rISKS - Confidentiality

You will gain information about individuals during the course of your mentoring. 

Such information will not always be stated as confidential, and you may have to exercise common sense and discretion in identifying whether information is expected to be confidential.

If in doubt, seek advice from your Key4Life Mentor Supervisor. 

• Mentors are able to share information with the Mentor Supervisor in order to discuss issues and seek advice. 
• Mentors should avoid exchanging personal information or comments (gossip) about individuals with whom they have a professional relationship. 
• It is not appropriate to discuss a person’s sexuality (e.g. ‘outing’ a gay person) without their prior consent. 
• Mentors should avoid talking about partner organisations or mentees in social settings. 
• Mentors will not disclose to anyone, other than Key4Life staff, any information considered sensitive, personal, financial or private without the knowledge or consent of the individual, or an officer, in the case of an organisation. 
• Where there is a legal duty on Key4LIfe to disclose information, the person to whom the confidentiality is owed will be informed that disclosure has or will be made.  

• Information is confidential to Key4Life as an organisation but in some circumstances when this is needed it may be passed to mentors, Key4Life staff or trustees to ensure the best quality service for users. 
• Volunteers and Staff will not withhold information from the Programme Director unless it is purely personal. 
• Mentees may have sight of Key4life’s records held in their name or that of their organisation upon request. Sensitive information as outlined above will only be made available to the person or organisation named on the file. 
• Mentors must ensure that when working on confidential documents, they are not seen by people in passing. This also applies to information on computer screens 

There is a legal duty to disclose some information including: 

• Child abuse will be reported to the Social Services Department. 
• Drug trafficking, money laundering, acts of terrorism or treason will be disclosed to the police. 
• In addition, a colleague believing an illegal act has taken place, or that a user is at risk of harming themselves or others, must report this to the Key4Life Director who will report it to the appropriate authorities. 
• Users should be informed of this disclosure. 
• It is a criminal offence to pass this information to anyone who is not entitled to receive it.