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  • We believe in the healing power
    of community

    Healing is complex, non-linear and unique to us all, but it’s a journey we can navigate together. See what others have already shared on 'Your Healing', or use some of our prompts to Share Your Journey:

    What Has Your Healing Journey Taught You?
    E.g. “I’ve learned I’m stronger than I give myself credit for.”

    What Challenges Have You Faced?
    E.g. “Coping with the highs and lows of healing has been exhausting.”

    What's Been Helpful For Your Healing?
    E.g. “Journaling helps me process emotions. Therapy's been a game-changer for me.”

    What Have You Let Go Of?
    E.g. “I’ve let go of the belief that I’m broken, damaged and defined by my trauma.”

    Any Wisdom For Survivors?
    E.g. “One day at a time—setbacks are normal.”

    Want To Ask The Community?
    E.g. “What’s one thing you wish you had known at the start of your healing journey?”

  •  

Privacy Policy

This document, the ‘Privacy Policy’ was last updated on 12.01.2025.

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy is issued by Beyond Surviving Charity Limited by Guarantee (Registered Charity Number 20206738) of Castlebar, Co. Mayo (alternatively “Beyond Surviving“ / “Beyond Surviving™” / “Beyond Surviving CLG“ / “we“ / “our“ / “us“).  This Privacy Policy provides you with details as to how we collect and process your personal data through the use of our Website and the collection and processing of your data and information when you participate in interactive features (like making a submission using the ‘Share your Journey’ function on our Website), filling out a form or a survey (like on Google Forms), communicating with us via social media sites and email, engaging with the Services that have been made available on the Website for “use” (like the ‘Survivor’s Group Chat’), requesting user/ customer support, or otherwise communicating with us. The information we collect and how we process your data will depend on your relationship with Beyond Surviving. Our website address is: www.beyondsurviving.ie

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of the policy and, in some cases, we may provide you with additional notice (such as adding a statement to our website homepage or sending you a notification).

Please refer to Section 11 of this document before proceeding with reading the contents of this ‘Privacy Policy’. Section 11 explains the abbreviated terms mentioned throughout this document and on our Website.

2. Who we are

Beyond Surviving, founded in 2023, is a registered charitable organisation operating in Ireland and dedicated to connecting survivors of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence and abuse (DSGBVA) and supporting them in living their most thriving lives—beyond surviving! Our mission is “to foster a community of thriving survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and abuse, and to support them in nurturing their healing journey“. During the course of our work, we are required to collect and process personal information from many stakeholders, including our service users, Website users, our donors, our funders and those who volunteer and work with us. At Beyond Surviving, we are committed to ensuring that personal data collected and processed is treated lawfully and correctly and complies with data protection law, including the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), Freedom of Information Act 2014 and the Data Protection Act 2018.  The controller (as defined in the GDPR) of your personal data, for all purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, is Beyond Surviving CLG. Information provided by you is held in strict confidence. Beyond Surviving is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any third-party Linked Sites. For further information regarding GDPR and your rights, please visit: The Data Protection Commission.

3. Our full contact details

Full name of legal entity: Beyond Surviving Charity Limited by Guarantee (CLG)

Name or title of Data Protection Officer: Ms Ciara Mangan (Director)

Email address: info@beyondsurviving.ie

Telephone/mobile number: /

Postal address: Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Republic of Ireland

It is very important that the information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. Please let us know if at any time your personal information changes by emailing us at: info@beyondsurviving.ie

4. Definitions

The definitions provided below are some examples of the terminology used when we discuss the topics around data protection, GDPR and privacy. For more information, please visit: The Data Protection Commission.

TerminologyDefinition
‘Personal data’“any information concerning or relating to a living person who is either identified or identifiable (such a person is referred to as a ‘data subject’).” An ‘identifiable person’ is one who can be directly or indirectly identified from that information, for example, a person’s name, date of birth, email address. Personal data does not include anonymised data.”
‘Sensitive personal data’ or ‘special categories’“personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership; genetic data; biometric data processed to uniquely identify a person; data concerning health; and data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation.”
‘Processing’“refers to any operation or set of operations performed on personal data. Processing includes storing, collecting, retrieving, using, combining, erasing and destroying personal data, and can involve automated or manual operations.”
‘Data Controller’“refers to a person, company, or other body which decides the purposes and methods of processing personal data.”
‘Data Processor’“refers to a person, company, or other body which processes personal data on behalf of a data controller.”
‘GDPR”“General Data Protection Regulation”
‘The user’“refers to the user of our Website (for example, a survivor/ victim of DSGBVA visiting and using our Website)”
‘Consent’“…Under the GDPR, consent to processing must be freely given, specific, and informed. You cannot be forced to give your consent, you must be told what purpose(s) your data will be used for, and you should show your consent through a ‘statement or as a clear, affirmative action’ (e.g. ticking a box).”
‘Profiling’“any kind of automated processing of personal data that involves analysing or predicting your behaviour, habits or interests.”

5. What data do we collect, for what purpose and on what grounds do we process it

The information we collect and how we process your data will depend on your relationship with Beyond Surviving. We fully respect your right to privacy, and will not collect any personal data about you without your clear, affirmative consent1. This policy relates to our privacy practices in connection with this Website www.beyondsurviving.ie and the collection and processing of your data and information when you participate in interactive features (like making a submission using the ‘Share Your Journey’ function on our Website), filling out a form or a survey (like on Google Forms), communicating with us via social media sites and email, engaging with the Services that have been made available on the Website for “use” (like the ‘Survivor’s Group Chat’), requesting user/ customer support, or otherwise communicating with us. Beyond Surviving is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any third-parties or third-party Linked Sites.

We collect information in two ways:

  1. Data provided by you to Beyond Surviving
  2. Data collected automatically when you use our Website

5.1 Personal data provided by you to Beyond Surviving

When you use our Website you, the user, will always be informed by us the grounds for which we are collecting the personal data we ask for. Your clear, affirmative consent is required in all circumstances before we begin to process any of your personal data.

We process your personal data when you use our Website or otherwise communicate with us. Below outlines what personal data we process, the purpose of this data processing and the legal basis for processing:

Your name

We process this data for the purpose of:

  • Using the “Share your Journey” functionality and commenting on other submissions on the Website.
  • Enabling you to control your submissions and user-generated content (such as enabling you to log in to our Website, update, delete, view and amend your submission(s)) and comment on other submission(s).
  • Enabling you to sign up for our newsletter.
  • Enabling you to contact us through our Website or otherwise communicate with us and so we can respond.
  • Enabling you to register your interest in volunteering or collaborating with Beyond Surviving by using the “Get Involved” functionality on our Website or registering your interest through any other communication channel we may use (e.g. Google Forms, social media).
  • Enabling you to use Google Forms provided by us on our Website, on any other communication channels we may use, or through any other method of communicating with us, where your name is required so we can contact you.
  • Enabling you to use the ‘Survivor’s Group Chat’ which is hosted over the external Linked Site Facebook and is provided by us on our Website (your name is often associated with the Facebook account with which you request group membership).
  • Spam avoidance purposes.

The legal basis for processing this data is:

  • Where required to fulfill the terms of a contract entered into with you (when you use the Website, you agree to our ‘Terms and Conditions’ and enter into ‘the Agreement’).
  • To appropriately maintain and provide this community.
  • Where you provide clear, affirmative consent.

Your email address

We process this data for the purpose of:

  • Using the “Share your Journey” functionality and commenting on other submissions on the Website.
  • Enabling you to control your submissions and user-generated content (such as enabling you to log in to our Website, update, delete, view and amend your submission(s)) and comment on other submission(s).
  • Enabling you to sign up for our newsletter.
  • Enabling you to contact us through our Website or otherwise communicate with us and so we can respond.
  • Enabling you to register your interest in volunteering or collaborating with Beyond Surviving by using the “Get Involved” functionality on our Website or registering your interest through any other communication channel we may use (e.g. Google Forms, social media).
  • Enabling you to use Google Forms provided by us on our Website, on any other communication channels we may use, or through any other method of communicating with us, where your name is required so we can contact you.
  • Enabling you to use the ‘Survivor’s Group Chat’ which is hosted over the external Linked Site Facebook and is provided by us on our Website (your email address is often associated with the Facebook account with which you request group membership).
  • Spam avoidance purposes.

The legal basis for processing this data is:

  • Where required to fulfill the terms of a contract entered into with you (when you use the Website, you agree to our ‘Terms and Conditions’ and enter into ‘the Agreement’).
  • To appropriately maintain and provide this community.
  • Where you provide clear, affirmative consent.

Other personal and/ or sensitive data provided by you2

You may provide and share other personal and/ or sensitive data about you such as, but not limited to, your age, gender, ethnicity, the date, time, location, and details of an incident or experience of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and abuse (DSGBVA).

We process this data for the purpose of:

  • Using the “Share your Journey” functionality and commenting on other submissions on the Website.
  • Enabling you to register your interest in volunteering or collaborating with Beyond Surviving by using the “Get Involved” functionality on our Website or registering your interest through any other communication channel we may use (e.g. Google Forms, social media).
  • Enabling you to use Google Forms provided by us on our Website, or through any other method of communicating with us, where you are asked to provide further information for the purpose for which the Google Form was made available.
  • Enabling you to contact us through our Website or otherwise communicate with us and so we can respond.
  • Enabling you to use the ‘Survivor’s Group Chat’ which is hosted over the external Linked Site Facebook and is provided by us on our Website (further information is asked of you prior to group membership (as part of the membership questions prior to joining), and in posts you may wish to submit in the group chat)).
  • So Beyond Surviving can tag/ assign the UGC. Such tags and categorisations allow other users of our Website to filter and search for UGC relating to a specific topic or ‘wellbeing’ category on our webpage ‘Your Healing‘.

The legal basis for processing this data is:

  • Where required to fulfill the terms of a contract entered into with you (when you use the Website, you agree to our ‘Terms and Conditions’ and enter into ‘the Agreement’).
  • To appropriately maintain and provide this community.
  • Where you provide clear, affirmative consent.

5.2 Data collected automatically when you use our website

Technical information

We process this data for the purpose of:

  • When visitors leave comments or submissions on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. This data is processed once the user submits any user-generated content to the Website. An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: Automattic Privacy Policy. After approval of the UGC (approval is the responsibility of the Website administrators), the user profile picture is visible to the public in the context of the UGC.
  • To enable Website functionality, implement security measures, and provide a reliable service.
  • To analyse our Website analytics.

The legal basis for processing this data is:

  • Where required to fulfill the terms of a contract entered into with you (when you use the Website, you agree to our ‘Terms and Conditions’ and enter into ‘the Agreement’).
  • To appropriately maintain and provide this community on our Website.
  • In the legitimate interests of visitors to, and users of, this community on our Website.

Media

We process this data for the purpose of:

  • Collecting data if the user uploads images to the Website through the submission of UGC. Should users upload images, they should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the Website can download and extract any location data from images on the Website. Although users may upload images, our community on the Website, doesn’t publish images to the Website.

The legal basis for processing this data is:

  • Where required to fulfill the terms of a contract entered into with you (when you use the Website, you agree to our ‘Terms and Conditions’ and enter into ‘the Agreement’).
  • To appropriately maintain and provide this community on our Website.
  • In the legitimate interests of visitors to, and users of, this community on our Website.

Cookies

We process this data for the purpose of:

  • If the user submits any user-generated content, the user may opt-in to saving their name, email address and website in cookies. These are for user convenience so that the user does not have to fill in their details again when they make another UGC. These cookies will last for one year.
  • If the user visits our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if the user’s browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
  • When the user logs in, we will also set up several cookies to save the user login information and the user screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If the user selects “Remember Me”, the user login will persist for two weeks. If the user logs out of their account, the login cookies will be removed.
  • If the user edits or publishes an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article the user just edited. It expires after 1 day.
  • Articles on this Website may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

The legal basis for processing this data is:

  • Where required to fulfill the terms of a contract entered into with you (when you use the Website, you agree to our ‘Terms and Conditions’ and enter into ‘the Agreement’).
  • To appropriately maintain and provide this community on our Website.
  • In the legitimate interests of visitors to, and users of, this community on our Website.

Embedded content from other websites

We process this data for the purpose of:

  • Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
  • These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website. By using our Website, you confirm that this is understood and agreed.

The legal basis for processing this data is:

  • Where required to fulfill the terms of a contract entered into with you (when you use the Website, you agree to our ‘Terms and Conditions’ and enter into ‘the Agreement’).
  • To appropriately maintain and provide this community on our Website.
  • In the legitimate interests of visitors to, and users of, this community on our Website.

Information we collect from other sources

We also obtain information about you from other sources, including transaction information from third-party app stores you use to purchase a subscription, and name and contact information from third-party calendar services. Additionally, if you create or log into your account through a social media service account, we will have access to certain information from that account, such as your name and other account information, in accordance with the authorisation procedures set by that social media service. Finally, we may obtain information about you from publicly available sources, marketing and advertising partners, consumer research platforms, and/ or business contact databases.

6. Who do we share your data with?

You should be aware with whom we share your personal data and when:

  • Email: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
  • When you contact us through one of our social media platforms, email addresses or any other communication channels we may use, such as Google Forms, any personal data you share will be collected and processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Please review the privacy policies of such social media platforms, email providers and external Linked Sites prior to engaging with us using such methods of communication.
  • Third-party service providers: We will share your information with third-party service providers who provide services on our behalf such as IT and system administration services. Our Website provider and our internet service provider will only process your data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. We use MailerLite for our newsletter distributions. Please review their Privacy Policy prior to signing up for Beyond Surviving’s newsletter. We use Google for our Google Forms and Google Drive. Please review their Privacy Policy prior to submitting a response to one of our Google Forms or accessing Google Drive. We use Facebook for our ‘Survivor’s Group Chat’. Please review their Privacy Policy prior to requesting membership to the group. We use iDonate for processing donations and fundraisers. Please review their Privacy Policy prior to donating or fundraising. We use Zoom for organising and hosting events, workshops, Services, etc. Please review their Privacy Policy prior to registering for any events, workshops, Services, etc.
  • Legal and professional purposes: We may be required to share your information in order to comply with and respond to any requests from law enforcement, regulatory agencies or other professional service providers such as lawyers, bankers, auditors, insurers and accountants. You can read more about these requirements in our ‘Review Guidelines’ and our ‘Community Guidelines’.
  • Child protection or welfare concern purposes: Although our Website is only for those users/ visitors 18 years old and older, we may still receive personal data and information or sensitive personal data and information that contains identifiable information about a minor that contains child protection or welfare concerns. We have a duty to report any such concerns to appropriate authorities (such as Tulsa), as per the ‘Children First National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2017’ (National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children) and/ or An Garda Síochana (the Irish police).
  • Government bodies: We may share your information with government bodies that require us to report processing activities. You can read more about these requirements in our ‘Review Guidelines’ and our ‘Community Guidelines’.
  • Third-parties: We may share your information with those we sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. We require all third-parties with whom we transfer your data to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We only allow such third-parties to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. We will only share once your clear and affirmative consent has been received and we are court-ordered to provide same.
  • Awareness and statistical purposes: We may share your information across our communication channels or with third-parties for awareness and statistical purposes, such as, for reporting on the level of engagement on our Website (for example, sharing the number of or examples of anonymous submissions we have published on our Website as part of the ‘Share your Journey’ functionality on our Website for the purpose of encouraging others to also engage with our Services and Website), the sharing of anonymous submissions we have published on our Website across our communication channels for the same purpose above, the sharing of data collected with organisations that provide services or support in the area of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and abuse (DSGBVA), where this information could assist in improving their services and service user reach. Identifiable data will never be published as part of this.
  • Security Purposes: We may share your information as we believe necessary, in order to secure and protect the rights, interests, safety, and security of our Website and community, our users, and others against security incidents. You can read more about these requirements in our ‘Review Guidelines’ and our ‘Community Guidelines’.
  • Harm Prevention: We may share your information as we believe necessary, in order to protect the health and safety of our users or another natural person. You can read more about these requirements in our ‘Review Guidelines’ and our ‘Community Guidelines’.
  • Spam Detection: User-generated content on our Website may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

7. Data Transfer

Certain limited categories of your personal data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Community (“EEA”). We will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the transfer of your personal data to these non-EEA countries, including Standard Contractual Clauses under Article 46(2) GDPR. To obtain more information concerning these safeguards, please contact us at: info@beyondsurviving.ie

8. How long do we retain your data?

  • We will store your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes of providing access to our Website and related services to you; as required by law or regulatory guidance to which we are subject, for accounting and reporting purposes, and for the exercise or defence of legal claims that may be brought by or against us.
  • Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to our Website or through any other method of communicating with us. Any transmission of personal data is at your own risk. Once we receive your personal data, we use appropriate security measures to seek to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure.
  • During the performance of contract concluded with you (‘the Agreement’) some sensitive data may be transferred through our operating systems. This information can be both in verbal, auditory, or text formats. We treat this information with the utmost care and importance and given the sensitivity and possible legal consequences which could be attached to the retention of this material we operate specific retention periods for this area.
  • If you submit any user-generated content, the UGC and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up UGC automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
  • For users that register on our Website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

9. What rights do you have over your data?

Under the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have a number of rights with respect to your personal data, subject to any exemptions provided by the law.

In order to process personal data, organisations must have a lawful reason. The lawful reasons for processing personal data are set out in Article 6 of the GDPR. The six lawful reasons for processing personal data are:

  1. Consent.
  2. To carry out a contract.
  3. In order for an organisation to meet a legal obligation.
  4. Where processing the personal data is necessary to protect the vital interests of a person.
  5. Where processing the personal data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.
  6. In the legitimate interests of a company/organisation (except where those interests contradict or harm the interests or rights and freedoms of the individual).

Any one of the six reasons given above can provide a legal reason for processing personal data. More information regarding your rights can be found at: The Data Protection Commission.

Data protection is a fundamental right set out in Article 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which states;

  1. Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her.
  2. Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned, or some other legitimate basis laid down by law. Everyone has the right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified.
  3. Compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by an independent authority.

This means that every individual is entitled to have their personal information protected, used in a fair and legal way, and made available to them when they ask for a copy. If an individual feels that their personal information is wrong, they are entitled to ask for that information to be corrected.

If you have an account on our Website site, or have submitted any user-generated content, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

10. Variations to the Website and Privacy Policy:

Beyond Surviving reserves the right to modify the Website, Content, and Services at any time without the requirement to provide notice.

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time at our sole discretion. If we make any changes, we will post those changes in this document and update the “last updated” date at the top of this document and, in some cases, we may provide you with additional notice (such as adding a statement to our website homepage or sending you a notification). Once you have received notification of such changes, your continued use of our Website will indicate your awareness and acceptance of those changes and the Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions are binding upon you as per ‘the Agreement’.

If you do not agree to be bound by any changes to this Privacy Policy, you will not be able to continue to use our Website and you should not use our Website or Services.

11. Abbreviated terms in this document and on our Website

AbbreviationTerminology
“T&Cs”Terms and Conditions
“the Website”Beyond Surviving’s website available at: www.beyondsurviving.ie
“Linked sites”Services, content and resources offered by any third-party, third-party website, services or providers which have been made available on our Website or through our newsletter distributions, social media platforms, email distributions or any other communication channels we use.
“Services”Services, content and resources, including Services offered by Beyond Surviving and any Linked Sites which have been made available on the Website or through our newsletter distributions, social media platforms, email distributions or any other communication channels we use.
“Use”Visiting the Website, browsing and engaging with any Content which has been made available on the Website or through our newsletter distributions, social media platforms, email distributions, volunteer, recruitment & engagement processes, or any other communication channels we use, uploading Content and other user-generated content (UGC) and registering to use and engaging with any Services.
“Content”The information, material, submissions, resources, comments, content and functionalities which are made available on the Website for “use”, either through Beyond Surviving directly or through Linked Sites and third-parties which have been made available by us.
“User-generated content” / “UGC”The submission(s), comment(s) and other material(s) submitted to Beyond Surviving from users’ “use” of our Website and any other communication channels we use.
“the Agreement”The terms and conditions, policies, and operating rules posted by us on this Website or in respect to our Website and Services and “use” of our Website and Services constitutes the entire Agreement and understanding between you and us and govern your use of the Website, superseding any prior or contemporaneous agreements, communications and proposals, whether oral or written, between you and us (including, but not limited to, any prior versions of these terms and conditions, policies, and operating rules). The users’ “use” of the Website and Services constitutes the Agreement as binding upon the user and the complicity with such terms and conditions, policies, and operating rules.
“DSGBVA”Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and abuse.

12. Contact Us

If you have any queries relating to this ‘Privacy Policy’ or our use of your personal data, please contact us via email at: info@beyondsurviving.ie

  1. Your clear, affirmative consent is, for example, ticking a box on our Website when we ask if you have read and agree with our Privacy Policy or, for example, confirming elsewhere (i.e. on a Google Form) that you have read and agree with our Privacy Policy. ↩︎
  2. Certain material in UGC may be reviewed in accordance with our ‘Review Guidelines’ ↩︎