Privacy Policy

Last updated: 8 September 2026

1. Who is responsible for your information

Mark Darlington is the controller of the personal information described in this Privacy Policy. This means Mark Darlington decides why and how that information is used.

This website is branded “Mark Can Help You”, but the controller is Mark Darlington.

For privacy questions or to exercise your data-protection rights, contact:
Email: hello@markdarlington.com
Location: United Kingdom

2. Who this website is for

This website and the coaching, hypnotherapy, quiz and booking services described on it are intended for adults aged 18 and over.

Personal information is not knowingly collected from children. If you believe a child has provided information through this website, please email hello@markdarlington.com.

3. Information collected

Depending on how you use the website or services, the following information may be collected:

• your name and contact details;
• messages and enquiries you send;
• appointment and booking details;
• quiz answers, quiz results and related technical records;
• information you provide when becoming or working as a coaching or hypnotherapy client;
• payment, invoice and accounting information;
• cookie choices, device information, IP address and website usage information;
• information needed to protect legal rights, prevent abuse or keep the website secure.

Please avoid placing detailed medical information in an initial website enquiry.

4. Contact enquiries

When you use the Contact page, your name, email address and message are used to respond to your enquiry.

The legal bases relied upon are:

• taking steps at your request before entering into a possible contract; and
• legitimate interests in responding to genuine enquiries and operating the services.

Contact-form submissions are delivered by email and are not intentionally retained in the website database. Mark Darlington’s personal assistant may access the shared inbox and help manage or respond to enquiries on Mark’s behalf.

5. Quiz and reflection information

The website provides a short two-part check-in that asks questions about your circumstances, health or wellbeing.

The quiz may collect:

• your name, where requested;
• your email address;
• your answers;
• the reflection or result produced from those answers;
• the IP address and technical records connected with the submission.

Some answers may reveal health or wellbeing information. This can be special-category personal information.

Before answering the quiz questions, you must provide separate, explicit consent to this use. You may withdraw that consent at any time by emailing hello@markdarlington.com. Withdrawal does not make earlier lawful use invalid, but it may mean the quiz result or related service can no longer be provided.

Quiz information is used to provide the requested reflection, operate the quiz securely and follow up where this has been clearly explained.

Completing the quiz does not subscribe you to marketing. Any future marketing subscription must use a separate, optional and unticked consent choice.

6. Booking a call

Booking links take you to Calendly’s external website.

When you choose to follow a Calendly link, Calendly will collect and use booking information in accordance with its own privacy information. This may include your name, email address, appointment choice and any information you enter into its booking form.

Calendly does not load as an embedded service on markdarlington.com.

Calendly’s privacy information is available at:
https://calendly.com/legal/privacy-notice

7. Coaching and hypnotherapy clients

If you become a client, additional information may be collected where it is needed to provide the agreed service, manage appointments, keep appropriate records, issue invoices or protect legal rights.

The main legal bases are:

• performance of a contract;
• taking steps before entering into a contract;
• compliance with legal obligations;
• legitimate interests in administering and protecting the practice;
• explicit consent where this is the appropriate condition for health or other special-category information.

Website quiz consent is not a substitute for any separate client agreement, privacy information or consent needed when coaching or hypnotherapy begins.

8. Website analytics and cookies

Necessary cookies are used to operate the website and remember your cookie choices.

Google Analytics 4 is used only if you actively accept Analytics cookies. Analytics helps Mark Darlington understand, in broad terms, how visitors find and use the website.

Google Analytics must not load if Analytics consent has not been given or has been rejected.

You can accept, reject or change your cookie choices at any time using the cookie settings icon on the website.

9. Who information may be shared with

Personal information is not sold.

Where necessary, information may be shared with:

• Hostinger, which hosts the website and database;
• website, form, quiz, security and email service providers;
• Mark Darlington’s personal assistant, who may help manage enquiries;
• Calendly when you choose to use its external booking service;
• Google when you consent to Google Analytics;
• payment, accounting or professional service providers where relevant;
• legal advisers, insurers, regulators or public authorities where required or permitted by law.

Only information reasonably needed for the relevant purpose should be shared.

10. International transfers

Some service providers may process information outside the United Kingdom.

Where UK data-protection law requires a safeguard, the transfer will rely on an applicable UK adequacy regulation, an approved contractual safeguard or another legally permitted transfer mechanism.

Information about the safeguards applying to a particular provider can be requested by emailing hello@markdarlington.com.

11. How long information is kept

Information is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for its purpose.

The current retention periods are:

• contact enquiries that do not become client relationships: normally up to 12 months;
• quiz names, emails, answers, results and related security records: up to 12 months;
• client and session records: up to seven years after the working relationship ends, unless a different period is required for legal, insurance or professional reasons;
• financial and accounting records: normally at least six years;
• cookie-consent records: for the period configured in the consent tool;
• security and server logs: according to the security and hosting provider’s documented retention settings;
• Google Analytics information: event-level data is retained for 2 months and user-level data for 14 months, as configured in this website’s GA4 property.

Deletion settings for the quiz and other website databases should be configured to match the stated retention periods where technically possible.

12. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

• ask for a copy of your personal information;
• ask for inaccurate information to be corrected;
• ask for information to be deleted;
• ask for use of information to be restricted;
• receive certain information in a portable format;
• withdraw consent where use is based on consent;
• complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

To exercise a right, email hello@markdarlington.com.

Your right to object

Where personal information is used on the basis of legitimate interests, you have the right to object. Your circumstances and the reasons for the processing will then be considered.

You have an absolute right to object to personal information being used for direct marketing.

13. Automated quiz results

The quiz may automatically generate a reflection based on the answers selected.

The reflection is general guidance. It is not a diagnosis and does not make a decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on you.

Coaching, hypnotherapy and the website quiz are not substitutes for medical or mental-health care.

14. Complaints

Please contact hello@markdarlington.com first if you have a concern so that it can be investigated.

You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

15. Changes to this policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated when the website, services, suppliers or legal requirements change.

The date at the top shows when it was last updated.