Last updated: 26 October 2026
This policy explains what personal information Find a Hypnotist collects, why, who sees it, and your rights under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
1. Who we are
Find a Hypnotist (“we”, “us”, “the directory”) operates www.findahypnotist.co.za, an online directory connecting the public with hypnotherapists and hypnotists practising in South Africa, and with the schools and colleges that train them. The directory is privately owned by Heather Vorster, a sole proprietor (not a company), who is the “responsible party” for your personal information under POPIA, and also its Information Officer. Derek Vorster is the Admin Officer and handles privacy and access requests on her behalf.
- Address: 10 Diederick Lane, Amber Valley, Howick, 3290, KwaZulu-Natal
- Email: admin@findahypnotist.co.za
2. Information we collect
From practitioners who submit a listing, we collect: first name, surname, business/practice name, profession, province, qualifications, services offered, business address (or the town or area you work in), phone number, email address, website, a short biography, a portrait photo, a business logo, and copies of qualification certificates.
From training schools and colleges that submit a listing, we collect: the contact person’s first name and surname, the type of organisation, school or college name, province, accreditation, registration and affiliations, courses offered, campus or office address, phone number, email address, website, a description of the school, and a logo. We do not collect certificates or other proof documents from schools.
From practitioners and schools we invite to list, we use their name and business contact details as published in public sources, such as professional directories and their own websites.
From website visitors, we do not require an account or any personal information to browse the directory. If you email us, we receive your name, email address and message. If you comment on the blog, we receive your name, email address and comment, together with your IP address and browser details (used to help detect spam); comments are approved before they are published, and only your name and comment are shown, never your email address. Standard technical information (such as IP address and browser type) may be logged automatically by our hosting provider for security and troubleshooting purposes.
Providing your information is voluntary. However, the fields marked as required on the listing form are needed to review and publish a listing; without them we cannot list you.
3. How we use your information
- To review, publish, and maintain practitioner and training school listings in the directory, including, for practitioners, comparing the qualifications listed with the certificates supplied.
- To contact a practitioner or school about their submission or listing, including listing fees.
- To deal with concerns that members of the public report about a listing.
- To invite practitioners and schools to list. We approach each person only once to ask whether they would like to list, and every invitation explains how to tell us not to contact them again.
- To respond to general enquiries, keep the website secure, and meet legal and tax obligations.
We rely on your consent (given when you submit a listing), on what is necessary to provide the listing service you asked for, on our legitimate interest in running and protecting the directory, and on legal obligations. You may withdraw your consent at any time by asking us to remove your listing; this does not affect anything done before you withdrew it.
4. What is made public
When a listing is approved, the following details are displayed publicly on the website: business/practice name, practitioner name, profession, province, qualifications, services offered, business address (or town or area), phone number, email address, website, biography, photo, and logo. For a training school, the following details are displayed publicly: school or college name, contact person’s name, type of organisation, province, accreditation, registration and affiliations (published exactly as supplied and not verified by us), courses offered, address, phone number, email address, website, description, and logo. Qualification certificates are never made public. By submitting a listing, you consent to the other information above being displayed publicly for the purpose of the directory service. If you work from home, you may give only your suburb or town instead of your street address. Because listings are public, we cannot control how other people use the details shown on them.
5. How we store and protect your information
Listing information is stored on our hosting provider’s servers in South Africa, over secure (HTTPS) connections. Qualification certificates supplied by practitioners are kept in a restricted area that cannot be reached from the public website and that only the site administrators can open. Before uploading a certificate, you are welcome to black out any details that are not needed to show the qualification, such as an ID number. We take reasonable technical measures to protect your information, but no method of electronic storage can be guaranteed 100% secure. If a security breach affects your information, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.
6. Who else handles your information
We do not sell or rent your personal information to anyone. Apart from what is publicly displayed on an approved listing, your information is handled only by Domains.co.za (South Africa), which hosts the website, database and email on our behalf, and by public authorities such as a court or the South African Revenue Service where the law requires it. Personal information is not routinely sent outside South Africa. The website loads standard software code from a third-party content delivery service, which, as with any website request, will see your device’s IP address.
7. Data retention
We keep listing information for as long as the listing remains active on the directory. If a submission is not approved, it is deleted, together with any certificates. If you would like your listing removed, contact us and we will remove your information within a reasonable time; qualification certificates are deleted when the listing is removed. Copies may remain in our hosting provider’s routine backups for a limited time until they are overwritten. Financial records, such as listing fee payments, are kept for as long as tax law requires.
8. Your rights
Under POPIA, you have the right to ask whether we hold personal information about you and to receive a copy of it; to ask us to correct, update or delete it; to object to how it is processed, or to withdraw your consent; to ask us not to contact you again; and to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (inforegulator.org.za). To exercise these rights, email us; there is no charge. Our PAIA manual explains how to request other records.
9. Cookies and browser storage
This website does not use tracking cookies or third-party analytics. When you accept the Terms to see a listing’s contact details, a note of that is saved in your own browser for 30 days, so that you are not asked again each time; it contains no personal information. On the blog, if you tick the box to save your details when commenting, a cookie remembers your name and email address in your browser. If this changes in the future, this policy will be updated accordingly.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last revised.
11. Contact us
If you have questions about this policy, or would like to access, correct, or remove your information, contact us at admin@findahypnotist.co.za.