Cambridge Acorn Project is a mental health charity, and our charitable missions is “to relieve the suffering of children and families in Cambridgeshire and surrounding localities facing trauma or emotional distress by the provision of a therapeutic model of social work”. Our registered numbers are: Charity No: 1175019 Company No: 9187469 and you can use these numbers to find out more about our charity on Companies House and the Charity Commission, if you would like to.

Cambridge Acorn Project is a therapeutic service designed to offer children, young people, and families the chance to talk about anything which may be troubling, or worrying, them in gentle and empathic sessions based on individual need. As well as therapy, we also provide enrichment (delivered by third parties that we have quality assured), family support, advocacy, and case work.

Cambridge Acorn Project works with children and young people and families for a wide range of different reasons, often related to stress of one kind or another. Our interventions are based on well-established techniques and methods to help individuals overcome stress and we can offer a multi-disciplinary team with a range of skills and experiences, though organised around a core model. We will always discuss with children and their families what approach would be most suitable. We can also offer joint sessions with child(ren) and parents/carers where this is both wanted and appropriate (for example, where relationships have become challenging or affected by stress). We pride ourselves on our non-judgmental, supportive, approach to help families who have experienced, or are experiencing, emotional distress.

All of our work is confidential, unless we have explicitly agreed with you about sharing our work with external agencies, such as your child’s school. The only occasion we would break this confidentiality is if we had a safeguarding concern about a child, or about an adult at risk of harm, in which case we would have to pass this information on to other agencies, including Cambridgeshire Local Authority’s Social Care according to national safeguarding standards and our legal duty to do so.

In the first instance, please raise it with the practitioner you are in contact with.

If you do not feel that you can discuss your concern with the practitioner, please raise it with our Cambridge Acorn Project CEO Matt Edge on 07507740047 or via email at matt@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk Or, please speak to the person who referred your case to us who may also be able to approach us.

Please keep this document safe, it contains information about what to do if you are unhappy with any of the services you or your child(ren) are provided through Cambridge Acorn Project. We want to ensure that you have a point of contact in case you are unhappy with service provided either by ourselves or a third party, as we expect the therapists and organisations who work with us at Cambridge Acorn Project to always adhere to clear, positive, ethical values and behaviours. Where a third party is providing services (e.g. an enrichment programme) Cambridge Acorn Project has undertaken due diligence on these individuals and agencies.

You will have a Cambridge Acorn Project practitioner as a point of contact throughout the time you or your child(ren) access our services, and you are able to raise complaints directly to them. However, if you prefer, you can raise complaints and concerns with Matt Edge, Cambridge Acorn Project CEO, on 07507740047 or via email matt@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk

We look forward to working with you to support you and your family. Your CAP practitioner will also contact you at the end of the intervention to make sure that you are okay with everything, help evaluate the service and take learning from you on areas we can improve in the future. We appreciate any feedback you may have.

Cambridge Acorn Project is a ‘data controller’ meaning that we gather and use certain personal information about you. We store three main types of records:

Clinical records (including evaluation data) to ensure our clients are provided with the most appropriate therapeutic services.
Recruitment and HR records about our employees, freelancers, associate therapists, trainees, and volunteers in order to fulfil our record keeping obligations as employers and contractors.
Supporter records in relation to our fundraising activities in order to comply with legal and financial obligations as well as keeping in contact about our operational activities.

The majority of the information we collect will be provided to us directly by you when you:

Engage with our clinical services (including at the point of inquiry or referral).
Apply for a role with us.
Request information about us.
Make a donation or fundraise for us.
Enter into a contract with us.
Contact us via our website, letter, phone/text, or in person by attending a drop-in session.

The type of data we collect will change depending on how you engage with us, and we will only collect as much information as is necessary to fulfil the required task/service.

We may collect your information indirectly from a third-party including where an intermediary agency is referring you to our services, or where a third-party platform is being used, for example, JustGiving. These third parties should only share your information with us with your consent. You should check their Privacy Notices when you provide your information to them to understand fully how they will process your data.

You may also provide personal information to us when you visit Cambridge Acorn Project’s pages on social media, or when you visit our website. Our website uses cookies to support functionality, improve the secure of the site and allows pages to be shared by social networks.

How we handle clinical records

We understand that the information we collect to fulfil our therapeutic work will likely include sensitive personal data and so we make every effort to ensure that we look after our clinical data very carefully including (but not limited) to the following ways:

Obtaining and recording consent to process personal data.
When working with children we will seek assent from the child and consent (verbal or written) from the parent(s)/carer(s).
We keep brief, factual notes on the children and families we work with. These can be handwritten or electronic and they are stored securely.
Where we work with children and their families members (e.g. parent(s)/carer(s), siblings), our case notes may contain references and information relating to the other family members. If you do not wish this to happen, please email our Data Controller Matt Edge to opt out: matt@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk
All information is kept securely and accessed by staff who have received appropriate training and who have completed all safe recruitment checks.
Evaluation and demographic information may be used for monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and fundraising purposes including sharing this information online, as well as to improve the current and future delivery of services. Where this information is shared or used for evaluation, reporting and fundraising, this information will be anonymised. You have the right to opt out of your information being used in this way, if you would like to opt out, please email Matt Edge at matt@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk
Named data is only shared where Cambridge Acorn Project has a legal obligation to do so or to protect the vital interests of an individual.
We use a questionnaire called MYCaW® in our data collection. Meaningful Measures Ltd operates the licence for MYCaW® and collects anonymised and non-identifiable data to create a database of anonymised concerns/symptoms/activities. This data collection helps organisations understand people’ needs. Your MYCaW® data will be fully anonymised and sent securely to Meaningful Measures Ltd, for more information see the website: www.meaningfulmeasures.co.uk

We use leading charity sector platforms to manage our records. This data is hosted using secure, highly reputable Data Centres in the UK and Europe (in Ireland and the Netherlands).

How we handle HR and recruitment records

We use personal data that you provide to:

Process applications for employment, volunteering, and training.
We may process your data to ascertain your suitability and for the performance of contract, or prior to you entering into a contract.
Share appropriately with third parties including our external payroll, our pension provider and HMRC.
Maintain a business relationship with you.

We use leading charity sector platforms to manage our records. This data is hosted using secure, highly reputable Data Centres in the UK and Europe (in Ireland and the Netherlands).

How we handle supporter records

We use personal information to fundraise, process donations, and stay in touch with our supporters to:

Pass on our thanks and keep you updated with what we have achieved.
Keep you updated about any opportunities that might be of interest.

Any electronic marketing is only undertaken with prior consent and you are able to opt out at any time by emailing Matt Edge matt@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk We will never sell your data to third parties, and you will not receive any offers or communications from other organisations as a result of giving your details to us.

We use leading charity sector platforms to manage our records. This data is hosted using secure, highly reputable Data Centres in the UK and Europe (in Ireland and the Netherlands).

How long do we keep your records?

We will only retain personal information for as long as is necessary for the purposes of which it was collected, taking into account guidance issues by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Clinical information will be deleted after seven years of your last contact with us unless you have been a Looked After Child in which case it will be 25 years.

All other information will be kept for as long as the law requires us to for tax or accounting purposes which may be for up to seven years after your last contact with us.

Your data protection rights

Under UK law, you have rights that we need to ensure you are aware of. These are:

Your right of access: you have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. This right always applies. There are some exemptions, which means you may not always receive all the information we process.
Your right to rectification: You have the right to ask us to correct information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. This right always applies.
Your right to erasure: You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing: You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing: You have the right to object to processing if we are able to process your information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability: This only applies to the information that you have consented to give to us and you are able to ask us to transfer this to another organisation or give it to you.

To exercise your rights, please contact Matt Edge matt@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk and we will respond to you within a month. If you are not happy with the way we have handled your data and are unable to resolve the issue with us personally, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office www.ico.org.uk

There is significant demand for our services, the Chasing Policy outlined below will be applied in cases where we do not receive a response to follow up requests for further information.

When triaging enquiries or taking referrals Cambridge Acorn Project staff will contact potential service users and/or professionals by phone, text, and/or email to request further information.
If we have not received a response to our queries within two weeks we will contact ('chase') the named individuals within the enquiry or referral to follow up.
If, after another two weeks we have still not received a response we will follow up one more time.
If we have not received a response to our final follow up ('chase') within two weeks, we will close the case.
Where cases have been closed due to a lack on response, new requests for support can be made using our enquiry for support buttons available on our home page www.cambridgeacornproject.org.uk

Terms of Service