Last Updated: 03 September 2026

Aware Privacy Notice

At Aware, we are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Notice (“Notice”) describes how we collect and use personal information about you in accordance with Irish data protection legislation and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (referred together as the data protection laws). You can browse through most of our site without giving us any information about yourself. But sometimes we do need information to provide services that you request.

Aware is a “data controller”. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. If you have additional questions or would like further information on this topic, please feel free to write to us at info@aware.ie.

This privacy statement applies to the processing of personal data collected by Aware when:

• You visit our website or link to this Privacy Statement
• You use our services
• Processing payments, donations or fulfilling online orders and confirming transactions
• You receive communications from us or otherwise communicate with us
• Processing job or volunteer placement applications

We may update this policy from time to time, so please check in periodically for changes. By visiting this website, you are accepting the practices described herein.

How Aware uses personal information

When you use our services

Aware supports individuals impacted by depression, bipolar and anxiety, and related mood disorders. Our services are made available by telephone, email, letter, online chat, and face to face.

Our Support Line is designed so that Aware volunteers cannot see your contact details, however, some information that could be used to identify you is stored on our central systems and can be accessed by authorised Aware employees. All information that we collect, either automatically or volunteered by you, is treated confidentially and stored securely.

When you contact one of our services, and depending on the way you contact us, we may collect various personal information:

• If you contact us by email, we will collect your email address, and we may collect your postal address.
• If you contact us by letter, we may collect your postal and email address.
• If you contact us by online, this may include your name, address, email address, location, age, gender, IP address (where it has not been clipped or anonymised) and telephone number. We do ask for consent beforehand.

We take steps such as masking telephone numbers so that you cannot be identified, unless you provide us with additional information. Contact information is only unmasked as part of an official and documented process, and only when strictly necessary.

We use this information for the following purposes:

• To provide you with support: we use your contact information to connect you with one of our volunteers or counsellors to provide you with support.
• To provide a follow-up call or additional support: in some circumstances we may offer to call you back or for us to call you as part of an agreed plan. In these circumstances, we record information you have given us to complete the follow-up call or plan. We may need to share this information internally with authorised individuals, so that whoever you speak to is up to date with your situation.
• To safeguard our callers and third parties: there are certain circumstances where we cannot guarantee confidentiality, for example, where we are made aware of a child or vulnerable adult at risk. In these circumstances we may be required to share the information we hold with other service providers including the Gardai, emergency, and safeguarding services in the Republic of Ireland.
• To manage our service and prevent inappropriate use: if we need to investigate a call or series of calls (e.g. we have received a complaint or a report of inappropriate use of our service) we may use unique identifiers such as your encrypted phone number, masked email address or device ID to identify specific contacts. If we become concerned about the way our service is being used, we may use this information to limit or restrict access to the service. Some of these caller support plans are triggered by automated means i.e. by monitoring the volume of interactions from unique contact details. If we take the decision to limit your access to our systems, we will make every effort to inform you as to the reason we have restricted your access.
• To protect our volunteers or staff from harm: If you are abusive or threaten our volunteers or staff, we may report you to the Gardai, provide them with the information we hold on you, and where available, to ensure the safety of our volunteers and employees.
• To comply with regulatory or legal obligations: in certain circumstances, such as where we are in receipt of a court order from the Gardai in the Republic of Ireland, we may be required by law to share your information.

We rely on consent in supporting service users and to manage our service. Where we work with you to provide additional support we will create a support plan, and where possible provide information that you feel may be relevant and helpful for your support.

Where we have identifiable information about you, we may be required to use or share your information to report a suspected criminal offence to the Gardai, for compliance with our regulatory and legal obligations, or to protect your vital interests.

When you support or donate to us

When you donate to Aware we may collect certain information so that we can process your donation. Information we may collect includes your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, bank details (for Direct Debits), taxpayer status, date of birth, and history of previous donations. When you support us by signing up to take part in any Aware event, we may also collect information such as your name, email address, or phone number.

We use supporter information for the following purposes:

• To process your donation: We work with payment processors who process your payment on our behalf. Our payment service providers use international recognised encryption standards and security methods to keep your data safe. We are required to keep donation information for 7 years for financial audit purposes.
• To facilitate event participation: Where you have signed up to an event, we will use your information to provide you with supporting information and to facilitate your participation.
• To respond to requests, queries, and complaints: If you contact us through our website, phone, post or email we may use the information we hold on you to help us to investigate and respond to your query.
• To ensure that our address records are accurate: We may share your information with third party sources to check for updated contact details so that we can stay in touch if you move. These third parties act as our data processors and will only use your information as instructed by us.
• To record your interest in or pledge to leave a gift in your will: if you enquire about or let us know you have pledged a gift in your will, we will store your details on our dedicated database and keep you and any associated contacts (such as your immediate family) updated on the administration of this gift. Some of this information may come from third parties that are associated with Aware, but this will be made clear when you provide your data. We rely on legitimate interest to contact you to offer more information and support about legacy giving and will ask for your consent before sending any further marketing.

When you apply to become a volunteer with us

Aware needs to collect, use, store and share certain information about applicants and volunteers to manage their application and involvement with the organisation. Our Fundraising team also recruit fundraising volunteers to help and support with events.

We use information about volunteers and potential volunteers for the following purposes:

• To answer your questions: If you contact us through our website, by phone, post, or email in relation to volunteering, you may be asked to give your personal details for us to get in touch.
• To process your application: The information you provide on your application will be used to process your application and to help us to decide about whether you will be accepted as an Aware volunteer.

If your application is successful, throughout the course of your onboarding and volunteering journey we may collect and store additional information about you for the following purposes:

• To check for relevant criminal history: We undertake background checks on all volunteers to help us to make safe recruitment decisions and determine whether an applicant with relevant offences is suitable for work. Where a potential volunteer’s application is declined due to risks identified during the criminal record check, records of this are retained for one year.
• To monitor training: Regarding mandatory training we believe it is within our legitimate interest to monitor the completion of that training and take action such as removing volunteers from shifts where this is not complete.
• To investigate caller complaints: Contact received by volunteers may be logged in our system. The data may be used to support investigation of specific incidents and complaints, for example, it may be used to identify which volunteer handed a call that gives rise to a complaint from a caller.
• To process expenses: If you are eligible to reclaim expenses associated with your role, we will process information about any expenditure including amount and type of expense, as well as your name and bank account details, in order to determine whether your expenses should be refunded, and to make any resultant payment to you.

We keep all applicant and volunteer data to comply with our obligations under applicable law from the date of your last interaction with us. Where other legal basis applies, we will detail these in our privacy statement.

Aware will process your personal data based on the following grounds:

• Where it is necessary for the performance of a contract;
• Your consent – where processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent
• Where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation which we are subject to;
• Where it is in our legitimate interest to process the data, these are included below:

Specifically, we may use your personal information in the following ways:

Information Collected from Children

Aware is a general audience site, and we do not knowingly collect information about children under the age of 16. If you are under the age of 16, you must ask your parent or guardian to assist you in using our website.

Promotional Emails and Withdrawal of Consent

We may send you e-mails with promotional events, special event information, newsletters, or other messages. If you would no longer like to receive such e-mails from us, please follow the “unsubscribe” instructions at the end of each email or contact us at info@aware.ie. Your e-mail address will then be removed from our marketing list. Please allow us a reasonable period of time to satisfy your request, as some communications activity may already be in process. We commit to removing all personal data as soon as possible and within 30 days, in line with GDPR.

Security of your Personal Information

We restrict access to personal information collected about you to our employees, volunteers and those who are otherwise specified in this policy. While no website can guarantee security, we maintain appropriate physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information collected via the website. Payments are encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL Software”) or via Stripe. We protect our databases with strong physical, technical, and procedural measures and we restrict access to your information by unauthorized persons. We also advise all Aware employees about their responsibility to protect personal data, and we provide them with appropriate guidelines for adhering to our organisation’s standards and confidentiality policies. All staff receive data protection training. Your data will only be stored within the European Union.

Although we do our best to keep your information safe, the transmission of information over the internet is never completely secure, so please bear this in mind when you share information with us via our website.

Use of Cookies

A cookie is a small piece of data that may be stored on your computer or mobile device. It allows a website “remember” your actions or preferences over a length of time. When you log on to our website for the first time, a message will appear asking for your consent to the use of cookies, with a link to further details about the types of cookies used, as well as a link to our full Cookies Policy.

You may choose to consent to our use of all cookies, or you may specify which types of cookies may be employed. All cookies used by and on our site are used in accordance with current cookie law.

The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies, we need your permission.

We may use cookies for a number of purposes—for example, to maintain continuity during a user session, to gather data about the usage of our website for research and other purposes, to store your preferences for certain kinds of information and marketing offers, or to store a username or encrypted identification number so that you do not have to provide this information every time you return to our website.

Our cookies will track only your activity relating to your online activity on this website and will not track your other internet activity. Our cookies do not gather personally identifiable information.

If you choose to reject cookies, you may not be able to use certain of our online services or website features. For example, if you choose to not have your browser accept cookies from Aware’s website, you may need to re-enter our personal information each time that you attempt to access certain information. This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.

You can disable the use of cookies via your browser, further information on how to do this can be found here: Cookie Policy

What categories of personal data does Aware disclose with third parties?

Aware will share your personal information with third parties only in the ways that are described in this Privacy Statement. This may be for the following reasons:

1. You expressly authorise us to do so

2. It is necessary to allow our service providers, representatives, or agents to provide services to us

3. It is necessary to provide our services to you

4. It is necessary to protect and defend the rights or property of Aware

5. Where it is necessary to protect a child or a vulnerable adult. In this case, confidentiality may be disclosed where required by law, court order, regulatory authority, or where disclosure is necessary to prevent a serious threat to an individual’s health, safety, or welfare. Any disclosure will be limited to the minimum information necessary to meet the applicable legal or protective requirement.

6. In some circumstances we may also be legally obliged to share your data with State entities, for example the regulators or the Revenue Commissioners, for financial compliance.

Relevant Third Parties:

• Third party service providers that supply services to us such as IT services, payment processing, security for payment, and donation processing
• Professional advisors e.g. consultants, GPs, accountants, and legal advisors
• Statutory and regulatory bodies where we are required to disclose information by law, for example Revenue Department
• Third parties authorised by you

Third party processors are covered by data processing agreements which contain clear contractual safeguards in accordance with data protection legislation.

For your convenience, we may provide links to other websites and web pages that we do not control. We cannot be responsible for the privacy practices of any websites or pages not under our control and we do not endorse any of these websites or pages, the services offered on such sites or pages, or any of the content contained on those sites or pages.

Retention of Data

We will not hold your personal data for longer than is necessary. We retain your personal data for as long as we need it for the purposes described in this notice, or to comply with our obligations under applicable law.

Your Rights

1.1.1 The right to be informed about our collection and use of personal data-achieved through this notice.

1.1.2 The right of access to the personal data we hold about you.

1.1.3 The right to rectification if any personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete – please contact us using the contact information above. If you change your email address, we will send an email confirming same to both your old and new email addresses.

• The right to be forgotten – i.e. the right to ask us to delete any personal data we hold about you.

• The right to restrict (i.e. prevent) the processing of your personal data, please contact us using the contact information above

1.1.4 The right to data portability: this only applies in some circumstances

1.1.5 The right to object to Aware using your personal data for particular purposes

• Rights with respect to automated decision making and profiling: we do not use your data in this way

To exercise your rights, please put your request in writing to our Data Protection Officer at dpo@aware.ie

You also have the right to lodge a complaint to the Office of the Data Protection Commission if you are not happy with the way we have used your information or addressed your rights.

Details of how to lodge a complaint can be found at on the Data Protection Commission’s website here. 

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this policy or about our data protection compliance, please write to us at 9 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4, D04 KD80 or at 01 661 7211 or email us at info@aware.ie

Changes to this Policy

Aware may update this policy at any time and from time to time and we will post any changes to this page. The most recent version is reflected by the version date located at the bottom of this policy.