletters

 

If you sign up for my newsletter, I use your details to send the news and updates you requested.

 

You can unsubscribe using the link in any newsletter or by contacting me.

 

Making an enquiry or becoming a coaching client does not automatically subscribe you to marketing emails.

 

Who can access your information

 

I use service providers to operate the website and deliver my services. These include:

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• Wix: website hosting, enquiries, newsletter subscriptions and email marketing.

• Microsoft services: email, forms, client records, file storage and occasional online meetings.

• Zoom: online meetings and optional recording, transcription and AI summaries.

• Calendly: discovery-call bookings.

• Communication and banking providers: contacting you and administering payments.

 

People helping me maintain the website may have access to website enquiries and newsletter subscriber details through Wix. This does not give them access to my coaching session records.

 

Where necessary, relevant information may also be shared with professional advisers, an insurer or an authority to meet a legal obligation or deal with a complaint or legal claim.

 

Information processed outside the UK

 

Some technology providers operate internationally, so information may be stored or accessed outside the UK.

 

You can contact me for information about the providers used for your information and their processing arrangements.

 

How long I keep information

 

I keep information for the purpose it was collected for, then delete it or make it genuinely anonymous when it is no longer needed.

 

My retention periods are:

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• Enquiries that do not lead to coaching: 12 months after our last contact.

• Client consultation records: five years after your last consultation. This includes relevant coaching notes, edited session summaries and feedback forming part of your client record.

• Session recordings, full transcripts and original AI summaries: deleted within 30 days after coaching ends, once the information needed for the client record has been captured. This includes downloaded copies.

• Newsletter details: while you remain subscribed. After you unsubscribe, a minimal record may be kept to ensure you do not receive further marketing.

• Testimonials: reviewed annually and removed when no longer appropriate or when you withdraw permission. A limited record of your permission and withdrawal may be retained to demonstrate how your information was used.

• Payment and tax records: for the period required by applicable tax and accounting rules.

 

Essential records may need to be kept longer if they are relevant to an ongoing complaint or legal claim. Any longer retention is limited to what is needed for that purpose.

 

Keeping information secure

 

I use password-protected devices and accounts to help protect electronic information.

 

Printed client documents are kept in a locked cabinet and shredded when they are no longer needed.

 

Access is limited according to the work being carried out. Although no online system can be completely secure, I take reasonable steps to protect information from loss, misuse and unauthorised access.

 

Cookies and website information

 

This website uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are needed for the website to work. Others support features or help me understand how visitors use the site.

 

You can accept or reject optional cookies through the cookie banner. You can reopen the website’s cookie settings at any time to change your choices.

 

The cookie settings provide information about the cookies used and the choices available.

 

Your choices and rights

 

Depending on the circumstances, you can ask me to:

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• Provide a copy of your personal information.

• Correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.

• Delete information.

• Restrict how information is used.

• Provide certain information in a reusable electronic format.

 

You can object to uses based on legitimate interests and can always object to direct marketing.

 

Where I rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of earlier use.

 

These rights have some limits. For example, I may need to retain particular records to meet a legal obligation or deal with legal claims. If I cannot fulfil a request, I will explain why.

 

To make a request, contact info@thecrossroadscoaching.com. I may need to confirm your identity before releasing information.

 

Questions or complaints

 

Please contact me if you have a concern about how I use your information.

 

You can also complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s data protection regulator:

Website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

 

You do not have to contact me first.

 

Changes to this policy

 

I may update this policy when my services or information-handling practices change. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.