For website-specific privacy policy, click here.

This counselling privacy notice explains how Platfform Wellbeing uses the personal information we collect about you when you engage with our services.

We want everyone who comes to us for support to feel confident and comfortable with how their personal information will be looked after or used.

1 WHY WE NEED YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Platfform Wellbeing receives money to pay for the services offered by our projects from funding or commissioning organisations; for example The Bereavement Support Grant, or Universities. As a result, we are contracted to collect and process your personal information. When you register with a Platfform Wellbeing project, your personal information will be recorded.

Examples of this are:

  • Basic identifying information about you, for example: your name, address, email address, telephone number
  • Your past counselling experience
  • Information about your protected characteristics i.e. age, gender, disability, marital status, religion or belief and sexual orientation
  • Information about your emergency contact, and dependents or parents if this is relevant to the support we give you
  • Information about the support we give to you i.e. Session Notes, Safety Plans, Risk Assessments
  • Details of any other agencies with whom you might be associated e.g. doctor’s surgery, solicitor, support worker
  • Your medication / medical details if they are relevant to the support given
  • If relevant, your prior membership of Platfform Wellbeing projects
  • Any other information which is relevant to the support offered by Platfform Wellbeing

1.1 SPECIAL CATEGORY INFORMATION

The GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 recognises that some categories of personal information are sensitive and so need more protection. This can include information about a person’s race; ethnic origin; politics; religion; trade union membership; genetics; biometrics (where used for ID purposes); health; sex life; or sexual orientation.

If you contact our offices or projects looking for advice about mental health for yourself or a family or friend, or in general communications with us, such as conversations with your support worker, you may choose to provide details of a sensitive nature.

We will only use this information for the purposes of dealing with your enquiry, training, and quality monitoring or evaluating the services we provide.

We will not pass on your details to anyone else without your express permission except in exceptional circumstances. Examples of this might include anyone reporting serious

self-harm or posing a threat to others or children contacting us and sharing serious issues such as physical abuse or exploitation.

Where you have given us your express consent or otherwise clearly indicated to us (for example, completing a feedback form) that you are happy for us to share your story, then we may publish it in our reports or in other media.

2 HOW DO WE GET YOUR INFORMATION

We get information about you in the following ways:

  • When you give us information directly or make contact with us.
  • When we are given information about you indirectly, e.g. referrals to Platfform Wellbeing services or working closely with other agencies who are also working with you. Your information will only be shared with us by these organisations if there is an information sharing agreement in place.
  • When we are given information about you by a family member / friend / other agency to help us support you.

3 OUR LEGAL BASIS FOR USING YOUR INFORMATION

In some cases, we will only use your personal information where we have your consent or because we need to use it in order to fulfil a contract with you (for example, because of a service we are providing to you).

However, there are other lawful reasons that allow us to process your personal information. One of these is called ‘legitimate interests’. It means that the reason that we are processing information is because there is a legitimate interest for Platfform Wellbeing to process your information to help us to achieve our charitable goals.

Whenever we process your Personal Information under the ‘legitimate interest’ lawful basis we make sure that we take into account your rights and interests and will not process your personal information if we feel that there is an imbalance.

Some examples of where we have a legitimate interest to process your Personal information are; where we conduct research to better understand who we have supported and how; review quality and look to improve our services; for our legal purposes (for example, dealing with complaints and claims); or for complying with guidance from the Charity Commission.

4 WHAT WE DO WITH YOUR INFORMATION

We use your information in the following ways:

  • We record information about the work we do with you
  • We use the data to measure any changes, e.g. Core 10 scores
  • We use your anonymous data along with data from other people to measure our performance and the performance of our staff against our organisation’s funders’ and commissioners’ stated targets
  • We may use some of your data, along with data from other people, to return anonymous statistical information to our funders or commissioners.
  • We will retain your information for as long as is required by the funder or commissioner of the project from which you receive services. This can be between three and ten years following the last date of data entry, depending on the nature of the information.
  • Your data will be stored on our secure databases, Medesk and/or Jotform.

Useful links

Medesk’s Privacy Policy
Jotform’s Privacy Policy

5 SHARING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

The personal information we collect about you will mainly be used by our staff (and volunteers) at Platfform Wellbeing so that we can support you.

We will never sell or share your personal information with organisations so that they can contact you for any marketing activities.

Some or all your data will be used for the planning, development and delivery of services, including helping to establish value for money, within your local authority area. Additionally, it may be used for research and statistical purposes where it is appropriate to do so.

From time to time, Platfform Wellbeing may need to share your data with another trusted individual or partner agency on your behalf. You will need to give your consent for this each time it is needed.

Some examples of where we may share your information are where we work in collaboration with another organisation, such as a local mental health service, in delivery of a service to you, or where we make a referral for an additional service on your behalf to another organisation such as a referral to New Pathways or to another charity for support you may need. This will be discussed between you and your counsellor.

Sharing Information about sessions: Some projects require us to share attendance information and occasionally, a summary of the work that has been done in sessions with the funder. This will be specified in the contract that you will sign at the start of your sessions and usually relates to NHS and Welsh Government contracts.

6 SECURITY

Platfform Wellbeing is committed to maintaining the security of your personal information. We are committed to reducing risks of human error, theft, fraud, and misuse of our IT facilities. We make staff aware of security policies and train our employees to implement them. Our staff are obligated to sign written confidentiality agreements, attend regular training on information protection, and comply with company policies concerning protection of confidential information.

7 TRANSFERRING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

It sometimes may be necessary to store your data outside of the European Union. Where this is the case, Platfform Wellbeing will comply fully with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018.

8 YOUR DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS

8.1 YOUR RIGHT OF ACCESS

You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. This right always applies, however there are some exemptions, which means you may not always receive all the information we process.

8.2 YOUR RIGHT TO RECTIFICATION

You have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. This right always applies.

8.3 YOUR RIGHT TO ERASURE

You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

8.4 YOUR RIGHT TO RESTRICTION OF PROCESSING

You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.

8.5 YOUR RIGHT TO OBJECT TO PROCESSING

You have the right to object to processing if we are able to process your information because the process forms part of our public tasks or is in our legitimate interests.

8.6 YOUR RIGHT TO DATA PORTABILITY

This only applies to information you have given us. You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us from one organisation to another or give it to you. The right only applies if we are processing information based on your consent and the processing is automated.

9 OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

Platfform Wellbeing is committed to protecting your personal information and making every effort to ensure that your personal information is processed in a fair, open and transparent manner.

For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018, Platfform is the data controller for the personal information that we process. This means that Platfform is responsible for, and control the processing of, your personal information.

For further information about our privacy practices, you can contact us by telephone, email or by post.

Platfform Beaufort House, Beaufort Road, Swansea. SA6 8JG

Phone: 01656 647722

Email: dpo@platfform.org

If you believe that we have not handled your information correctly, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please view the website www.ico.org.uk for further information.

Platfform is Cyber Essentials Certified