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Talk Squad Privacy Notice and Terms of Service

This Privacy Notice was last updated on 14 November 2024.


Your privacy and the security of your personal information are very important to us. We have a responsibility to keep your personal information safe and this Privacy Notice explains how we handle this information.

What is Talk Squad

Talk Squad is a series of gaming sessions, organised by Mental Health Innovations (MHI) and Harry’s.

Talk Squad is intended for you to be able to speak confidentially to a mental health professional or trained, experienced Shout Volunteer while playing a video game together.

Who are we and what is our role

Mental Health Innovations (“MHI”, “we”, or “us”). MHI is a registered charity in England and Wales, PO Box 78319, London, W10 9FE. MHI’s registered charity number is 1175670.

Mental Health Innovations is providing the clinical staff and Shout Volunteers for this event. Harry’s is the supporting partner.

What is personal information

Personal information is any information that can identify you in some way. It can include things like your name, address, date of birth and computer’s IP address. This information is considered to be normal or non-sensitive data.

Some personal information needs more protection because it is sensitive. This is known as ‘sensitive data’ or ‘special category data’. Sensitive data includes information relating to your health, sexuality, sex life, religious beliefs, ethnicity or any criminal convictions you might have or offences you may have committed.

Legal reasons for using your personal information

In order to use your personal information, we need to establish a legal reason for doing so. This is known as our ‘legal basis’ for using your personal information.

We rely on your consent to process your personal information to provide you with access to a Talk Squad session.

Consent means an explicit, specific, informed, freely given unambiguous indication of your agreement to our processing of your personal information. More information about consent can be found on this page of the Information Commissioner’s Office website.

What personal information do we collect?

When you complete our sign up form we ask you what you would like to be called so that we can address you as you would like. This does not need to be your actual name.

We also ask for your email address so that we can email you with information to enable you to take part in a Talk Squad session.

We offer you the opportunity to sign up to hear more about Mental Health Innovations’ Shout service. This is optional. It is not required for you to take part in a Talk Squad session.

We may see your gaming ID when you’re playing a game with us as part of your Talk Squad. We do not collect or store this information.

The rights you have in relation to your personal information and how to exercise them

UK data protection law provides you with certain rights in relation to your personal information.

These include the right to:

  • Access and receive a copy of your personal information;
  • Object to the processing of your personal information;
  • Restrict (or limit) the processing of your personal information;
  • Port your personal information (this means to move, copy or transfer personal
    information easily from one location to another in a safe and secure way);
  • Correct your personal information if you think it is inaccurate; and
  • Erase or delete your personal information.

In some cases, your ability to exercise these rights may be limited. For example, we may not always be able to delete your personal information where we are required by law to retain it.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights, please write to us at [email protected] or the address provided below in the ‘How to contact us’ section.

If you make a request relating to any of the rights listed above, we will consider each request in accordance with UK data protection law. No fee will be charged for considering and/or complying with your request to exercise your rights. However, we may charge a ’reasonable fee’ for the administrative costs (such as photocopying, printing, postage and any other costs involved in transferring the information to you) of complying with a request if it is clearly unjustified or excessive, or if you request additional copies of your personal information.

What do we use your personal information for?

• To allow you to access the session

We use your personal information to provide you with access to the Talk Squad gaming session that you would like to take part in.

• To share your details with the emergency services or other appropriate third parties to keep you (or someone else) safe

We take your confidentiality very seriously and your conversations during the Talk Squad session are confidential, unless we are concerned about your safety. If we think you or someone else is in immediate physical danger or that you or someone else’s life is at imminent risk, we will try to work with you to form a safety plan. If this is not possible or if we think you are at risk of what are called ‘safeguarding issues’ (for example abuse or neglect), a Clinician (a qualified mental health professional) may share your details with the emergency services or appropriate authorities, including police, ambulance/medical and social services, in order to keep you (or anyone else) safe and as necessary to protect your vital interests.

• To comply with our legal obligations

We may disclose your personal information to comply with the law or in response to a court order, government request, or other legal process, including police investigations, or to protect the interests, rights, safety, or property of MHI.

How we share your personal information

We respect and seek to preserve the confidentiality of people who take part in the Talk Squad sessions.

However, in certain circumstances, we may share your personal information with third parties, including with:

  • Police, social and ambulance/medical services to keep you safe and protect you from harm;
  • Service providers that perform services on our behalf, such as IT service providers, hosting providers and our advisers. For example, we may share details with the gaming platform providers to get you into the gaming session; and
  • Other third parties, as necessary, to comply with the law or in response to a court order, government request, or other legal process, including police investigations, and to protect the interests, rights, safety, or property of MHI, its affiliates, employees, or agents.

How long will we keep your personal information

Your information is securely stored. We will keep the information that you provide in your signup form for 1 month after the end of the sessions, which is planned for Wednesday 18th December 2024.

We will permanently delete this information from our records on 17th January 2025.

Do we transfer personal information to other countries

In order to provide the Talk Squad sessions, you will need to play online through an online gaming account, such as those provided by XBox, Electronic Arts (EA) or Epic games. Your account with the gaming platform is entirely separate from MHI and the Talk Squad sessions. We have no control over how they process your data.

In order to provide staff for the event, in some instances, we may utilise MHI staff that are based in New Zealand and they may have to access your personal information. We rely on relevant “adequacy regulations” from the UK Government by which they recognise that certain countries outside of the UK ensure an adequate level of protection for personal information. We use this basis to transfer personal information to New Zealand if necessary.

Protecting your data

Always be careful and responsible regarding your personal information and sensitive data. You might want to delete emails and other records of your participation in the Talk Squad sessions.

Changes to this notice

We may update this Privacy Notice at any time. If we make any significant changes to the way we use your personal information, we will bring these to your attention by emailing you.

The date this Privacy Notice was last updated is indicated at the top of the Privacy Notice.

Complaints

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Notice and our privacy practices or if you wish to file a complaint, please contact us by emailing [email protected] or by writing to Mental Health Innovations’ Data Protection Officer at address below.

If we fail to satisfactorily resolve your concerns or complaint, or you otherwise consider it necessary, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (which is the UK data protection regulator that has responsibility for overseeing compliance with UK data protection law). You can do so by calling the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113 or via the ICO website. We would, however, appreciate it if you gave us the chance to resolve any issues before you do so.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about our policies you can contact us by email at [email protected] or write to us at:

Data Protection Officer
Mental Health Innovations,
PO Box 78319,
London W10 9FE