Story Consent & Withdrawal Policy

Who This Policy Covers

This policy covers every story recorded for the Living Archive during a Knight's Tour Foundation session, in any form: audio, video, written notes or transcripts. It applies to the storyteller and to anyone the storyteller names to act for them.

How We Ask for Your Consent

Before we record anything, one of our facilitators will:

1. Explain the Living Archive in plain words, in person, and give you this policy in large print.
2. Answer your questions, with no time limit. You can take the form home and decide later.
3. Ask you to choose who can hear your story (see Your Choices below).
4. Ask you to sign a short consent form, or to say yes on the recording if you prefer not to sign.

Consent is not a one-time box. At the start of every recorded session, we check again that you are happy to continue. You can say “stop”, skip any question or ask us to turn the recorder off, at any moment.

If Memory or Understanding Changes

Many of the people we serve are living with changes in memory. We aim to include everyone, safely and with dignity.

• We support your decision. We use simple words, share information in more than one way and allow extra time. If you would like, a family member or friend you choose can be with you.
• We check understanding. Before recording, the facilitator makes sure you understand what will happen, who may hear the story and that you can say no.
• When someone cannot decide for themselves, we only record with the agreement of their legally authorized representative, and only if the person seems comfortable. If they seem unhappy or unsure, we stop, whatever the paperwork says.
• We check again over time. If we notice changes, we pause public sharing and review the choices with the storyteller and the people supporting them.

Your Choices

You choose one sharing level, and you can change it at any time.

The three sharing levels

Level	Who can hear or read your story
Private	Only you, and anyone you name. We keep it safely for you.
Family	You and the family members or friends you name.
Public	Anyone, through the Living Archive on our website and at our events.

For Public stories, you also choose whether we use your full name, your first name only or no name.

Separate choices. We will ask you separately, and you can say yes to one and no to another:

• whether we may use short quotes from your story in our newsletters, reports or grant applications;
• whether researchers we partner with may study your story. Any research use also needs approval from an independent ethics board, and you can say no without any effect on your sessions.

What we never do. We never sell your story or use it to advertise anything. We never share a Private or Family story more widely without asking you first.

Who owns your story. You do. By agreeing, you give the Foundation permission to keep and share your story only in the ways you have chosen. You can take that permission back at any time.

Changing Your Mind

At any time, and without giving a reason, you can ask us to:

• let you listen to, watch or read your story;
• correct something, or remove a part you no longer want shared;
• move your story to a more private level;
• remove your story completely.

Tell us in person at a session, email us or write to us. Someone you have named to act for you can ask too.

What happens next. We confirm your request and act on it as soon as possible. We remove the story from our website and from anything we share in future, and we delete our copies, except for a short note that you asked us to remove it, so that we never use it again by mistake.

What we cannot undo. If your story was already shared in public, for example in a printed report or at an event, we cannot take back copies other people already have. We will explain this before you choose Public.

Other People in Your Story

Stories often mention family, friends and neighbors. Before a story is made Public, we review it with you and may remove or change names and details that could hurt or identify someone else.

Health and Other Private Details

We do not ask about medical diagnoses. If you share health or other private details, we leave them out of Family and Public stories unless you clearly ask us to keep them.

Keeping Your Story Safe

We store recordings and notes securely, with access limited to the people who need it. We keep Private and Family stories for as long as you want us to, and we will explain where and how stories are stored when you sign up.

If a Storyteller Dies

You can name a person to make decisions about your story after your death. If you do not name anyone, we keep following the choices you made. We never make a story more public after a storyteller's death.

If the Archive Ever Closes

If the Living Archive ever has to close, we will contact storytellers, or the people they named, and offer them a copy of their story before anything is deleted or moved.

Changes to This Policy

If we change this policy, we will tell storytellers before the change applies to their story, and we will never make a story more public without asking again.