Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Project Peace Ltd (ABN 67 693 277 986) is a public company limited by guarantee and a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). Our purpose is to help prevent anxiety and depression in adults facing job loss, through an 8-week online group program that is free for participants and funded by donors and sponsors.

Privacy contact: [email protected]

In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Project Peace Ltd.

2. What information we collect

We only collect information we need to run the program, keep participants safe, measure whether the program helps, and run the charity. This may include:

• Contact form: your name, email address and your message.
• Program registration: your name, email address, phone number (if you give it), age range and a short description of your situation, such as whether you have lost your job or been told your role will end.
• Intake screening: your answers to the screening questions we ask before you join a group. These help us check that the program is right for you and safe for you at this time.
• Outcome questionnaires: your scores on two short, standard questionnaires, the PHQ-4 (about anxiety and low mood) and the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS, about wellbeing). We ask you to complete these at the start of the program, at the end (week 8) and 3 months later.
• Project Peace Check-in: a private self-reflection tool for participants. It is not a diagnosis or a psychological assessment, and we do not use it to measure program results. Your answers stay private to you.
• Donations and sponsorship: your name, contact details, the amount and date of your gift, and the details needed to issue a receipt. We do not store full card or bank details ourselves; payments are processed by our bank or payment provider.
• Employers and host organisations: the name, role and contact details of the person we deal with.
• Website use: basic technical information, such as your IP address and the pages you visit, which our hosting and security services may collect in order to operate and protect the site.

You can contact us without giving your name, or use a pseudonym, but we need your name and contact details to register you for a group.

3. Health information is sensitive information

Your screening answers, PHQ-4 and SWEMWBS scores, and anything you tell us about your mental health are health information. Under Australian privacy law, health information is sensitive information and receives extra protection. We only collect it with your consent, only collect what we need, and handle it with particular care.

4. Why we collect it

We use your information to:

• reply to your enquiry;
• register you for a group and keep in touch with you about it;
• check, through intake screening, that the program is suitable and safe for you;
• refer you to support if your answers suggest you need more help than the program offers;
• measure whether the program helps, using the PHQ-4 and SWEMWBS;
• process and acknowledge donations and keep the financial records the law requires;
• report to our board and regulators, such as the ACNC; and
• improve the program.

We do not use your information for any other purpose unless you agree, or the law requires or allows it.

5. Your consent

Before you join the program, we explain what we collect and why, and ask for your consent to collect your screening answers and questionnaire scores. Taking part is voluntary. You can choose not to answer a question, and you can withdraw from the program at any time by contacting us. If you withdraw, we will stop collecting information from you.

6. Keeping you safe

The program is not therapy, counselling, diagnosis or treatment. If your screening answers or questionnaire scores suggest you may need more support, we will let you know and encourage you to see your GP, or contact Lifeline (13 11 14) or Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636). If we believe there is a serious and imminent threat to your life, health or safety, or someone else’s, we may share information with emergency services, as the law allows.

7. Who can see your information

Only the people who deliver and evaluate the program can see identified participant information. This means the program facilitators for your group and the people responsible for program safety and evaluation. They can only see what they need for their role, and they are bound by confidentiality.

We may use trusted service providers, such as website hosting, email and secure storage services, to help us operate. They may only use your information to provide their service to us.

8. Reporting is de-identified and group-level only

When we report on the program, to our board, regulators, funders, host organisations or the public, we only use de-identified, group-level results, such as the average change in wellbeing scores across a group. We never report an individual’s answers or scores in a way that could identify them. An employer that pays for a private group will not receive any individual’s screening answers or scores.

9. We never sell your information or share it for marketing

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information. We do not share it with anyone for marketing. This includes The Suited Monk or any other business connected with our directors: we do not share any personal information with them, and we do not use your information to promote any paid service.

10. Storage, security and retention

We store information in secure, password-protected, access-controlled systems. Some of these services may store data outside Australia; where that happens, we take reasonable steps to make sure your information is protected to a standard similar to the Australian Privacy Principles.

We keep information only as long as we need it, or as long as the law requires. Financial and donation records are kept for 7 years, as required by law. Program registration, screening and questionnaire data, and general enquiries, are kept only as long as we need them for the purposes in this policy, or as long as the law requires, and are then securely destroyed or de-identified.

If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify the people affected and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

11. Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is wrong, out of date or incomplete. Email [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days. There is no charge. If we cannot give you access or make a correction, we will explain why in writing.

12. Complaints

If you are concerned about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first at [email protected]. We will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days and aim to resolve it within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC): www.oaic.gov.au, phone 1300 363 992.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always on this page, with the date it was last updated.