Who is the Mental Health Foundation?
The Mental Health Foundation is a charity that works to prevent mental health problems. Our vision is good mental health for all. We drive change towards a mentally healthy society for all, and support communities, families and individuals to live mentally healthier lives.
The Mental Health Foundation is the Data Controller for OPEN. Our general contact details can be found at www.mentalhealth.org.uk/contact.
What is OPEN?
In order to have a real impact in our work towards the vision of ‘good mental health for all’, the Mental Health Foundation needs to understand a wide range of people’s views and personal experiences. We need to listen to and collaborate with the public, including people facing disadvantage or particular risks to their mental health.
OPEN is a diverse community of individuals who share our vision and are willing to get involved in a wide range of formal and informal projects. This will enable the Foundation’s work to become more accessible, relevant, and driven by a range of diverse real-world, real-life personal perspectives.
What will I be asked to do?
You will receive emails offering you opportunities to share your opinions and personal experiences about a wide range of topics related to mental health, and different aspects of the Mental Health Foundation’s work. These might range from quick polls to taking part in focus groups, interviews or case studies. You can decide which if any of these interest you and will then be able to sign up for more information or to take part in specific activities. All of them will be voluntary.
What information will be collected? How will we use the information we collect?
As part of OPEN we will be collecting some information about you. We will do this by:
- Asking you to share your name and email address when you sign up, so that we can contact you.
- Asking you to tell us about some of your personal characteristics when you sign up, so that we can ensure we are building a diverse community and make good judgments about how to draw on the community’s experiences in
a balanced way. - Recording which of the non-anonymous projects you decide to take part in, so that we can monitor how well OPEN is working for its members and for the Foundation.
- Any information that is collected about you and your opinions as part of the activities and projects you choose to take part in will be managed separately. This will be explained to you when you express interest in those activities and
projects. - At a later date, asking for your feedback about the programme, so that we can continually improve it for everyone. If we do this, we will make it clear whether the feedback is anonymous or will be connected with your name and will provide you with more information about how that information will be used at the time.
In legal terms this means we have a ‘legitimate interest’ in using the information we collect to build and run OPEN as a community of people willing to share their views and personal experiences, in order to improve the work and research the foundation does in working for good mental health for everyone. For data about your ethnicity, which is ‘special category’ data, we have the additional condition for processing that this is carried out in the course of our activities as a not-for-profit body, and concerns you as a person who will have regular contact with us in connection with our purposes.
Do I have to take part?
It is totally up to you whether you would like to join OPEN and whether you then want to take part in any of the activities offered to you.
What happens if I change my mind?
You can decide to stop taking part at any point. If you change your mind you do not have to give a reason, just let us know what you have decided. You will be able to do this via a link at the bottom of the emails we send, or by emailing [email protected]
What will happen to my information?
Your information will be stored securely on the Foundation’s secure Beacon database, which is commonly used by many UK charities. Data is stored within the European Economic Area. (For more information about the security of this platform
please visit: https://www.beaconcrm.org/trust.
As the project is run by the Mental Health Foundation, we will act as the ‘data controller’ for your information. This means we take responsibility for storing and using your information in a way that complies with the law (the Data Protection Act
2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation).
Everything you share will be kept confidential unless you tell us something to suggest that you or someone else may be at risk of harm, or at risk of harming someone else. If that happens, we will always try to tell you before we share anything.
The information we collect may be used as part of reports, research, or professional presentations. However, we must write these in a way that means no-one can work out that your information is included, and you will never be identified by name in them.
As this is a permanent project, we will store your information until you tell us that you no longer want to take part. During this time, your information may be used for research related to developing OPEN in the ways we have described above.
Who will see my information?
Your information will be seen by members of the Mental Health Foundation Team. We will not share it with any other people or organisations.
What choices do I have about my information?
You can stop taking part in the project at any point, without giving a reason.
You also have the right to:
- Ask to see the information we hold about you
- Ask us to update any information about you that is incorrect
- Ask that we delete your information
- Restrict or object to our use of your information
It is important to understand that how these rights apply can vary, and in some cases may be limited. You can only use these rights if we hold information that can identify you.
Who can I contact if I have questions or a complaint?
If you have questions that have not been answered you can discuss this with the OPEN community manager, Sarah Jowett, [email protected] .
If you wish to raise a complaint about how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer, Adrian Lance, who will investigate the matter ( [email protected] or 020 7803 1166). If you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (www.ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113).
Last updated August 2024