Dr Nicole Williams, Clinical Psychologist

Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions

Introduction

The terms and conditions below detail what to expect when accessing services provided by the therapist. This document is to be read in conjunction with the therapist’s privacy policy to ensure that you are aware of how your data is collected, processed and managed.

Therapy Sessions

Sessions take place online via MS Teams/Zoom or face-to-face (if applicable) in an agreed location. The typical length of assessment and therapy sessions is 60 minutes, with therapy sessions generally taking place on a weekly basis on the same day and at the same time each week. Sessions run throughout the year apart from dates when the therapist or you are on holiday or unwell.

Therapy sessions can be with individuals, couples or families. If you are having individual sessions, you can be joined at times by significant others (e.g. partners, family or friends) if you so wish and if appropriate.

Further consultation sessions are also available for significant others. The therapist might suggest one or more sessions as helpful in circumstances of a) providing psychoeducation in relation to the type of difficulty that you are experiencing to aid their understanding and to inform ways that they can provide support, b) providing feedback in relation to the work with you, and/or c) forward planning.

Preparing for and planning the ending of the therapeutic work is essential. Please provide the therapist with notice of at least four sessions before the therapy ends, so that she can bring the work to a healthy close to manage the ending rather than an abrupt termination, which can have a negative impact on you.

Cognitive Assessments

The Cognitive Assessment Package is a structured service comprising a pre-assessment call, clinical questionnaires, a main testing assessment session, a final comprehensive written report, and a feedback call.

The main testing assessment session takes place face-to-face and requires an extended appointment block (typically lasting approximately 4 hours).

The final written report will typically be completed and securely emailed to you within 2 to 3 weeks following the completion of the main assessment session, provided all testing has been completed and clinical questionnaires have been returned. Please note that this timeframe may be extended in exceptional circumstances, such as therapist illness or scheduled annual leave, in which case you will be notified.

Fees and Payment

Therapy

• £120 per assessment/therapy session (60 minutes) (this cost includes research, planning, regular supervision and administration costs)
• £120 per significant other consultation/review session (60 minutes)
• The equivalent of £120 per 60 minutes for any additional meetings (e.g. with other services) or report/letter writing (e.g. letter to GP).
• Session fees to be paid at least 24 hours in advance of the session by online bank transfer. Invoices will be sent by email where possible, one week in advance.

Cognitive Assessments

• £1,200 per Cognitive Assessment Package: This fee covers the entire comprehensive package, including the pre-assessment call, clinical questionnaires, the main assessment, the final written report, and a feedback call.
• Cognitive assessment fees are to be paid at least 7 days in advance of the assessment by online bank transfer. Invoices will be sent by email at least one week in advance.

Payment must be made via secure bank transfer or electronic invoice. Specific payment details and instructions will be provided directly to you on your official invoice after booking. Please quote the invoice reference on each payment which can be found highlighted at the top of your invoice.

The therapist reviews her fees on an annual basis. If there is due to be a fee increase following the review, she will give you three months’ notice.

Cancellations, DNAs & Rescheduling

Therapy

48 hours’ notice is required if unable to attend an appointment. If 48 hours’ notice is not given, you will be charged for the missed session.

Cognitive Assessments

Due to the extensive time blocked out for testing, we require at least 7 days’ notice to cancel or reschedule the main cognitive assessment session.

If less than 7 days’ notice is provided, or if you fail to attend, a cancellation fee of between 30% and 50% of the package fee will be retained. The exact amount within this range is at the therapist’s discretion, depending on the volume of pre-assessment work already completed, the administrative costs incurred, and the loss of the extended clinic slot.

Cancellations by the Therapist

If the therapist needs to cancel an appointment, every effort will be made to give you at least 48 hours’ notice via email and/or call. Where possible, the session or appointment will be prioritised for rescheduling at the earliest mutually available date. You will not be charged for any session cancelled by the therapist.

Communication

Please email the therapist if you have any queries prior to or between sessions, or if you need to cancel a session.

The therapist will do her best to get back to you as soon as possible if at first unavailable. Inquiries received between Monday and Thursday will be responded to as soon as possible, with dedicated administrative time allocated on Fridays.

Working Hours

• Cognitive Assessments: Main cognitive assessment testing sessions are scheduled on Friday mornings.
• Therapy Sessions: Standard therapy sessions are primarily offered at a mutually agreed time during weekday evenings.

Medical Issues/Emergencies

Please provide the therapist with information about any medical issues that you have that might be important for the therapist to be aware of.

In the event of an emergency occurring during an online session, the therapist will attempt to phone the emergency contact and/or phone emergency services to attend your address.

Referring On

The need to refer you on to another professional or service might arise. If the therapist is concerned that you might be at risk of harm from or to others (through e.g. physical/sexual/emotional abuse), or risk of harm to yourself, she will be under a duty of care to report this to another professional person or service (e.g. Social Services, GP, the Police). Where it does not put you at further risk of harm, you will be informed before a referral is made. In most circumstances, the therapist will consult you before doing this.

Privacy and Confidentiality

What you talk about in the sessions is treated as private and confidential. Please be aware that there are three exceptions to confidentiality:

1. If there is a potential risk of harm to yourself or someone else, it may be necessary to contact another professional person (like your GP). In most circumstances the therapist will consult you before doing this.
2. If a court order dictates such a release.
3. Please also be aware that as part of good professional practice, the therapist may take some of the material from your sessions anonymously to supervision. Your confidentiality is respected.

Data Protection

All information collected and stored about you is processed in a manner compliant with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. As a member registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) the therapist also operates under a strict code of confidentiality. Please read the separate privacy policy which outlines how data is collected, processed and managed.

Professional Status and Conduct

The therapist is registered with the HCPC (www.hcpc-uk.org) and abides by the Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics of this organisation. The therapist also has professional insurance for her work. If you have any questions or concerns during the therapy process, please raise these directly with the therapist in the first instance. If not resolved, you can contact the HCPC and follow their complaints procedure.

This agreement and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with it shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales. Parties hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts in relation to any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with this agreement.

Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

The purpose of this privacy policy

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 provide a legal framework for ensuring the safety of personal information by organisations. This privacy policy outlines how Dr Nicole Williams manages your data and what your rights are in respect to this. It is important that you read this policy so you are fully aware of the data collected and processed by Dr Nicole Williams through use of our services.

Controller

Dr Nicole Williams is the data controller and is responsible for your personal data (referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy).

Dr Nicole Williams is responsible for data protection. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact Dr Nicole Williams using the details set out below.

Dr Nicole Williams is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a data controller (registration reference: ZB546260).

Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and it was last updated in October 2026. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please inform us if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Contact Details

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please feel free to contact Dr Nicole Williams on the details below:

Dr Nicole Williams
Email address: Dr.NicoleWilliams@outlook.com

You are within your rights to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO; www.ico.org.uk), the UK supervisory authority at any time in relation to data protection issues. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to deal with any concerns you may have before approaching the ICO, so please do contact us in the first instance.

The data we collect about you

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, last name, title, date of birth and gender (yours, and your child’s where we are working with a child or young person).
• Contact Data includes address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us.
• Sensitive Data includes information about your health, including information about your existing and previous medical conditions, medication details, psychiatric history and any other relevant health information to enable us to carry out our services to you. For cognitive assessments, this also includes questionnaires, recent school reports, test responses and scores, and the written report. We require your explicit consent for processing sensitive data. Registration and consent forms are sent by email once therapy and/or a cognitive assessment has been agreed or arranged, and we will ask you to confirm your consent to this processing on the consent form.

Generally, we do not collect any other Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences. However, it may be necessary to collect certain additional types of special category data about you during our assessment and/or therapy sessions. We will ask you to confirm your consent to this processing on the consent form.

If you fail to provide personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with services or goods). In this case, we may have to cancel a service or product you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms before or during an appointment, verbally during discussions at our practice, or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:

• apply for our services or any of our products;
• subscribe to our service or publications; or
• give us feedback or contact us.

Third parties or publicly available sources. We will receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:

• Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services.
• Information about a child or young person from their parents or carers, including recent school reports and completed questionnaires.

How we use your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your consent when collecting sensitive data (such as health information).

Purposes for which we will use your personal data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

Marketing

We do not use your personal data to send you marketing information. We also do not share any of your personal data with any third parties for marketing purposes.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

Disclosures of your personal data

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table ‘Purposes for which we will use your personal data’ above:

• Service providers, acting as processors who provide IT and system administration services, such as Zoom/MS Teams for online appointments, Outlook emails and Microsoft OneDrive for secure storage.
• Pearson, acting as a processor, whose Q-interactive and Q-global platforms are used to administer and score cognitive assessments. Test responses, scores and the details needed to set up and score the assessment are held on these platforms.
• Professional advisers, acting as processors or joint controllers, including healthcare professionals (including associates and other psychologist clinicians who we may refer your case to), lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities, acting as processors or joint controllers, who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.
• In the unlikely event that the therapist dies or is temporarily significantly incapacitated, for example as the result of an injury or accident, you will be contacted by a colleague outside of Dr Nicole Williams. Said colleague will inform you of the situation and help you make alternative arrangements for support as far as they are reasonably able. The colleague with whom Dr Nicole Williams currently has this arrangement is Dr Chloe Taylor. If this nominated colleague changes, you will be informed by Dr Nicole Williams. Dr Nicole Williams will make every effort to contact their clients themselves, for example in the case of minor illnesses, and only anticipates having to make use of the agreement with Dr Chloe Taylor in very serious cases. Said colleague will always be an HCPC registered clinical psychologist in independent practice and bound by the same strict UK GDPR and confidentiality codes as Dr Nicole Williams. Dr Nicole Williams will, for this purpose only, securely send Dr Chloe Taylor your Identity Data and Contact Data only in a password protected document. Dr Nicole Williams will obtain written agreement that Dr Chloe Taylor will only access said document in the unlikely event of an emergency as detailed above.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal and sensitive data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal and sensitive data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. Please note that any transfer of sensitive data is carried out under strict security obligations on our third party service providers.

For cognitive assessments, the written report is provided to the parents or carers, who decide whether to share it with their child’s school or anyone else. We do not share it with schools ourselves.

International transfers

We may transfer your data outside the UK. Many of our external third parties are based outside the UK so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK. Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data under UK law.
• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved for use in the UK, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK.

Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

All information recorded on paper will be securely stored in a locked filing cabinet. Written reports and other confidential digital information will be stored in a password-protected Microsoft OneDrive account offering high levels of security. Confidential information containing sensitive data or information sent by the therapist via the internet will be encrypted and/or password protected (password sent separately). Letters sent to professionals such as GPs, by surface mail, will be clearly marked Confidential. All electronic devices (e.g. computer, laptop and phone) used to access stored information will themselves be password protected.

Raw test data (such as item-level responses, record forms and scores) from cognitive assessments is subject to additional security measures because of its sensitivity and test security requirements. It is stored securely and access is restricted. Requests for access to raw test data will be handled in line with data protection law, professional guidance and test publisher requirements.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

Use of AI tools

We may occasionally use AI tools for general purposes. In line with professional guidance, we do not enter confidential or personally identifiable client information into AI tools.

Data retention

How long will you use my personal data for?

We will only retain your/your child’s personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

In accordance with UK GDPR and professional guidelines, client records, raw assessment forms, and therapy notes are securely stored for 7 years following the conclusion of services for adults, or until the client’s 25th birthday if the services were delivered to a minor under the age of 18 (or until their 26th birthday if they were 17 when services ended). After this period, records are securely and carefully disposed of.

By law we have to keep basic information about our clients (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data) for six years after they cease being clients for tax purposes. In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see your legal rights below for further information.

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Children and young people

Where we provide a cognitive assessment or therapy to a child or young person, we process their personal data as set out in this policy. A parent or carer with parental responsibility will be asked to provide consent to the processing of their child’s sensitive data on the consent form. Parents or carers will be asked to provide recent school reports and to complete questionnaires as part of an assessment, and the written report is provided to them.

Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Where your child is too young to exercise these rights themselves, a parent or carer with parental responsibility may do so on their behalf.

You have the right to:

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

• If you want us to establish the data's accuracy.
• Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
• Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent. If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.