1. Who we are
Cultural Therapy is a London-based mental health and wellbeing organisation. This policy covers this website, the Cultural Therapy app and the P.O.E.T.I.C. T.R.A.P programme (People Opening Eyes To Inspire Change Through Rhymes And Poetry). For anything relating to your personal data, contact us at culturaltherapy.co.uk@gmail.com. We are the data controller for the information described here.
2. What we collect
We only collect what we need to respond to you and run our services.
- Information you give us. Your name, email address, phone number and the content of any message when you contact us, book onto a group, or ask about peer support.
- Referral information. Where you are referred to P.O.E.T.I.C. T.R.A.P by a professional or partner organisation, we receive the details they provide in order to assess suitability.
- App information. If you create an account in the Cultural Therapy app, we hold the account details and any content you choose to save there.
- Technical information. Basic, anonymous data about how the website is used, such as pages visited and approximate location, collected through our hosting and analytics providers.
Health information and information about ethnicity or beliefs is treated as special category data. We only record it where you have chosen to share it with us, and we keep it to the minimum necessary.
3. How we use it
- To reply to your enquiry and arrange support.
- To assess and manage referrals to our programmes.
- To run peer support circles and creative sessions.
- To improve the website and app, using aggregated and anonymous data.
- To meet our legal and safeguarding obligations.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.
4. Our lawful basis
Under UK GDPR we rely on your consent when you contact us or sign up to something, our legitimate interests in running and improving our services, and legal obligation where safeguarding or the law requires us to act. For health and other special category data we rely on Article 9(2)(h), the provision of health and social care, or your explicit consent.
6. How long we keep it
General enquiries are kept for up to two years. Records relating to support and programme participation are kept for up to seven years after your last contact with us, in line with health and social care guidance. App account data is kept until you delete your account. Anonymous website statistics are kept for up to 26 months.
7. Your rights
You have the right to ask for a copy of your data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to how we use it, to have it transferred to another organisation, and to withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
To exercise any of these rights, email culturaltherapy.co.uk@gmail.com. We will respond within one month.
9. Security
We use encrypted connections, access controls and reputable providers to protect your information, and we limit access to the people who need it. No system is completely secure, but we take any incident seriously and will tell you and the Information Commissioner's Office where we are required to.
10. Children and young people
Some of our work involves young people. Where a service is offered to someone under 16, we ask for the agreement of a parent, carer or referring professional, and we hold their information with the same care described here.
11. Changes to this policy
We review this policy regularly. When we make a significant change we will update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, tell you directly.
12. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
This policy is a general template and is not legal advice. Please have it reviewed before you publish it, and check that it matches how your app and providers actually handle data.