Confidentiality
People bring me things they haven't said to a cofounder, investor, employee, partner or sometimes anyone else.
That only works if privacy isn't vague.
Here's what you can expect.
What you say stays private
I don't send session content to your employer, investors, board, cofounder, team, partner or whoever referred you.
That remains true if somebody else is paying for the work.
Paying the invoice doesn't buy access to the conversation.
The limits to confidentiality are explained below.
You can talk about the actual thing
That includes things like:
- doubts about the company or whether you still want it
- problems with a cofounder
- employees you're worried about or decisions you're avoiding
- investor or board pressure
- runway, revenue and financial fear
- wanting to leave, sell or stop
- things happening in your personal life that are affecting the work
I don't have a back channel to the people involved.
If somebody else pays
Sometimes a company, investor or another party funds the work.
They pay the invoice.
They do not receive session content, notes, progress reports or a summary of what we're working on.
If they expect something different, we establish that before the work starts.
Stories and content
I write and speak publicly about the kinds of problems I work with.
I don't publish identifiable client material without explicit permission.
Anything based on client work is fictionalised, materially altered or combined from patterns across different people so that an individual can't reasonably be identified.
If I ever wanted to use something recognisably close to your real situation, I'd ask first.
A no is a no.
Notes and data
I keep records to a considered minimum and use standard professional tools for scheduling, communication and sessions.
If you want to know exactly what I store, where and for how long, ask me. I'll answer plainly.
NDA
If an NDA makes the commercial side easier to trust, I'm happy to discuss signing one before we start.
The limits
I won't promise absolute secrecy because that wouldn't be an honest promise.
Confidentiality is the default, but there are narrow circumstances where it can have limits, including serious and immediate risk of harm and situations where disclosure is legally required.
As a BACP-registered psychotherapist, I also use clinical supervision. This is itself confidential, and material is discussed in a way intended to protect client identity.
If any of these limits are particularly relevant to your situation, ask me before we start and I'll be specific.
This page isn't the contract
This is a plain-language explanation of how I approach confidentiality.
It doesn't replace the actual agreement, privacy information, consent documentation or an NDA where one applies.
If confidentiality is the thing stopping you from starting, ask me about the exact thing you're worried about.