Confidentiality Agreement

The Galway Community Café provides a safe place for individuals to come and have a chat with a trained member of our team. Our staff has lived experience of mental health challenges and/or experience using mental health services. The team at the cafe provides recovery-orientated support to customers experiencing emotional distress.

The principle of confidentiality is fundamental to the support offered in the Galway Community Café, and we would like to reassure our customers that their confidentiality is our priority. However, in some circumstances, we have legal obligations, which require that certain information is shared with the relevant agencies.

• If a staff member becomes aware that a customer is a serious risk to themselves and/or others they will contact the customer’s GP, the HSE, and/or the Gardaí.
• Where a customer discloses information about current and/or retrospective child abuse to a member of cafe staff. The staff at the cafe are duty-bound to report issues relating to possible current abuse of a child, and adults disclosing retrospective childhood abuse to the café mandated person, designated liaison person and Tusla.
• The proportionate provision of information to the statutory agencies necessary for the protection of a child is not a breach of confidentiality or data protection.
• The Galway Community Café and its employees are bound to follow any order made by a court of law, e.g. Information on a crime, a witness statement, etc.

Our customer’s confidentiality is an important principle in the provision of our service. The cafe management and staff will at all times inform a customer and explain to them the reasons for the break in confidentially. However, we reserve the right to do so without prior consultation if we feel the situation requires a member of staff to act immediately.

Mandated Person: Maria McGoldrick (HSE).
Designated Liaison Person: David Bohan (Team Leader) Galway Community Café.
Deputy Designated Liaison Person: Rachel Maher (Assistant Team Leader) Galway Community Café.

Galway Community Café offers support which accepts the individual values, culture, religion, physical needs, neurotype, gender and sexual orientation of its customers.

Our Equality and Inclusivity policy is reflective of this and will be uploaded soon.

Galway Community Café – Health and Safety Policy will be uploaded soon.

The Service Operational Plan sets out the operational processes and standards for services working in partnership to provide the Galway Community Café.

Our Service Operational Plan will be uploaded shortly.