This information is provided in addition to that given in the Staffordshire University Student Privacy Statement.
Confidentiality
We take your privacy and confidentiality seriously. Access to information held by the Mental Health & Wellbeing Team is restricted to authorised staff and is based on their role and the purpose for which access is required.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioners may access information necessary to provide you with support, maintain appropriate records, manage risk and ensure the safe and effective delivery of the service.
Information relating to any support you receive from the Mental Health & Wellbeing Team will usually remain confidential to the team, which includes our Practitioners and Out of Hours Mental Health Advisors. The practitioners in the Mental Health & Wellbeing Team receive supervision from supervisors external to the University, in line with guidelines from their respective professional body. This supervisory relationship is confidential. Information held within the Mental Health & Wellbeing team may be discussed between practitioners and advisors of the Mental Health & Wellbeing Team, for purposes of supervision and coordinating support for students.
In order to best coordinate your support, a small number of authorised staff within Student Life may access information where this is necessary to support the operation of the service. This may include managing and booking appointments, responding to enquiries, processing referrals and supporting other administrtaive processes. Authorised staff include limited staff within Student Life who may be aware that you have had recent contact with us. In addition, University IT staff have access to electronic systems and records used within the Mental Health & Wellbeing Team in order to maintain and update them.
Mental Health & Wellbeing will not share information about a student with any other University Department or College without the student’s express permission. However, where permission cannot be gained and there is a cause for concern, then limited, factual, information may still be shared.
There may be circumstances where we feel it necessary or be bound by law to break confidentiality, with or without your consent or knowledge, and liaise with and/or provide information to appropriate University staff and/or persons or organisations external to the University. Such circumstances are rare and usually relate to a serious concern for your own or someone else’s wellbeing. They include (but are not limited to):
• Concern that you may attempt suicide or seriously harm yourself
• Concern that serious harm may come to someone else (including safeguarding and terrorism)
• If a Court of Law/the Police require information
Where possible and appropriate, we would usually attempt to discuss any such circumstances with you prior to taking any action.
What information is stored and processed?
Any information you provide to us, or that we wish to record in relation to providing support to you, will be stored electronically and processed in line with Data Protection Law. We need to store and process this information in order to provide a service to you. The practitioner will make brief notes about any appointments or other interactions that you have with our team. We may also include information provided to us by other people which relates to us providing a service to you. Any information that we store in relation to any support that you receive from us will be kept for 6 years from the date of your last appointment here, unless there are any ongoing matters relating to the information that mean we need to retain it for longer. After this time period, all information will be deleted in line with the University's Data Classification, Handling and Disposal Policy (which can be viewed on the University’s web pages). We also use the information to compile anonymous statistics about the use of the service, which are shared within and outside of the University.
Access to information
You will usually have the right to see the information that we hold about you. For further details, please see the University’s web pages, which include information on how to make a Subject Access Request.