Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

The Linden Centre ("we", "us", "our") is the data controller responsible for your personal data. We operate the website thelindenmethod.com and provide The Linden Method anxiety recovery program.

Contact for data matters: questions@thelindencentre.org

2. Data We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

Identity & contact data: Name, email address, phone number (if provided).
Purchase data: Plan type, purchase date, order reference. We do not store card numbers — all payment processing is handled by Stripe.
Communications data: Messages sent through our contact form, email correspondence, and community posts.
Technical data: IP address, browser type, device, pages visited, and referral source (collected via cookies and server logs).
Newsletter & marketing data: Email address and communication preferences if you subscribe to our mailing list.

3. How We Use Your Data

Purpose	Legal basis
Delivering your program access and membership	Contract performance
Processing payments via Stripe	Contract performance
Activating your Circle community membership	Contract performance
Sending transactional emails (order confirmation, welcome)	Contract performance
Responding to enquiries submitted via the contact form	Legitimate interest
Sending marketing emails (newsletter, updates)	Consent
Improving the website and program	Legitimate interest
Complying with legal obligations	Legal obligation

4. Third-Party Services

We share your data only with trusted service providers who process it on our behalf:

Stripe — payment processing (Stripe's Privacy Policy)
Resend — transactional and marketing email delivery
Circle — private community platform (Circle's Privacy Policy)

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any third party. We do not use your data for advertising or profiling purposes.

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes set out in this policy, or as required by law:

Purchase records: 7 years (UK tax and accounting requirements)
Contact form submissions: 2 years from the date of last contact
Newsletter subscribers: Until you unsubscribe
Server logs: 90 days

6. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

Access: Request a copy of the data we hold about you.
Rectification: Ask us to correct inaccurate data.
Erasure: Ask us to delete your data where we have no lawful basis to retain it.
Restriction: Ask us to pause processing in certain circumstances.
Portability: Receive your data in a commonly used, machine-readable format.
Objection: Object to processing based on legitimate interest or for direct marketing.
Withdraw consent: Withdraw consent for marketing at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at questions@thelindencentre.org. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

7. Cookies

We use cookies to operate the website and understand how it is used. Please see our Cookie Policy for full details.

8. International Transfers

Some of our service providers (including Stripe and Circle) may process your data outside the UK/EEA. In these cases, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses or adequacy decisions.

9. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. All payment data is handled exclusively by Stripe and never passes through or is stored on our servers.

10. Children

The Service is intended for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16 without verifiable parental consent.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be notified by email or prominent notice on the website. The "last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.