Privacy Policy

Upendo Health GmbH (“we”, “us” or “our”) respects and takes very seriously the privacy and protection of your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and safeguard your personal data when you visit our website (“the Website”; the Website can be reached under the domain upendohealth.ch or other domains referring to the Website) use our services (concretely being a patient of us and engage in psychotherapy sessions with us) or contact us.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. You are encouraged to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed of updates. In the event of any inconsistencies between the different languages, the English version of the Privacy Policy shall prevail.

Purposes and basis of the data processing

We collect and process personal data about you primarily in relation to the following activities and purposes:
  • arrange psychotherapy sessions with psychotherapists employed by Upendo or with independent psychotherapists selected by and collaborating with Upendo
  • offer and fulfil psychotherapy services, mental well-being services and counselling services
  • direct online booking of psychotherapy sessions
  • assess health conditions and treatment options on the basis of which we can assign potential patients to a suitable psychotherapist
  • administrative tasks related to the fulfilment of our services including subsequent processes as invoicing, invoice reminders, financial settlement with health insurers etc.
  • rental of premises and rooms to independent therapists
  • referral of individuals and patients seeking psychotherapy and counselling services to psychotherapists and vice versa
  • operation of online mental health services and an online platform
  • informing you about our services and new developments based on newsletters (you may at any time opt-out from this by notifying us);
  • marketing and advertising;
  • processing job applications;
  • complying with legal obligations as well as professional obligations within the psychotherapy profession as well as fulfilment of our legal and contractual obligations
  • increasing the efficiency and operation of the Website and monitoring as well as analysing of usage and trends to improve your experience with the Website;
  • compilation of anonymous statistical data and analysis for use internally or with third parties;
We, our business partners and/or third parties have a legitimate interest in the data processing as described in this Privacy Policy. The data processing corresponds to the mentioned purpose, some of which originate from legal or contractual obligations (for example certain data retention obligations).

Controller of the data processing / Data Protection Officer

We are the controller of the data processing described in this Privacy Policy, unless the patient receives psychotherapy sessions with an independent psychotherapist that is not employed by us (even though Upendo might support the psychotherapist in administrative tasks). In this case, the independent psychotherapist is the data controller and Upendo acts as a data processor.
If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy or if you want to exercise your statutory data protection rights, please contact us at:

Upendo Health GmbH
Data Protection Officer
c/o Stefania Vanzetti
CH - 8002 Zurich
stefania.vanzetti@hin.ch

Processing and usage of your personal data

We collect and process the information you provide to us and we collect if you:
  • visit the Website
  • contact us via email, phone or chat or our online forms in order to inquire about us and our services and / or arrange an appointment with us
  • contact us via the form to arrange an appointment
  • submit medical subscriptions to us
  • use our online tool to book an appointment online
  • another doctor or practitioner refers you to us
  • as part of the therapy our psychotherapists (or independent psychotherapists we collaborate with) write relevant information about the patient’s situation, symptoms, and any observations and or development of the patient’s well-being and symptoms into the patient record (note: this information can be revealed by the patient or forwarded to us by other medical professionals that have interacted with you as a patient).
  • sign up to and use our online mental health platform
  • subscribe to our newsletter
  • apply for a position at us
  • collaborate with us as an independent psychotherapist
  • provide services or deliver products as a supplier or a business partner

Categories of personal data that we collect, store and process:

  • Patient data: Name, Adress, Phone number, Email address, date of birth
  • Contract data: information about date and duration of psychotherapy sessions, as well as treatment contract and health insurance information
  • Health data: as part of the therapy our psychotherapists (or independent psychotherapists we collaborate with) write relevant information about the patient’s situation, symptoms, and any observations and or development of the patient’s well-being and symptoms into the patient record (note: this information can be revealed by the patient or forwarded to us by other medical professionals that have interacted with you as a patient).
  • Communication data: any information exchanged when contacting us or when communicating with us
  • User behaviour data on our website / online health platform as well as technical data: below on data collected as part of Cookies and Google Analytics

When visiting the Website

Principle: You can visit our Website without having actively to disclose personal data or any information. When you open our Website, the server of our Website temporarily stores the following information about the access:

  • IP address
  • date and time of access
  • name and URL of the accessed file
  • details of the Website from which the access is made (referrer URL)
  • device type and the operating system of the terminal device
  • type of browser used
  • name of the access provider
  • user behaviour on the website
  • additional information as described below

Cookies: We use cookies, tags and similar technologies on the Website to help customize the Website and to improve your experience on our Website. Cookies are text files that are stored on your computer or mobile device when you visit a Website or use an app. You can reject the installation of the cookies by using an appropriate deactivation add-on. In addition to the option of preventing the installation of cookies by making the appropriate settings, you can set up your browser in a way that no cookies are stored on your computer or mobile device. As a result, you will receive a message before a cookie is installed. Some of the cookies are necessary for us to make available specific functions of the Website. In addition, we use cookies to use Website analysis as described below.

Website analysis tools (Google Analytics): For the purpose of designing our Website to meet your needs and continuously optimizing it, we use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). We use Google Analytics, to statistically record and evaluate the use of the Website. This information may also be transferred to third parties where required by applicable law or where third parties process this data on our behalf. In this context, pseudonymized user profiles are created and cookies are used. The information generated by the cookie includes the browser type and version, the size of the browser window, the language of the browser, installation of Java, installed Flash version, the resolution used, the operating system used, the name and URL of the file accessed, the title of the page, the previously visited Website page (referrer URL), the (anonymised) IP address of the accessing terminal device, the approximate location of the access and the time of the server request. The data is transferred to a Google server in the US and stored there. We only use Google Analytics with activated IP anonymisation. You can reject the installation of the cookies from Google Analytics by using this deactivation add-on: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

Newsletter: If you subscribe to our newsletter, we use your email address and your name to send you the newsletter you signed up for. With regard to the optimization of our newsletter, we use analytics services to analyse and measure the use of our newsletter. The analytics services collect and analyse the usage data (e.g. number recipients who opened the newsletter and/or clicked on the titles). Based on this, we receive evaluations which enable us to optimize our newsletters. You can unsubscribe to the newsletter at any time using the link at the end of each newsletter or by writing to our Data Protection Officer (see above). After having unsubscribed, we will no longer send you newsletters.

Contact form: For questions of any kind, as well as to inquire about psychotherapy sessions and treatment with us, we offer you on our Website the possibility to contact us via a form or via a published e-mail address. In order to use the contact form, it is necessary to enter your email address and your name. The provision of further data is voluntary.

Contact form to arrange appointment: If you contact us via the form to arrange an appointment with us you need to provide the following information: Surname, Name, Email address, Phone number, Message (ideally with a short description of any symptoms or reasons why you want to engage in psychotherapy sessions with us).

Direct online appointment booking tool: If you book an appointment with us directly via our online appointment booking tool, you will need to provide your name, address, email address as well as phone number as well as a short description of any symptoms or reasons why you want to engage in psychotherapy sessions with us. The appointment tool is provided by a third party service provider and the data is stored in the tool.

Sending medical prescription: If you send us a medical prescription via our online form you need to submit the following data: Name, Surname, Phone number, Email address, Therapy language, Date of Birth (optional), the reason of the desired treatment, and you can give a description of any symptoms or reasons why you want to engage in psychotherapy sessions with us, upload the prescription document, and give us the information about the prescribing doctor (Name and title, name of practice / hospital / clinic, Phone number and email of doctor).

Disclosure of your personal data

We may share personal data we have collected about if it is necessary for us to achieve the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. Your information may be disclosed to the following categories of recipients:

Third-Party Service Providers, suppliers and business partners

We may share your personal data with third parties that perform services for us or on our behalf, including payment processing, payment collection agencies, data analysis, email delivery, hosting services, customer service and marketing assistance. We may also share your personal and health data with your health insurer for the purpose of cost reimbursement. Further, we may share your health data with your relatives within the realms of the professional secrecy. To achieve the purpose described in this Privacy Policy, we may also share, your personal data with our suppliers and business partners.

Authorities and courts

If we believe the release of personal data about you is necessary to initiate or respond to legal process, to investigate or remedy potential violations of our policies, or to protect the rights, property, and safety of others, we may share your information as permitted or required by any applicable law, rule, or regulation.

Professional secrecy

We take the professional secrecy within the psychotherapeutic profession very seriously. This particularly applies to any health data that we obtain about you. We ensure that the way we operate our business and activities complies with our professional secrecy. This also implies that we can only disclose your personal data and health data within the realms of this privacy policy. For any disclosure of data not described in this privacy policy, we must request your approval for the disclosure and sharing of your data. Note: in very specific cases, the medical professional requires us to disclose personal information without your approval, such as when we become aware that the patient has committed a crime which must be reported to the authorities. In particular, we are obliged to notify and involve the relevant authorities in the event of an obvious danger or harm that you might inflict upon yourself or others.

Place and storage period of data

We process your personal data primarily within Switzerland and the EU.
We store your personal data only to the extent and for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose described in this Privacy Policy or to comply with legal obligations (for example data retention obligations).
Note: Due to legal requirements, we are obligated to retain this data for at least 10 years after the conclusion of the treatment.

Your rights with regard to your personal data

With regard to personal data relating to you, you have the following rights:
  • the right to obtain information from us about what personal data we hold about you and how we process it
  • the right to obtain a copy of your personal data (in a commonly used format)
  • the right to have your personal data transferred to another company
  • the right to have your personal data rectified or deleted
  • the right to object to our processing of your personal data.
The rights are subject to conditions and exceptions. We may refuse your request to exercise these rights where we are legally permitted to do so. In addition to the aforementioned rights you have the right to file a complaint with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Comissioner (FDPIC).

Data Security

We use administrative, technical, and physical security measures to ensure protection of your personal data. We undertake regular reviews, assessments and evaluations in order to ensure and to further improve the effectiveness of our measures.

Changes in this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time and for any reason, for example if we change our data processing practices or if new regulation becomes applicable.

We will not pro-actively alert you about any changes in the Privacy Policy. However, you can easily identify updates via the data at the bottom of the Privacy Policy under ‘Last update’. Any changes or modifications will be effective immediately upon posting the updated Privacy Policy on the Website. The version published on our Website at the time applies.

Last update: August 2023