Last updated: 30 May 2026
I take your privacy seriously. I collect only the information needed to provide counselling services, I do not sell or share your personal information, and I protect everything you share with me in line with my professional obligations as an HPCSA-registered counsellor.
The longer explanation is below.
Storme Brand Counselling is a sole proprietorship operated by Storme Brand, a registered counsellor with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA Registration no. PRC0023531). My practice is based at 16 Oosterland Street, Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
For questions about this policy or your personal information, please contact me at stormebrand@gmail.com or +27 79 019 8437.
When you use this website or contact me, I may collect:
Your name, email address and phone number – so I can respond to your enquiry or confirm your booking
Emergency contact details – collected during registration and used only in a genuine emergency during a session
Medical aid information – collected if you choose to provide it, used only to generate your invoice for medical aid submission
Basic information about what you are seeking support for – provided voluntarily through the contact form or registration form, used to prepare for our first session
Your IP address and basic browser data – collected automatically by Google Analytics when you visit the site, used only to understand how the site is used in aggregate
I do not collect sensitive personal information beyond what you voluntarily provide. I do not run advertising and I do not use tracking tools beyond basic Google Analytics.
Everything discussed in a counselling session is confidential. Session notes are stored securely and are not shared with any third party without your written consent.
There are three exceptions to confidentiality – these are required by law and by HPCSA ethical guidelines:
If I believe there is an immediate risk to your life or someone else’s life
If I am required by a court order to disclose information
If you give me written consent to share specific information with a named third party
These exceptions will always be discussed with you before any disclosure is made wherever possible.
Your contact details and registration information are stored securely. Session notes are kept in password-protected files. Payment is processed through a third-party payment provider – I do not store your card details.
I retain your information for as long as our therapeutic relationship is active, and for a minimum of six years after our last session in line with HPCSA record-keeping requirements.
Google Analytics
Used for basic, anonymous website visitor data – which pages are visited most, how people find the site, and roughly where visitors are located. No personally identifiable information is collected through Analytics. You can opt out at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Zoom
My preferred platform for online sessions. Zoom processes the video and audio of your session on their servers. I use a private, password-protected meeting space for every session. I recommend using a personal device on a private network and ensuring your physical environment is private for the duration of the session. Zoom’s privacy policy is available at zoom.us/privacy.
Used for booking enquiries, general communication, and in some cases for video sessions where Zoom is not accessible or practical. WhatsApp is owned by Meta and processes messages and calls on Meta’s infrastructure. While WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption for messages and calls, Meta’s data practices are broader than those of a dedicated healthcare platform. For this reason I recommend that sensitive clinical information be discussed in a scheduled Zoom session rather than over WhatsApp where possible. If you choose to use WhatsApp for a video session, please ensure you are in a private space and that your device is password-protected. WhatsApp’s privacy policy is available at whatsapp.com/legal/privacy-policy.
WordPress
This website is built on WordPress. Contact form submissions are stored temporarily in the WordPress database before being emailed to me and then deleted from the database. I do not store form submissions long-term within WordPress.
The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) gives you the following rights regarding your personal information:
The right to know what information I hold about you
The right to request correction of incorrect information
The right to request deletion of your information (subject to legal record-keeping requirements)
The right to object to how your information is being used
To exercise any of these rights, please contact me directly at stormebrand@gmail.com. I will respond within 30 days.
If you are based outside South Africa, please note that this website and practice operate under South African law, including POPIA. If you are in the European Union, the UK, or Australia, your local data protection laws may provide additional rights. I am committed to meeting reasonable requests from clients in any jurisdiction.
If I make any significant changes to this privacy policy, I will update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the website after changes are posted means you accept the updated policy.
