Confidentiality at The Mix

We believe you have the right to use our services confidentially, which means keeping what you say between you and The Mix. This includes our website, discussion boards, group chat, counselling, workshops and any other services run by The Mix.

We also believe that keeping you and other young people safe is very important. This means that sometimes we might contact the emergency services, or other organisations, to make sure you get the help that’s needed.

When might we contact other agencies

If we contact another agency or organisation, we will always try and do this with you knowing. We would do this if:

• We believe your life, or someone else’s, is in danger
• We believe you are currently hurting someone else
• Our staff, services, volunteers or organisation are threatened
• You’re being seriously harmed by someone in a position of trust who is able to hurt other young people, like a teacher, religious leader, sports coach, police officer or doctor

We are also legally required to share information if:

• We receive information about terrorist activity that has taken place or will take place. We will share this with the police.
• Legal action is taken to request information. This can include legal action taken through the Data Protection Act, or during criminal investigations.

If we do need to pass on information, we will only share information that helps identify who you are, locate where you are, or is important to making sure you and others get help and are safe. This could be information such as your name, date of birth, phone number or IP address (a number used by your Internet provider).

We will always try not to share anything else you have told us when contacting our services; only what is absolutely relevant to why we are worried. Where possible we will agree with you beforehand what we’re going to pass on.

*We will not contact emergency services or other organisations based on information shared in our Chatbot as this is an artificial intelligence service not monitored by humans in real time.

You can read more about your privacy here.

What happens after we contact another agency

Remember, we only do this if we really need to. After we’ve passed on your information, we may contact them again to ask for feedback about what has happened.

Unless we’ve told you, it won’t affect how you use our services. If we have been worried enough to notify another agency, such as the emergency services, then we will keep that information in case we are concerned for your safety in the future.