The Birchall Trust is committed to protecting the privacy of everyone who uses our services: as clients, as employees, as freelance workers, trustees and volunteers; and that of anyone who supports our work through fundraising. This statement explains what personal data we collect and process, how we collect it, whom we share it with, and why we do so. It also explains the steps we take to keep data secure. If you have any questions about this privacy statement or our privacy and data processing in general, please contact our Head Office on 01229 820828.

By personal data we mean information that might allow you to be identified, such as your name, address, date of birth, I.P. address or voice recording. Some of this data may be sensitive in nature e.g. it can relate to health and wellbeing, ethnicity and religious views.

We are The Birchall Trust (Registered Charity No. 1109637 and Company No. 5424196) a charity that provides counselling to survivors of Rape or Sexual Abuse in South Cumbria and North Lancashire.

​

The Birchall Trust’s objectives are to relieve the mental and physical distress of persons who are victims of rape, sexual abuse and incest by the promotion of a service which offers support, information and counselling in South Cumbria and North Lancashire and to work towards the advancement of education about sexual crimes and the effect on the victims of such crimes in the area of benefit.

We will offer this service to persons and their families, friends and partners, who may also need support, counselling or education.

​

Head Office

The Birchall Trust
60 Hartington Street
Barrow in Furness
Cumbria
LA14 5SR

We will collect personal information about you when you refer yourself to our service or if a third party refers you to our service; in many cases this would be another healthcare professional the police or a family member if you are 12 years old and under. We may also collect information about you if you have ever made a donation to us or if you have taken part in a sponsored fundraising event for us. We will also collect personal information if you have attended one our trainings or presentations.

​

We collect information about you in order that:

​

• We can offer you the trauma informed service you have requested

• Our team can discuss their work with you in their clinical supervision

• We can keep an up to date record of our financial accounts, including invoicing

In order to do this, we regularly collect the following information:

Personal information such as your name, gender, date of birth, relationships, parents, siblings, children, occupation, address, telephone numbers, email addresses, therapeutic history, medical conditions, medication history, employment, education and social life details. All of this information is collected through a referral form/needs-assessment.

Sensitive information such as physical and mental health details, sexual life, racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs, convicted offences, and alleged offences. Ongoing contact with you is also recorded. For example, we make a short record of the content of each appointment we have with you; and we also record all email exchanges and telephone calls we have with you. If another professional contacts us we will also record what they tell us. Some of this information is collected through a referral form/needs-assessment.

​

Storing Data - your data will be held on file for 5 years after closure (over 18). If you are under the age of 18, your data will be held indefinitely.  

If you use our website, we will store data about your internet browser, I.P. address, the timings of your visits, and a record of which pages you looked at. We only use this in its most anonymised form to better understand how people use our site.

Like many other websites, The Birchall Trust website uses ‘cookies’, small files stored on your computer which allow websites to recognise you when you visit. These store data about your browsing history but will not identify you as an individual. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better more personalised service. You can switch off cookies in your browser preferences but doing so may result in a loss of functionality when using our website. By using our website and services you agree to be bound by the terms of this statement. The Birchall Trust website may include links to other sites, not owned or managed by us and we cannot be held responsible for the privacy of information collected by websites not managed by us.

The personal information we collect about you for the purposes of our fundraising activities might include your name, address, email, phone number, date of birth, I.P. address, and financial information such as the amount you have donated or raised for The Birchall Trust.

This might include your name, address, email, phone number, work place. We will store this information until the event has taken place after which we will securely destroy this information; if you have opted to be contacted about future training or presentation sessions, we will retain your name and contact details until you opt out.

If you volunteer with us we will collect your name and contact details. If you work directly with clients we will hold details of your DBS.

If you apply for a job with us we will hold application details for 6 months after your application then destroy them securely.

​

We collect personal data about job applicants and employees for administrative purposes and in order to comply with employment and safeguarding legislation, such as referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

​

If you take a job with us you will receive details on what we hold and how we manage it while you are an employee and after you leave.

We are The Birchall Trust (Registered Charity No. 1109637 and Company No. 5424196) a charity that provides counselling to survivors of Rape or Sexual Abuse in South Cumbria and North Lancashire.

​

The Birchall Trust’s objectives are to relieve the mental and physical distress of persons who are victims of rape, sexual abuse and sexual violence by the promotion of a service which our offers are listed on our website, in South Cumbria and Lancashire.

We will offer this service to persons and their families, friends and partners, who may also need support we offer.. We do not work with perpatrators.

​

Head Office

The Birchall Trust
60 Hartington Street
Barrow in Furness
Cumbria
LA14 5SR

We never sell or swap your details with third parties for marketing purposes.  We share the necessary aspects of your data as follows:

• During in-house clinical discussions to support the quality of the work our team is offering

• During clinical supervision between our team and their supervisor, which they are obliged to have in accordance with their professional standards

• Our Information Technology Support Service (Integrity)

• Outside agencies, such as NHS mental health teams, your child’s school, Children’s Services and your GP. You will be asked for explicit signed consent to share data with outside agencies, unless there are safeguarding concerns which over-ride this.  It is important for you to know that all of the above agencies and individuals are also bound by GDPR rules, and we have specifically asked for evidence of their privacy policy.