Privacy Policy

At Tellmi we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This policy explains how we use any personal data that we collect from you, or that you provide to us. 

The policy in a nutshell

  • We may collect and process information that you enter on our website, web app and our mobile app Tellmi. 

  • By submitting your data to us you are agreeing to the terms in this Privacy Policy.

  • We may use other companies to store your data, these are mainly within Europe.  If outside of this, we will ensure that the data is processed under a Data Processing Agreement that uses EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

  • We ensure that your data is treated securely and follows this Privacy Policy. 

  • Personal data such as emails or telephone numbers are encrypted.

  • A password enables you to access certain parts of our site, however, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. 

  • Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site. 

  • We may share your personal information without your consent with a trusted third party if we believe that a person's life is at risk.

  • We do not sell, trade or transfer information to other people that can be used to identify you, unless we provide you with advance notice. 

  • Sometimes we may give anonymised data from our sites and our app to academic institutions and research bodies for research purposes. 

  • Occasionally we may include or offer products or services from other companies on our website and app. We have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites.

  • We will delete any personal data that you no longer wish us to hold except where we need to retain information for legal reasons or in the public interest (this is very rare).

  • Questions, comments, and feedback regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to support@tellmi.help

The policy in full

Last Updated: December 2023

The data controller

For the purpose of the General Data Protection Regulation, the data controller is Tellmi at The Health Foundry, 1 Royal Street, London, SE1 7LL.

Any data protection issues or queries should be addressed to our Data Protection Officer at dpo@tellmi.help

What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our website or use our app?

We may collect and process information that you enter on our website www.tellmi.help, and our web and mobile application ‘Tellmi’. This includes the information you provide when registering for our website or app, downloading and sharing data via our app, making in-app purchases, subscribing to our service, posting material on forums and on your profile, or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with one of our services. 

The information which you provide us may include your:

  • name, date of birth, gender, address, e-mail address, phone number and username;

  • Password;

  • Information we collect about your device, including the type of mobile device you use, a unique device identifier (for example, your device's IMEI number, the MAC address of the device's wireless network interface, or the mobile phone number used by the device, sometimes referred to as a device ID or token), mobile network information, your mobile operating system and the type and version of mobile software which you use;

  • General, aggregated, demographic, and non-personal data (such as aggregated anonymous information about website usage and other forms of analytical data). It will not be linked to any of your personal data, through cookies or other means, without your consent;

  • If you contact us, we may keep a record of that communication;

  • Information which you provide to us by completing surveys or polls, and which we use for research purposes. These surveys are not compulsory;

  • Information which you provide to us by completing a referral for Tellmi services;

  • Details of downloads, orders or purchases  you carry out through our site and any in-app purchases; and

  • Details of your visits to our site including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, and the resources that you access.

How do we use your information?

We may use the information we collect from you when you register, post content to the app, make a purchase, sign up to a Tellmi service, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:

  • To personalise your experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and products in which you are most interested;

  • To improve our services to make it better for you;

  • To follow up with you when necessary (live chat, email or phone inquiries);

  • For the purpose of conducting fully anonymised academic research;

Anonymisation is a technique which prevents individuals from being identified from a data set whilst still being useful for research and analysis. Since the data is no longer personal data it is not governed by data protection law nor held in confidence so it can be used without legal restrictions though Tellmi ensures that all use of such data is for important and ethically acceptable purposes.

What is the legal basis for processing the data?

We are only allowed to use your personal information when certain conditions apply. We typically rely on the following conditions:

  • You have taken out a Contract with us. This mainly applies to our staff, our business partners or someone who has chosen to order or buy something from our website. 

  • We have a Legitimate Interest. We might use your information because we (or a company that we work with) have a legitimate interest in doing so. For example, we need to use information about how you use the app to improve it. We also use some information about you to understand how effective Tellmi is, for example, at helping young people cope with anxiety. We take your right to privacy very seriously, so we only rely on legitimate interest when we think the way we are using your data doesn’t significantly impact your privacy or would be expected by you, or there is a compelling reason to do so. 

  • You have given your Consent. When registering for the app you will be asked for your consent to use the posts and replies that you create as part of our terms of use. Occasionally, we will ask for consent to use your information for specific purposes, for example to complete a wellbeing review. If we do, you have the right to revoke your consent via our services or through your device permissions. Even if we’re not relying on consent to use your information, we may ask you for permission to access data like gender and location. Tellmi is a preventative service therefore we are exempt from needing parental consent for any age of a child. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/key-data-protection-themes/children/

  • Legal obligation. We may be required to use your personal information to comply with the law.  

How long will we hold your data?

Data collected via the app is stored until you ask us to delete it or it becomes clear that you will not be accessing the App again. Personal data collected via other means such as the website, email, surveys, referrals and social media will be stored only for as long as it is still needed. We do create anonymised data sets and will keep these indefinitely for research and service evaluation purposes. More detail on record retention can be found in our Data Retention Policy. 

Your right to object

You have the right to object to our use of your identifiable information. With many types of data, we’ve provided you with the ability to remove it from public view or simply delete it if you don’t want us processing it anymore. If there are other types of information you don’t agree with us processing please contact us on support@tellmi.help.

How do we protect your information?

We may use other companies, such as Amazon, to store your data. Your data will mainly be stored in locations within the European Economic Area (“EEA”). Whenever we use processors that are outside the EEA or outside a country not deemed adequate by the GDPR, we will ensure that the data is processed

under a Data Processing Agreement that uses EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. Data that can be used to identify you such as your email address or phone number is encrypted both in storage and in transit. Personal data is never shared with other users or third-parties (see below section for definition on third-parties) without your consent, except where we believe someone’s life may be at risk. Only members of our counselling and therapy team can access your personal data. 

Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL (secure socket layers) or other appropriate technology.  Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.  We advise you  not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure although it is very rare for transmissions to be compromised. We will do our best to protect your personal data but we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk.  Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to prevent unauthorised access.

Do we use 'cookies'?

The Tellmi mobile app does not use cookies, however we may use cookies on the Tellmi website including the Tellmi web app.

We, along with other companies such as Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to improve the user experience. 

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since each browser is a little different, look at your browser's Help Menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies. If you turn cookies off some features that make your site experience more efficient will be disabled and may not function properly. However, you will still be able to place orders.

Third-party disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or transfer information that can be used to identify anyone other than our website and app hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website and app, conducting our business or serving our users. We ensure that our partners keep this information confidential and secure. If, exceptionally, we wish to vary from this commitment we will contact you and ask for your consent before proceeding.

We may also release information when required by law or when it is necessary to enforce our site policies or protect ours, yours or others' rights, property or safety.

We do disclose data obtained from our sites and our app to academic institutions and research bodies for research purposes. However, we ensure that any such data is anonymised before it is transferred and that any recipients of this data adhere to adequate standards of ethics, data security and privacy. Anonymised visitor information may also be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

Links to other companies 

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services from other companies on our website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We, therefore, have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Access to information

Data Protection law gives you the right to access information held about you. Please contact support@tellmi.help for more information.

Our Policies Concerning Children

We are committed to complying with GDPR and the United States' Children Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Tellmi is a preventative service therefore we are exempt from needing parental consent for a child of any age. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/key-data-protection-themes/children/

How does our site handle Do Not Track signals?

Tellmi does not currently respond to browser “Do Not Track” signals sent from web browsers on our app or our site.

Changes to our privacy policy

We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices and services. When we post changes to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy and the revised Privacy Policy will come into effect on the date it was posted to our site or our app or as otherwise notified by us. If we make any material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will notify you by prominently posting notice of the changes on our sites and/or our app and, where appropriate, notifying you by email. We recommend that you check this page from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Privacy Policy. By continuing to use our site or our app after we have posted a revised Privacy Policy you acknowledge that you have consented to the revised Privacy Policy.

Contacting Us

Questions, comments and feedback regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to support@tellmi.help