1. Who we are

‘Time for You’ is a mental health support service funded by SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health). It’s delivered by SAMH, in collaboration with academic partners  and the digital mental health platform Kooth, through its service Qwell.

The aim of the service is to offer accessible mental health support to people across Scotland. Depending on consideration of your needs, the service may be able to offer you either:

  • Qwell: Access to Qwell’s online hub of resources, web-based professional support, and counselling via live chat.
  • Wellbeing Coaching: One-to-one cognitive behavioural coaching with a SAMH Wellbeing Practitioner.
  • Talking Therapy: One-to-one talking therapies with a trainee psychologist or counsellor on placement with Time for You from one of our accredited academic partners

2. Who can use this service?

This service is only available to people aged 16+ and living in Scotland.

3. What personal information we collect

To provide the service and evaluate its impact, we collect and process the following information:

  • Your name
  • Email address
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Address and local authority area
  • Occupation
  • Ethnicity
  • The SAMH service you use
  • Your presenting mental or physical health issue (if disclosed)
  • Psychometric test scores (e.g. WEMWBS, PHQ-9, CORE-10, GAD-7)
  • Support interventions used during your sessions
  • Your feedback about the service
  • How you heard about Time for You

4. Why we collect your data

We collect your personal information to:

  • Provide you with the most appropriate mental health support
  • Monitor your wellbeing throughout the service
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of the service
  • Improve service delivery and user experience
  • Report to funders and demonstrate impact (in anonymised form)

5. Our lawful basis for using your data

Under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, we rely on the following lawful bases:

  • Legitimate interest: To provide and evaluate the Time for You service and improve mental health support across Scotland.
  • Health and Social Care: Providing mental health and wellbeing support.
  • Consent: For optional evaluation, case studies, or research.
  • Vital interests: If there’s an urgent safeguarding concern or emergency that affects your safety or that of others.

6. Who we may share your data with

  • We may share anonymised data for evaluation and funding purposes — this cannot be used to identify you.
  • If you take part in a case study, you can choose whether or not to remain anonymous.

We may be required to share personal information without your consent if:

  • We believe you, or someone else, is at risk of serious harm
  • There’s a child protection concern
  • We’re required to do so by law

7. How we store and protect your information

  • Your data is stored securely on SAMH’s encrypted internal systems.
  • We follow strict physical and technical security measures.
  • Your data will never be transferred outside the UK.

8. How long we keep your data

  • We will keep your personal information for up to 6 years after your support ends.
  • Evaluation data may be kept for longer, but it will be fully anonymised.
  • In exceptional circumstances (e.g. safeguarding or serious incidents), relevant information may be held for up to 50 years, in line with legal and regulatory guidance.

9. Your rights

You have the right to:

  • Access the personal information we hold about you
  • Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
  • Withdraw consent for the use of your special category data
  • Object to or restrict processing (where appropriate)
  • Request erasure or data portability (where applicable)

Some of these rights may not apply in full if your data is already anonymised or needed for safeguarding, legal, or research purposes. However, we will always consider your request and explain any limitations.

10. No automated decision-making

We do not use any form of automated decision-making or profiling as part of the Time for You service.

11. How to make a referral or change your support

If you’re seeking one-to-one support from a SAMH Wellbeing Practitioner or a Trainee Psychologist/Counsellor, your request will be sent to the Time for You team. Based on the information you provide and the current capacity of the service, we’ll:

  • Assess if the support Time for You can offer is suitable or best placed to meet your needs
  • Let you know if there’s a waiting list
  • Offer you alternative support (such as Qwell) if appropriate
  • Support changes in the type of service you receive if your needs change

Follow-up requests for support will be treated the same as new referrals.

12. Contact us

If you have any questions about how we use your data, or if you’d like to make a data subject rights request, please contact:

dataprotection@samh.org.uk

If you’d like to make a complaint, you can contact:

You can also read our full Service User Privacy Policy.