Breaking The Cycle
Privacy Policy
Last updated: 22 October 2026
This policy explains what personal information Breaking The Cycle collects when you use this website and the programme, why it's collected, who it's shared with, and what your rights are. Plain English throughout, the same way everything else here is written.
Who we are
Breaking The Cycle is run by Ryan Charles, a sole trader based in England, trading as Breaking The Cycle. Ryan is the "controller" of your personal information. That means he decides how it's used and he's responsible for looking after it.
Email: hello@breaking-the-cycle-for-men.uk
Ryan also owns Ivy & Marley Ltd, a separate natural cleaning products company. We don't share your information with Ivy & Marley.
What we collect and why
Data protection law says we need a lawful reason, called a "lawful basis", for everything we do with your information. We've put the lawful basis after each item.
- Visiting the website. Our website host, Netlify, keeps technical logs when you visit, including your IP address, your browser type and the pages you ask for. Our pages also load fonts from Google Fonts, which means Google receives your IP address. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests in running a website that works and is secure.
- Applying. The application form collects your first name and email address and sends them to MailerLite, our email provider, so we can send you the programme details. Lawful basis: taking steps you've asked for before entering a contract.
- Emails about the programme. After you apply, we send you emails about the programme and how to join. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and one click stops them. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests in following up the enquiry you made.
- Discovery call bookings. When you book a call, our booking provider, TidyCal, collects your name, email address, phone number and the time you choose, so the call can happen. Lawful basis: taking steps you've asked for before entering a contract.
- Payments. Payments are handled by Stripe. Stripe collects your card details and billing details. We see your name, email address, what you paid and the type and last four digits of your card. We never see or store your full card details. Stripe also uses some information to prevent fraud, under its own privacy policy. Lawful basis: performing our contract with you, and our legal duty to keep accounts.
- What you agreed to at checkout. We keep a record of the boxes you ticked when you paid, and when. Lawful basis: our legal duty to show we've followed consumer law, and our legitimate interests in keeping a clear record.
- Your intake form. Your name, age, contact details, how you'd like us to contact you, your answers about where you are and what you want to change, and health information if you choose to give it. There's more about health information below. Lawful basis: performing our contract with you, and your explicit consent for anything about your health.
- Running your programme. Your tier, start date, the emails and messages we send each other, and short notes Ryan makes so he can support you properly. Lawful basis: performing our contract with you.
- Getting in touch with you. Usually by email. If you choose phone or WhatsApp on your intake form, we'll use that too. WhatsApp is run by Meta, and its own privacy policy applies. Lawful basis: performing our contract with you.
- Calls. Group calls and One-to-One calls with Ryan usually run on Zoom. We don't record calls. Lawful basis: performing our contract with you.
- Your journey therapy practitioner. We give the practitioner we match you with your name and contact details, and nothing else, so you can book your sessions. Lawful basis: performing our contract with you.
- The community. The community runs on Telegram. See The community below.
- Testimonials. We only ever use a testimonial if you've agreed to it in writing. You choose what's used, we ask before recording anything, and you can ask us to stop using it in future. Lawful basis: your consent, and your explicit consent if it mentions your health.
- Newsletter. Ryan's newsletter is on Substack, which is separate from the programme. If you subscribe, Substack's own privacy policy applies, and as the publisher Ryan can see your email address and that you subscribe.
- Questions and complaints. If you email us, we keep the emails so we can help you and keep a record. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests in answering you and dealing with any complaint or legal claim.
What you have to give us. To join, we need your name, email address and payment. Everything else on the intake form is up to you. The more you share, the better Ryan can support you, but you can leave any question blank.
The intake form asks about things like medication, alcohol and drug use, mental health support and your health goals. The law treats health information as "special category" information, so we take extra care with it.
- Why we ask. To understand where you're starting from, match you with the right practitioner, check whether the programme is safe and right for you right now, and tailor the guidance Ryan gives you.
- Your explicit consent. We only use your health information if you've given your explicit consent, by ticking the consent box on the intake form. Lawful basis: your explicit consent (UK GDPR Article 9(2)(a)), together with performing our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)).
- You're in control. You can leave the health questions blank, and you can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing us. If you do, we'll stop using your health information and delete it, unless we need to keep a record because of a legal claim. Withdrawing doesn't affect anything we did before. Without this information, we may not be able to tailor your programme or check whether parts of it are safe for you, so we may ask you to check with your doctor first.
- Who sees it. Ryan only. It's never shared with your journey therapy practitioner, never shared in the community and never used in marketing.
- Where it's kept. In our Formspree account (the service that runs the form) and Ryan's email inbox, where Formspree sends your answers.
Sometimes Ryan uses AI tools, such as Claude, made by the US company Anthropic, to help him read through intake answers and prepare your guidance. He only does this if you've ticked the box allowing it on the intake form.
Before he does, he takes out your name, your contact details and anything else that obviously identifies you.
The AI helps Ryan think things through. It doesn't make decisions about you. Ryan reads everything himself and decides what guidance to give you.
If you'd rather Ryan didn't use AI tools with your answers, don't tick that box, or tell us any time and he'll stop. Lawful basis: your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a)), and our legitimate interests in running the programme well (Article 6(1)(f)).
Your journey therapy practitioner
Your practitioner is independent. They run their own practice and aren't employed by Breaking The Cycle.
We give them your name and contact details so you can book, and nothing else. Your intake answers stay with Ryan.
What you tell your practitioner in a session, and any notes they keep, are their responsibility. They're a separate controller of that information, so ask them for their own privacy policy.
The programme community runs on Telegram. Joining is your choice, and when you join you're using Telegram under its own terms and privacy policy. Telegram is run by a company based outside the UK.
Other members can see your Telegram name, profile photo and messages, and possibly your phone number, depending on your Telegram settings. It's worth checking those settings before you join. As the group admin, Ryan can see what other members see, and he can remove messages and members.
Please think before you share health details in the group that you'd rather keep private.
Who we share it with
We only share your information with the services we need to run the website and the programme. Where a service handles information for us, as a "processor", it can only use it to provide its service to us.
- Netlify, website hosting. Based in the US.
- Google, through Google Workspace for email and documents, and Google Fonts for the fonts on our pages. Based in the US.
- MailerLite, our email list and emails. Stores data in the EU.
- Formspree, which handles some forms on our website. Based in the US.
- TidyCal, discovery call bookings. Based in the US.
- Stripe, payments. Operates in the UK and the US.
- Zoom, calls and journey therapy sessions. Based in the US.
- Meta, the Meta Pixel (only if you accept cookies), and WhatsApp (only if you choose it). Based in the US.
- Anthropic, or another AI tool provider, to help Ryan read intake answers, with your name and identifying details removed, and only if you've allowed it. Based in the US.
- Your journey therapy practitioner, your name and contact details only.
- Professional advisers, such as an accountant or solicitor, when we need their help, and HMRC, the police or the courts when the law requires it.
Telegram and Substack aren't on this list because you sign up to them yourself, under their own terms. We never sell personal information to anyone.
Information sent outside the UK
Some of these services are based in the US or elsewhere outside the UK, so your information may be stored or looked at there. When we send personal information outside the UK, we make sure it's protected in one of these ways:
- The UK government has decided the country protects personal information properly. This covers the EU, where MailerLite stores data.
- The US company has signed up to the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, often called the UK-US data bridge.
- Otherwise, the company's data processing terms include the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, or the UK Addendum to the EU's standard contractual clauses. These are contracts approved under UK law to protect your information.
If you'd like to know which protection applies to a particular service, email us and we'll tell you.
Cookies
Cookies are small files a website saves in your browser. Here's exactly what this site uses.
- The Meta Pixel, only if you say yes. On our home page we ask whether you're happy for us to use the Meta Pixel. Meta is the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. If you click Accept, the Pixel loads and:
- sets a cookie called _fbp on our site, which identifies your browser to Meta. It lasts 90 days.
- sets a cookie called _fbc if you reached us by clicking one of our ads. It stores the ad click reference and lasts 90 days.
- sends Meta details of your visit, such as the pages you look at, when you click Apply, your IP address and information about your browser and device.
If you're logged in to Facebook or Instagram in the same browser, Meta may link this to your account and may use its own cookies, such as one called fr, which lasts around 90 days. We use the Pixel to see which of our ads bring people here, and to show our ads to people likely to be interested. Meta also uses this information for its own purposes, under its own privacy policy. For collecting this information and sending it to Meta, we and Meta Platforms, Inc. are joint controllers. After that, Meta decides what it does with it. If you click No thanks, the Pixel doesn't load at all. Lawful basis: your consent.
- Remembering your choice. We save your cookie choice in your browser so we don't keep asking. We ask again after about six months. It stays in your browser and isn't sent to anyone.
- Your progress in the member area. The dashboard and environment pages save the boxes you tick in your browser, so your progress is still there when you come back. This stays on your device and isn't sent to us or anyone else.
- A YouTube video. One page in the member area shows a YouTube video using YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode, so YouTube doesn't set cookies just because the page has loaded. If you press play, YouTube, which is owned by Google, may set cookies and collect information about your viewing, under Google's privacy policy.
- Affiliate links. If you click one of our affiliate links, the shop you land on, such as Amazon, may set its own cookies to record that you came from us. That happens on their site, under their cookie policy. We don't get your name or contact details from them, only reports of sales made through our links.
Changing your mind. You can change your choice any time using the "Cookie settings" link at the bottom of our home page. If you switch the Pixel off, it stops, we delete the _fbp and _fbc cookies from your browser, and we tell Meta to stop. We can't delete cookies Meta sets on its own websites, but you can clear them in your browser settings, and you can manage how Meta uses your information at facebook.com/adpreferences.
The member area pages don't use the Meta Pixel or any advertising cookies.
How long we keep it
- If you apply but don't join. Your name and email stay on our email list until you unsubscribe, or for 12 months after we last heard from you, whichever comes first. Discovery call booking details are deleted after 12 months.
- Intake form answers, including health information. Kept while you're on the programme and for 24 months after your 12 weeks end, then deleted. We keep a record that you gave consent, and when, for 6 years.
- Your programme records and emails. Kept for 6 years after your 12 weeks end, because that's how long someone can bring most legal claims.
- Payment and accounting records. Kept for as long as tax law requires, which is at least 5 years after the 31 January tax return deadline for the year you paid.
- Testimonials. Until you ask us to stop using yours.
- Cookies. The Meta cookies last up to 90 days. Your cookie choice is kept for about six months.
You can ask us to delete your information sooner at any time. If there's a legal reason we have to keep something, we'll tell you.
How we keep it safe
We use well-known, secure services, strong passwords and two-step login. Only Ryan can see your intake answers. If something ever went wrong with your information that put you at real risk, we'd tell you.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can:
- ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
- ask us to correct anything that's wrong
- ask us to delete your information
- ask us to limit how we use it, or object to how we use it
- ask for your information in a format you can take elsewhere
- withdraw your consent at any time, for health information, AI tools, testimonials or cookies
- tell us to stop sending you emails about the programme, at any time
Email hello@breaking-the-cycle-for-men.uk. It's free, and we'll reply within one month. If your request is complicated we may need up to two more months, and we'll tell you if so. We may need to check it's really you before we act.
We don't make any decisions about you using computers alone. Ryan makes every decision himself.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information
Please tell us. Email hello@breaking-the-cycle-for-men.uk with what's happened. We'll confirm we've got your complaint within 30 days, look into it properly, keep you updated, and tell you the outcome as soon as we can.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commission, the UK's data protection regulator, which is still known as the ICO. Website: ico.org.uk. Helpline: 0303 123 1113.
Sensitive information, a straight word
This programme deals with personal territory: childhood, patterns, health, habits. Anything you share in your intake form, on calls, or in the community is treated as confidential and never used in marketing without your explicit, separate permission. Testimonials only ever happen because you agreed to them, in writing, after the fact, with full control over what's used.
Age
This programme and website are for adults aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect information from children or anyone under 18. If we find out we have, we'll delete it.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Significant changes will be flagged to programme members directly.
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