Privacy Policy

Last updated: 31 July 2026

At Healing Starts Here, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect personal information when you visit our website, contact us, subscribe to podcast notifications, apply to become a podcast guest or otherwise interact with us online.

1. The Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with our website, we may collect the following information:

Information you provide directly

This may include:

  • your name;
  • email address;
  • website or social media details;
  • messages and enquiries you send to us;
  • information provided when applying to become a podcast guest;
  • information about your professional work or area of practice;
  • information you voluntarily provide about topics you would like to discuss on the podcast; and
  • any other information you choose to provide through our forms.

Newsletter and podcast subscription information

When you sign up to receive notifications about new Healing Starts Here episodes, we may collect your email address and information relating to your subscription, such as whether you have confirmed your email address and whether you have unsubscribed.

Technical information

When you use our website, certain technical information may be collected automatically, such as:

  • IP address;
  • browser and device information;
  • operating system;
  • pages visited;
  • approximate location derived from technical information;
  • referring website;
  • information about how the website is used; and
  • information collected through cookies and similar technologies.

The exact information collected depends on the website technology, hosting provider, analytics tools and other services we use.

2. How We Use Your Information

We may use your personal information to:

  • respond to enquiries and messages;
  • manage podcast guest applications;
  • communicate with potential and confirmed podcast guests;
  • send you notifications when new podcast episodes are published where you have subscribed;
  • manage your email subscription and preferences;
  • maintain and improve our website;
  • understand how visitors use our website;
  • protect the security of our website and systems;
  • keep appropriate business and administrative records;
  • comply with legal and regulatory obligations; and
  • establish, exercise or defend our legal rights where necessary.

We will only use personal information for purposes that are lawful, fair and transparent.

3. Our Lawful Bases for Processing

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases under UK data protection law:

Consent

We may rely on your consent where you actively choose to subscribe to podcast email notifications or where consent is otherwise required.

You can withdraw your consent at any time.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal information where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided that those interests do not override your rights and freedoms.

Examples may include responding to enquiries, managing guest applications, maintaining the website and protecting our business.

Legal Obligation

We may process information where this is necessary for us to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Contract

Where applicable, we may process information because it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract or to perform a contract with you.

4. Email Communications

If you sign up to receive notifications about new Healing Starts Here podcast episodes, we will use your email address to send you those notifications and related communications covered by your subscription.

Where consent is required for electronic marketing, we will obtain the appropriate consent before sending marketing emails.

Every marketing email will include an appropriate way to unsubscribe or manage your preferences.

You can unsubscribe at any time.

5. Podcast Guest Applications

If you apply to become a guest on Healing Starts Here, we will use the information you provide to:

  • review and assess your application;
  • understand your proposed topic;
  • contact you about your application;
  • determine whether your proposed topic is suitable for the podcast; and
  • communicate with you about any potential appearance.

Submitting an application does not guarantee that you will be invited onto the podcast.

If you are selected as a guest, we may provide you with additional information or agreements relating to recording and publication.

6. Sensitive or Special Category Information

Please do not provide unnecessary sensitive personal information through our website forms.

This may include information relating to your health, medical history, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or other special categories of personal data.

Some podcast conversations may involve personal experiences relating to health or wellbeing. If you voluntarily provide information of this nature, we will only use it where we have a lawful basis and, where required, an appropriate condition for processing special category data under applicable data protection law.

7. Who We Share Your Information With

We may share personal information with trusted third-party service providers where this is necessary to operate our website and services.

These may include providers of:

  • website hosting;
  • website security;
  • email marketing and email delivery;
  • online forms;
  • cloud storage;
  • analytics;
  • podcast or media hosting;
  • technical support; and
  • other services necessary to operate the website.

These providers may process personal information on our behalf and will only be used where appropriate safeguards are in place.

We may also disclose information where required by law, regulation, court order or a competent authority.

We do not sell your personal information.

8. International Transfers

Some of the service providers we use may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer is lawful and that appropriate safeguards are in place where required by applicable data protection law.

Information about specific international transfers may depend on the providers and services we use.

9. How Long We Keep Your Information

We only keep personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting, administrative or reporting requirements.

Different types of information may be kept for different periods.

For example, we may retain:

  • contact form enquiries for as long as reasonably necessary to respond to and manage the enquiry;
  • guest application information for as long as reasonably necessary to consider the application and maintain relevant records;
  • email subscription information until you unsubscribe, subject to any limited suppression records we may need to retain; and
  • technical and analytics information for periods determined by the relevant service and our configuration.

We periodically review the information we hold and delete or anonymise information that is no longer required, where appropriate.

10. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to help the website function properly, understand how visitors use our website, and improve your experience.

Some cookies may be necessary for the website to operate and may be used without your consent where permitted by law. Other cookies or similar technologies, such as certain analytics, advertising or tracking technologies, may require your consent.

Where consent is required, we will ask for your consent before using the relevant cookies or similar technologies.

You can manage or change your cookie preferences through the cookie settings available on our website. You can also manage cookies through your web browser settings, although disabling certain cookies may affect how the website functions.

The specific cookies and technologies used on this website may change from time to time as we update our website and services.

11. Your Data Protection Rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights under UK data protection law, including the right to:

  • ask for access to your personal information;
  • ask for inaccurate personal information to be corrected;
  • ask for personal information to be erased in certain circumstances;
  • ask for processing to be restricted in certain circumstances;
  • object to certain processing;
  • request the transfer of certain personal information to another
  • organisation where applicable; and
  • withdraw consent where we rely on consent.

Some rights are subject to exceptions or conditions under applicable law.

You also have an absolute right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing purposes.

12. How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise your rights or ask a privacy-related question, please contact us through our website Contact page.

Please provide enough information for us to understand your request and locate the relevant information.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests.

13. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, alteration or disclosure.

However, no internet transmission or electronic storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

14. Third-Party Websites

Our website may contain links to websites operated by other organisations.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third-party websites.

We encourage you to read the privacy notice of any third-party website you visit.

15. Children’s Privacy

Our website and podcast are not specifically directed at children.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children where it is unnecessary.

If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us without appropriate consent, please contact us so that we can review the situation.

16. Automated Decision-Making and Profiling

We do not currently use personal information collected through this website to make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

If this changes, we will update this Privacy Policy where required.

17. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our website, services, technology or legal requirements.

Any changes will be published on this page together with a revised “Last updated” date.

We encourage you to review this page periodically.

18. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we use your personal information, please contact us first so that we have an opportunity to address your concern.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent supervisory authority for data protection.

19. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle personal information, please contact us through our website Contact page.