KVKK & Data Protection

Privacy Notice

This page explains how personal data may be handled across contact, intake, scheduling, and counselling processes, and how you can use your rights within the Turkish KVKK framework.

What Does This Notice Help You Understand?

This page gives a client-friendly outline of how personal data may be handled during contact, intake, appointment planning, and the counselling relationship. In psychological support settings, some information may qualify as special category personal data, which is why clarity, proportionality, and restricted access matter.

Following the legal changes published on 12 March 2024, the Turkish KVKK framework for processing special category data was updated. This page does not replace the official legal texts; it is designed to make the practice-facing side easier to understand. For the therapy-facing frame, you can also review the clinical privacy and ethics pages.

Why Might Personal Data Be Handled?

In a therapy practice, personal data should be handled as narrowly and as carefully as possible. The most common practice-facing reasons are below.

First Contact And Scheduling

Basic contact information and scheduling preferences may be used to respond to an enquiry and organise a suitable first step.

Understanding Needs And Fit

Information shared in the first-session form may help clarify the nature of the request, whether the support area is a good fit, and whether referral might be more appropriate.

Running The Counselling Process

Professional records, communication boundaries, and planning information may be handled where they are needed to sustain the therapeutic work responsibly.

Legal And Professional Duties

Answering rights requests, responding to lawful official demands, and meeting professional obligations may also create limited processing needs.

What Types Of Data May Be In Scope?

Not every data type is needed in every situation. The goal is to keep requests tied to purpose, necessity, and proportionality.

Identity And Contact Details

Name, email address, phone number, and similar details used to communicate with you in a reliable way.

Intake And Planning Information

Availability, preferred session mode, language preferences, and broad intake topics may be used to organise the first step.

Professional Session Notes

Where necessary, professional notes related to the counselling process may be kept within a bounded clinical and professional frame.

Special Category Data

Mental health disclosures, health-related history, or especially sensitive life events may fall into special category data and therefore require a more careful legal and professional basis assessment.

How Can You Use Your Rights?

If you would like to request information, correction, or deletion, the flow below makes the route easier to understand.

Clarify What You Are Requesting

State as clearly as possible whether you want information, correction, deletion, or a more specific explanation about a particular record or activity.

Use A Secure Request Channel

The request should come through a channel that reasonably allows identity verification and shows the request belongs to you.

Identity And Scope Are Reviewed

Extra verification may be requested where needed so that data is not disclosed to the wrong person and the scope of the request can be assessed properly.

Response And, If Needed, Complaint Route

Under the current framework, the request should be concluded as soon as possible and within 30 days at the latest. If the response is insufficient or no response arrives, a complaint route may then be considered.

Retention, Access Limits, And A 2026 Compliance Note

Personal data should not be collected in unnecessary detail. When it is handled, the aim is to keep the scope tied to the purpose, limit access to what is needed, and retain records only to the extent required by the therapeutic, professional, or legal frame.

Public-facing KVKK guidance in 2026 continued to reinforce that a privacy notice and explicit consent are not the same thing. Keeping information steps distinct from consent steps helps clients understand what is being requested and why. For the therapy-facing application of privacy, you can also review the clinical privacy page and the ethics page.

Important Note

This page is an informational notice designed to make the practice-facing privacy frame easier to understand. It is not a substitute for individual legal advice. Official legal texts and Board decisions remain the governing reference point.

Related Pages And Official Routes

Start With The Intake Form Clinical Privacy Ethics Contact KVKK Application Right

Common Questions About This Notice

Why does an intake form ask for personal information at all?

The goal is usually to make the first response and planning step more orderly. It helps clarify how to contact you, what kind of support you are seeking, and whether the request appears to fit the service frame.

Why are mental-health disclosures treated with extra care?

Because mental-health information may intersect with special category personal data. That means the legal basis and the professional frame both require more careful attention than ordinary contact data.

Can my information be shared with third parties?

Routine disclosure is not the default. However, lawful official requests, legal duties, or limited safety-related circumstances may create narrow exceptions. For the therapy-facing boundaries, the clinical privacy page gives more context.

How do I ask for access, correction, or deletion?

The first route is an application to the data controller. The official KVKK pages on application right and complaint right explain the next steps in more detail.

Why are notice text and explicit consent treated separately?

Because being informed is different from giving consent. Turkish KVKK guidance continues to emphasise that a notice should not be collapsed into a single mixed consent statement, especially where explicit consent is used as a separate legal basis.