Privacy Policy

Alex B Doula

Last updated: August 2026

This policy explains what personal information I collect when you visit my website, make an enquiry, or work with me as a client — and what I do with it.

I take this seriously. Doula work means I hold some of the most sensitive information a person can share: pregnancy, birth, loss, mental health, family circumstances. This policy sets out how I look after it.

1. Who I am

I am Alexandra Burner, trading as Alex B Doula, a self-employed full spectrum doula providing fertility, birth and postnatal support in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Wiltshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire.

I am the "data controller" for the information described in this policy. That means I decide what information is collected and how it is used, and I am responsible for keeping it safe under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

Contact: Email: asburner@gmail.com Phone: 07903 311 525] Postal address: available on request Website: www.alexbdoula.co.uk


2. The information I collect

When you visit my website or get in touch

  • Your name, email address, phone number if you choose to provide it in your enquiry.

  • Whatever you choose to tell me in your enquiry — for example your due date, the kind of support you're looking for, where you live

  • Basic technical information about your visit (see the Cookies section below)

When you book a discovery call or free consultation

  • Contact details and preferred times

  • Notes I make about what you're looking for, so I can prepare properly

When you become a client

  • Full name, address, date of birth, contact details

  • Your partner's or birth partner's name and contact details, where relevant

  • Emergency contact and next of kin details

  • Your due date, care provider, hospital or birth centre, midwife or consultant name

  • Health and pregnancy information you share with me — for example medical history, previous births, mental health, medication, disability, dietary needs, feeding plans

  • Your birth preferences and any notes we make together in our preparation sessions

  • Notes I make during and after your birth or postnatal visits

  • Your baby's name, date of birth and any relevant details after the birth

  • Payment records and invoices

  • Any messages between us (email, text, WhatsApp, voice notes)

Health, pregnancy and disability information counts as "special category data" under UK law. So does anything you tell me about your religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation, which sometimes comes up in the context of the support you want. This information gets extra protection, and I only collect it because it is genuinely necessary for me to support you well.

Children's information

I hold limited information about your baby and any older children, given to me by you as their parent or guardian. I only collect what I need to support your family.

3. Why I use it, and my lawful basis

UK data protection law requires me to have a valid reason ("lawful basis") for using your information. Here is mine:

What I use it for

Lawful basis

Answering your enquiry and arranging a consultation

Legitimate interests — responding to someone who has contacted me

Providing the doula support we've agreed, preparing for your birth, attending you, and following up

Performance of our contract

Sending invoices, taking payment, keeping accounts

Contract, and legal obligation (tax and accounting law)

Keeping records of the support I provided

Legitimate interests — protecting my professional position and meeting the requirements of my insurance

Holding and using your health and pregnancy information

Your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a) UK GDPR) — I ask for this in my client agreement, and you can withdraw it at any time

Sharing information where there is a serious risk of harm to you, your baby, or a child

Legal obligation and vital interests (see Safeguarding, below)

Sending you my newsletter or updates

Your consent — you can unsubscribe at any time

Using your words, photos or story in my marketing

Your separate, specific consent — never assumed (see section 6)


Where I rely on consent, you are free to say no, and free to change your mind later. Declining consent for marketing or photos will never affect the support you receive from me.

4. Who I share information with

I do not sell your information, ever. I share it only in these circumstances:

  • Your consent or request. For example, if you ask me to pass information to your midwife, an IBCLC, a therapist, or another practitioner.

  • A back-up doula. If I am unwell, called to another birth, or otherwise unable to attend, a named back-up doula may step in. I will tell you who this is in advance and share only what she needs to support you safely. She is bound by the same confidentiality standards.

  • Supervision and reflective practice. Like most doulas I discuss my work with a mentor or supervisor to make sure I am supporting clients well. I anonymise cases wherever possible, and my supervisor is bound by confidentiality.

  • My website, email, cloud storage and booking providers, who process data on my behalf under contract. [Squarespace and Doula One]

  • My insurer or legal advisers, if a claim or complaint is made.

  • Where the law requires it, including a court order or a request from a statutory body.

Some of these providers store data outside the UK. Where that happens, I only use providers with appropriate safeguards in place (such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or an adequacy decision).

5. Safeguarding — an important exception to confidentiality

Everything you share with me is confidential, with one exception. If I have a serious concern that you, your baby, or another child or vulnerable adult is at risk of significant harm, I have a duty to share that concern with the appropriate professional — usually your midwife, GP, health visitor, or local authority safeguarding team.

Wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so, I will tell you first and talk it through with you. I will not need your consent to make a safeguarding referral, but I will always aim to be open with you about it.

6. Photos, testimonials and social media

I will never use your photo, name, birth story or words in my marketing without asking you specifically, at the time, and getting a clear yes. That includes Instagram, my website, and any printed material.

Consent for this is separate from your client agreement. You can say no, and you can change your mind later — just email me and I will remove the content from anything I control. (Content that has already been shared or re-posted by others may be beyond my reach, but I will do what I can.)

7. How long I keep your information

  • Enquiries that don't become bookings: up to 12 months, then deleted.

  • Financial records (invoices, contracts, payments): 6 years after the end of the relevant tax year, as required by HMRC.

  • Client notes and records: 12 months after the birth/ postpartum booking.

  • Newsletter subscribers: until you unsubscribe.

Once a retention period ends, I securely delete digital records and shred paper ones.

8. How I keep it safe

  • Digital records are stored in password-protected, encrypted accounts with two-factor authentication switched on.

  • Paper notes are kept in a locked location at my home and transferred to digital records as soon as practical.

  • My phone and laptop are password-protected and encrypted.

  • I do not discuss identifiable clients with anyone outside the circumstances described in section 4.

  • I keep client information separate from any other business I run.

No system is perfect, but if a breach ever occurred that put your rights at risk, I would tell you and report it to the ICO within 72 hours as the law requires.


9. Cookies and website analytics

My website uses cookies — small files stored on your device.

  • Essential cookies keep the site working (for example, remembering form entries). These don't need consent.

  • Analytics cookies [if used] tell me how many people visit and which pages they read, so I can improve the site. I use [Google Analytics / other]. These are only set if you accept them.

  • Embedded content from Instagram, YouTube or similar may set its own cookies, governed by those companies' privacy policies.

You can accept or reject non-essential cookies through the banner when you arrive, and change your mind at any time through your browser settings.


10. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

  • Be told what information I hold about you and what I do with it (this policy)

  • Access a copy of your information — usually within one month, free of charge

  • Correct anything that is wrong or incomplete

  • Erase your information, in certain circumstances (I may need to keep financial records and, where my insurer requires it, records of the support I provided)

  • Restrict or object to how I use your information

  • Portability — receive your information in a transferable format

  • Withdraw consent at any time, where I've relied on your consent

  • Unsubscribe from marketing at any time, with no consequence to your care

To exercise any of these, just email me at asburner@gmail.com I will not charge you or ask why.

If you are unhappy with how I've handled your information, please tell me first and I will do my best to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office:

ICO — ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint — 0303 123 1113

11. Changes to this policy

I review this policy at least once a year and whenever my practice changes. The current version is always on this page, with the date it was last updated at the top.

Questions about anything here? Email me at asburner@gmail.com— I'm happy to explain.