Privacy Notice

MeandMyOCD operates the MeandMyOCD website and community forum.

For data protection purposes, MeandMyOCD is responsible for deciding how and why personal information collected through the website is used.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or how your information is handled, please contact us at [email protected].

Depending on how you use the website, we may collect the following.

Because MeandMyOCD is a mental-health-related community, members may choose to discuss their OCD, mental health, physical health, treatment, medication, or other personal experiences.

Information about a person's health is considered special category personal data under UK data protection law.

You are not required to provide detailed medical information to use the website.

Where you voluntarily provide health or other special category information through the community, we may process that information for the purpose of providing, operating, and moderating the forum.

Where required, we rely on your explicit consent to process special category information that you voluntarily provide.

You can withdraw your consent by contacting us or by requesting the removal of information you have posted, where applicable. Withdrawal of consent does not affect processing that was lawful before consent was withdrawn.

When you visit or use the website, certain technical information may be collected automatically. This may include:

• IP address
• Browser type
• Device information
• Operating system
• Login information
• Pages visited
• Date and time of activity
• Security and server logs

We use this information to operate the website, prevent abuse, investigate technical problems, and help keep the community secure.

We may use your personal information to:

• Create and manage your account
• Allow you to participate in the community
• Display your posts and contributions
• Moderate discussions
• Respond to questions or support requests
• Investigate reports or breaches of our community rules
• Prevent spam, fraud, and misuse
• Protect the security of the website and its members
• Maintain and improve the website
• Comply with legal obligations

We will not sell your personal information.

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful reason for processing personal information. Depending on what we are doing, we may rely on:

• Contract – where processing is necessary to provide the account or community service you have requested.
• Legitimate interests – where it is reasonably necessary to operate, secure, and moderate the community, prevent misuse, and protect members.
• Consent – where you have specifically agreed to particular processing.
• Legal obligation – where we need to process information to comply with the law.

Where special category information such as health information is processed, an additional legal condition is required. Where appropriate, we rely on your explicit consent.

Forum posts may be reviewed by authorised moderators or administrators. Moderators may access information where reasonably necessary to:

• Enforce our Community Guidelines
• Investigate reports
• Prevent harassment or abuse
• Protect the security of the community
• Respond to safeguarding concerns
• Comply with legal obligations

Access to administrative information should be limited to those who genuinely require it. MeandMyOCD is a peer-support community and is not a medical service, counselling service, crisis service, or emergency service.

We do not sell personal information to third parties. We may use trusted service providers to operate the website. These could include:

• Website hosting providers
• Forum software providers
• Email providers
• Website security providers
• Spam and abuse-prevention services
• Backup providers
• Analytics providers, where used

These organisations may process information on our behalf where necessary to provide their services. We may also disclose information where we are legally required to do so or where disclosure is necessary to protect someone's vital interests or respond to an immediate and serious safety concern.

Some technology providers used to operate the website may process or store information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that the information receives an appropriate level of protection in accordance with UK data protection law.

We will only keep personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.

Account information will generally be retained while your account remains active.

If you close your account, certain information may be retained for a reasonable period where necessary for security, moderation, dispute resolution, legal obligations, or the prevention of abuse.

Some forum posts may remain as part of existing discussions after an account is closed. Where appropriate, these may instead be anonymised so that they are no longer associated with your account.

Technical and security logs may be retained for a limited period for security and fraud-prevention purposes.

Backups may contain information for a limited period after information has been removed from the live website.

You may request the closure of your account by contacting us.

Closing an account does not necessarily mean that every contribution you have made will automatically be removed.

You may also ask us to delete or anonymise personal information associated with your account. Requests will be considered in accordance with applicable data protection law.

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Ask us to correct inaccurate information
• Ask us to delete your personal information
• Ask us to restrict how your information is used
• Object to certain uses of your information
• Request transfer of certain information
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent

Some rights depend on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used. To exercise your rights, contact [email protected]. We may need to confirm your identity before dealing with certain requests.

You have the right to object to processing of your personal information where we rely on legitimate interests.

If you wish to object, please contact us using the details above and explain what processing you object to.

MeandMyOCD may use cookies and similar technologies to operate the website, keep members logged in, remember preferences, maintain security, and understand how the website is used.

Where consent is required for non-essential cookies, we will ask for your permission before using them.

More information is available in our Cookie Policy.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure.

However, no website or internet service can guarantee absolute security.

Members are responsible for keeping their passwords secure and should not share their account login details with other people.

The forum may contain links posted by members or links to external websites.

MeandMyOCD is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party websites.

You should review the privacy information provided by those websites before providing them with personal information.

If you have concerns about how we have used your personal information, please contact us first so that we can investigate.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator. More information is available at ico.org.uk.

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes to the website, the services we use, or applicable law.

The latest version will always be published on the MeandMyOCD website.

Where significant changes are made, we may notify registered members through the website or by email.