Confidentiality and intervention policy
We take the confidentiality of our service users incredibly seriously here at PAPYRUS. Below you will find our Confidentiality Policy and our Remit of Service, which details further the processes that guide our HOPELINE247 service and the work we do at PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide.
CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY
HOPELINE247 is a confidential and anonymous service. This means that anything you share with us will not be shared outside of our helpline, although there are some exceptions to this rule. We may feel it necessary to share information if;
- You tell us that your life or someone else’s life is in danger
- We believe you or someone else are at serious risk of harm
- You tell us that you are harming another person or have plans to
- We are asked to by the police or by a court of law
Working together to keep you safe:
From suicide
Our focus is to provide a safe non-judgemental space for you to talk about your thoughts of suicide, anything in life that impacts on them and explore your reasons for living. Alongside advice, guidance and signposting we offer a safety planning service, where an adviser will work with you to create a meaningful unique plan to keep you safe from acting on your thoughts of suicide. There might be times where you don’t feel able to work with us on safety, or your life is in immediate danger – advisers will let you know how the emergency services can help you directly. If you do not feel able to reach out to these services, we will be unable to keep this to ourselves and will talk to you about what information we will need from you in order that you get the support you deserve. We will always work to gain your consent before we share any of your information with the emergency services, however, to keep people safe from suicide your consent is not always needed.
From harm
Sometimes when talking with us about your thoughts of suicide, you might tell us that you are being harmed by someone else. Our advisers are all trained to work with you and will always take you seriously. If your life is in immediate danger then the adviser will talk to you about how they will need to share what you have told them to get you the emergency help you deserve, usually with the help of the police. All safeguarding issues are reported to our team of designated officers and our charity Designated Safeguarding Lead. Sometimes, they may feel further action is necessary to keep you safe, even after your contact with us has ended. We will always try, where possible, to contact you to tell you about that decision. We will always work to get your consent before information is shared with the police or social care teams, however, to keep people safe from harm your consent is not always needed.
