Privacy Policy

Business name: Heal Counselling
Data controller: Nidhi Pitkar
Address: 2 Havelock Road, #05-19, Singapore 059763
Email: nidhi@healcounselling.io
Phone / WhatsApp: +65 9436 3399

Nidhi Pitkar acts as both the data controller and the designated Data Protection Officer (DPO) for Heal Counselling.

2.1 Contact enquiries and appointment bookings

When you use our contact form, WhatsApp, or email us directly, we may collect your name, email address, phone number, and the contents of your message. We use this solely to respond to your enquiry or confirm an appointment.

2.2 The Clarity Check (online assessment)

The Clarity Check is a voluntary wellbeing screener using three validated questionnaires — the WHO-5, PHQ-9, and GAD-7. When you complete it:

• Your question responses and aggregate scores are processed in your browser session.
• Results are displayed to you immediately and are not automatically transmitted to us or stored on our servers.
• If you choose to share your results (for example, by forwarding them to Nidhi before a session), the data you send is then subject to this policy.

Important: The Clarity Check is a psychoeducational screening tool, not a clinical assessment or diagnosis. Only a qualified clinician can provide a diagnosis.

2.3 Clinical session notes

Notes from counselling sessions are maintained in a secure, private format separate from this website. They are held under Singapore's professional and ethical obligations for counsellors and are not stored on or transmitted through the Site.

2.4 Technical and analytics data

We use Google Analytics (Google LLC) to understand how visitors use the Site. This collects anonymised usage data including pages visited, time spent, and general location (country/city level). Your IP address is anonymised before storage. Google may process this data on servers outside Singapore; Google LLC participates in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. You may opt out via the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Standard server logs may record your IP address, browser type, and referring URL for security and troubleshooting purposes only.

We use personal data only for the purposes for which it was collected:

We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making or profiling, and we do not sell your data to any third party.

Information you share during counselling sessions, including disclosures about your mental or physical health, is treated as sensitive personal data. It is:

• Collected only with your knowledge and in the context of the therapeutic relationship.
• Never shared with third parties (including family members, employers, or insurers) without your explicit written consent.
• Subject to three narrow exceptions required by Singapore law and SAC professional ethics:
  1. Serious and imminent risk of harm to you or another person.
  2. A valid court order or legal obligation.
  3. Disclosure of child abuse under the Children and Young Persons Act (Cap. 38) or the Child Care Centres Act.

We do not sell personal data. We may share limited data with:

• Google LLC — anonymised analytics data via Google Analytics (see Section 2.4).
• Meta Platforms (WhatsApp) — when you initiate contact via WhatsApp, your messages are processed by Meta under their privacy policy. We recommend not including sensitive health details in first-contact messages.
• Vercel Inc. — our website hosting provider. Vercel processes server logs in accordance with their data processing agreement.
• Professional supervisors or consultants — in line with ethical practice, Nidhi may discuss anonymised clinical material with a professional supervisor. No personally identifying information is shared.

All third-party service providers are selected to maintain appropriate data protection standards. Where data is transferred outside Singapore, we take steps to ensure a comparable level of protection is in place.

• Contact and enquiry data: Retained for 12 months after last contact, unless you become a client.
• Client session records: Retained for 7 years from the date of the last session, in line with professional practice guidelines and the Limitation Act (Cap. 163).
• Analytics data: Retained by Google for 26 months (standard Google Analytics retention period).

After the applicable retention period, data is securely deleted or anonymised.

The Site uses the following cookies:

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Disabling analytics cookies does not affect your use of the Site.

Under Singapore's PDPA, you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Withdrawal of consent — withdraw consent for us to use your data for a specific purpose (this will not affect data processed before withdrawal, and may limit our ability to provide services).
• Data portability — request your data in a commonly used, machine-readable format where technically feasible (applies to data provided directly by you that we process by automated means).

To exercise any of these rights, email nidhi@healcounselling.io with the subject line "PDPA Request". We will respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with Singapore's Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) at www.pdpc.gov.sg.

We take reasonable organisational and technical measures to protect your personal data, including:

• HTTPS encryption on all pages of the Site.
• Access to client data restricted to Nidhi Pitkar only.
• Clinical session notes stored offline or in password-protected, encrypted files.
• Third-party service providers bound by data processing agreements.

In the event of a data breach that poses significant harm to affected individuals, we will notify the PDPC and affected individuals as required under Singapore's mandatory breach notification obligation.

We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under 18 years of age through the Site without verifiable parental or guardian consent. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal data without appropriate consent, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

Counselling services for minors are provided only with the explicit consent of a parent or legal guardian, in accordance with Singapore's Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act and Children and Young Persons Act.

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version and effective date are always displayed at the top of this page. Material changes will be communicated to active clients directly.

For any questions about this policy, to exercise your PDPA rights, or to raise a privacy concern: